Every business (particularly e-commerce) can benefit from an online marketing strategy. SEO and the online landscape is in constant change and it’s important to know which efforts to focus on in order to have the most impact on your business.
With that in mind, here are five trends to keep an eye on:
Video content dominates
Users are demanding more engaging, rich-media content, and video is now pretty much crushing all other content types out there. Done right, video offers great potential to not only increase visitor engagement on site but also boost on-page search engine optimization results. Video hosted on YouTube can show as rich media content for your site in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) and has a higher potential of going viral than any other current content type.
Long-form content is coming back
Short-form content used to be the strategy – particularly for e-commerce: keep descriptions brief, include a couple photos and a review or two. Now, users are demanding more information during their decision-making process. Including greater detail in the descriptions, more product photos or 360° product images, customer reviews and even blog posts help to educate site visitors and lower online selling barriers, helping get more people through your conversion funnel.
Social proof & shareability are a must
Social media is still the relatively new kid on the block, but marketers are really starting to find their stride on monetizing these channels for their brands. We’re finding better, more accurate ways to attribute revenue and lead generation to social channels – some even finding ways to use SnapChat and Instagram to drive traffic and revenue to their sites and earn positive ROI.
One great way to improve visibility and ranking signals is to encourage more social sharing and user generated content like reviews throughout the online experience. Keeping your audience engaged with social opportunities on your website is not only a great way to create stickiness for your brand but also enhance your SERP listings. In short, making your content sharable and sharing user-generated content is going to help your SEO and social media channels thrive.
Local search is important – even for national brands
Many e-commerce brands may neglect their local SEO efforts thinking they’re not critical to the business since they sell on a national or international level. Adding a local search strategy in the mix though can help target a tighter, more relevant niche for their products as well as help differentiate themselves from competitors.
Mobile optimization is a crucial to site performance
Search from mobile devices has been on rise for quite a while now. In fact, in 2015 the number of searches on mobile devices officially surpassed the number of searches performed on computers and laptops. This, along with the company’s mobile-friendly algorithm update (Mobilegeddon) makes the importance of having a mobile-optimized site even more crucial to its success.
While direct conversions on e-commerce sites may not look stellar in terms number of transactions or total revenue – it’s important to remember that while the purchase may have happened on a desktop computer or tablet – the initial search that started the buying process most likely happened on a smartphone.
If your site isn’t mobile-friendly you’re missing the boat. And traffic. And opportunity. And sales.
Conclusion
The one constant with SEO and digital marketing is change. As digital marketing technology continues to evolve and innovate, there’s never been a better time than now to pump up your online strategy. Be flexible in your approach and always keep eyes open for the Next! Big! Thing!.
No comments yet.