Some say SEO is dead in 2021. I know a few people that may disagree: The millions of businesses who continue to see massive bottom-line growth through search engine strategies.
In 2021, relevancy is still king, and the companies who can adapt to the changes in the search engine landscape will be the ones who thrive. It’s about more than just getting a few search terms on page one of Google.
It’s about building a solid foundation of SEO that will outlast changes in algorithms and keep your business relevant.
Over the coming decade, a solid growth program can continue to leverage SEO to:
- Connect with your target audience
- Boost top-of-the-funnel acquisition
- Drive more qualified leads and sales
- Reach more potential customers and beachhead markets
- Build a strong and enduring online brand presence
These are the fundamental goals you should have in mind when you start brainstorming your SEO strategy. In this article, we’ll run through some of the top SEO strategies and tips to keep in mind in 2021 and beyond.
1. Build landing pages that are 100% Search Engine Friendly
The days of slow, stocky and inefficient web properties are long gone.
One of the biggest changes to SEO for 2021 is the fact that Google will be focusing more on the user experience than ever before. That means a big focus on mobile friendliness, fast load times, and a good user experience.
You’ll want to have a website that is fully optimised for mobile and desktop. You’ll have to make sure to keep pages short, load as fast as possible, and use a lot of white space. Modern landing pages must be easy to navigate and use, and you’ll want to have a clean layout that is easy to read.
Think about the kind of quality Google demand from their own sites. That’s the standard they are setting for you.
2. All web properties MUST be mobile friendly – NO exceptions!
Mobile is becoming more and more important.
SEO-friendly websites require quick loading on mobile, and you’ll want a website that is easy to read on mobile. The fact is, Google gives massive preference to websites that are mobile friendly and applies harsh ranking punishments on those that aren’t.
Mobile friendly websites will continue to rank significantly higher in subsequent years than they do now. In 2021, websites cant simply run on mobile – they must be flawless on both smartphones and tablets.
3. You’ll want to make sure that you’re using the right keywords.
You’ll want to be sure that the keywords you’re targeting are the right ones. You know, the ones that people are actually searching for. It will be critical to make sure that your content is relevant to the target audience you’re trying to reach.
What does this mean? No more using tacky tools to generate massive spreadsheets of pointless keywords. Either outsource it to professionals or invest in heavy duty tools like Semrush.
Your content must be well-written and compelling – the days of blog spam and clickbait content are long gone. You’ll want to make sure that your content is something that people are going to want to link to. The content you feature must present as expertly written and relevant to the target audience you’re trying to reach.
Google notices these things nowadays. Writing poor content? Goodbye page 1.
4. Focus heavily on relevant internal linking structures
Moving forward, there will be a significantly stronger emphasis on the relevance of your website content. In other words, you’re going to want to make sure that every single page on your website is relevant and valuable to your target audience.
In other words, no more throwaway content.
The days where you can stuff as much keyword-rich content as possible into a page are long gone – relevancy is king and all content must be highly relevant and useful for the visitor.
5. Start producing more video content.
Video has been steadily growing in importance over recent years, and it is now one of the more rapidly consumable forms of media on the internet. Video is particularly critical when it comes to SEO, because it’s one of the few categories which have yet to saturate.
Over the coming decade, video will be king, as consumers become increasingly blind to textual content. This is because Google and other search engines are placing a greater emphasis on video content than ever before.
As such, particularly in the most online year ever, it’ll be essential to start producing more videos for your brand – especially if you want to stay competitive with other competing businesses online.
Consider tools like Lumen5 which don’t break the bank.
6. A strong social media presence is a requirement, not a luxury.
The days of shoving an RSS feed into Buffer and calling it a day are long gone. Having a solid, curated social media presence is practically a cost of doing business these days.
The fact is, social media has grown into one of the most powerful marketing channels on the internet today, and it continues to get stronger every single year despite how saturated it feels. More and more people are flocking towards social media for all kinds of reasons (work, education, etc.).
Besides – don’t forget what a massive chunk of the world has yet to come online. It’s easy to forget old head social media platforms like Facebook in favour of the trends, but it’s the foundational platforms that continue gaining steam.
SEO isn’t going away, it’s just going to change. In 2021, you’ll want to make sure that you adapt accordingly. There is no such thing as a “one size fits all” SEO strategy – instead, it will be more important than ever to have an in-depth understanding of the landscape and to adapt to the changes accordingly.
Stay on top of algorithms, but don’t dwell on them – as important as they are, the fundamentals have never changed. A great business, publishing great content and hustling to get it in front of everyone who should see it – that has and always will be the foundation for scalable, high ROI SEO growth programs.
