SEO Fact Sheet

You’ve likely heard of SEO and know that it’s an important marketing tactic for your business. But do you know what it is? The handy book The Language of Content Strategy defines search engine optimization as:

The process of using best practices to design and create content that will rank well in organic search engine results.

While the destination might be to get all of your content optimized, the first step on that path is to deliver high-quality content. Without that strategic component in place, people might easily find you on channels like search and social, but might just as easily lose interest if they believe your content lacks substance.

SEO Trends

Search engines are constantly tweaking their algorithms to improve the results users get. And, as devices and websites have evolved, so too have the user behaviours surrounding how people search for information online.

Here are some factors to take into consideration when you’re thinking about implementing and managing SEO:

Search remains the top traffic driver. Sixty-eight percent of all trackable website traffic comes from organic and paid search, vastly exceeding all other channels, including display and social media.  – BrightEdge Research

Pay attention to how searchers use keywords. About 70 percent of page viewsare the direct result of long-tail keywords. Managing long-tail keywords is simply a matter of establishing better lines of communication between your business and the customers who are already out there, actively shopping for what you provide. – Wordstream

Mobile search usage eclipses desktop. “Up until mid-2019, mobile and desktop searches were mostly neck and neck, with mobile just edging into the lead every few months. However, the most recent stats put mobile ahead with 58% of searches, while desktop falls to 40%.” – Search engine marketing statistics 2024, Smart Insights

Location and mobile go hand-in-hand. Thirty percent of mobile searches are related to location. – Think With Google 

Voice is also important when it comes to mobile search. 27% of the global online population is using voice search on mobile. – Think With Google 

AI-generated content returns poor SEO results. The amount of content Google has to index is growing exponentially thanks to AI-written content. “Today, the best way to get your content seen by Google is through content written with experience and opinion. AI cannot write based on experience.” – How will generative AI impact website rankings and traffic?, Search Engine Land

Blogs continue prominence in search rankings. Blogs’ “prevalence in top ranks, both in the top 3 and top 5 results highlights their SEO importance. Blogs naturally cater to SEO best practices, such as comprehensive content and optimal text-to-code ratios. – Blog Content and SEO: Winning Factors and Key Correlations, Brightedge Research

AI-powered search tools making an impact. “In 2023, around 13 million adults in the United States claimed to have used generative artificial intelligence (AI) as their primary tool for online search. By 2027, this number is projected to reach over 90 million online users. Around 68 percent of adults in the country claimed to use generative AI for answering questions. As a result, the online search market is likely to be one of the most affected industries by the AI-powered search market trend.” – U.S. adults using generative AI first for online search 2023-2027, Statista 

Majority of enterprises have a dedicated SEO team. “A Conductor survey of marketers found that 59% of enterprise businesses have a dedicated SEO team, underlying business leaders’ prioritization of organic marketing resources as brands’ digital presence continues to take center stage.” – The 2023 Digital Marketing Salary Guide, conductor

AI can boost your analytics. “Use AI-powered advanced analytics to determine how your website is performing online and to optimize for better results. For example, cluster analysis can help you pull together content/objects in similar categories to create a pillar resource.” – KeyScouts  

SEO Challenges

“Can’t I just work the algorithm to improve my search rankings?”

Not so fast. The rub of a search engine algorithm is that it’s constantly evolving and there’s no sure way to know exactly what a search engine’s algorithm is. Even if you think you’ve figured out how to wield it, it will probably change again before you know it! In fact, experts say that Google changes its algorithm several hundred times per year. 

Don’t be fooled, SEO shortcuts don’t exist. Changes to SEO/search algorithms are a top concern for 64% of B2C marketers. – Search Engine Journal

“A cousin of overpromised technology, SEO snake oil is the promise of high search engine rankings with little effort. Who sells it? Slippery SEO consultants who take advantage of the fact that search engine formulas aren’t public….Mostly, good design and content go a long way toward good SEO.” – The Content Advantage

Stop stuffing content with keywords. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping SEO…If you want to get the most out of your SEO with AI in the mix, you need to: Stop stuffing your content with keywords, and instead create content that’s associated with a specific concept, category, or query if you want to rank well in the algorithm for more specific audiences.” – KeyScouts

Address technical SEO issues too. “Technical SEO problems are also generally, but not always, site-wide problems rather than specific page issues. Their fixes can help improve your site as a whole, rather than just isolated pages.” Fixing problems with your indexation, NOINDEX, robots.txt configuration, and url canonicalization can go a long way to boosting your site in search.  – How to Find and Fix 14 Technical SEO Problems That Can Be Damaging Your Site Now, Moz

CTR descends rapidly from the first result. Only .63% of Google searchers clicked on a second page result, while the #1 Google search result garners 27.6% of all clicks. – Here’s What We Learned About Organic Click Through Rate, Backlinko

SEO Opportunities 

Although SEO often seems like a moving target, if you focus on creating great content and excellent user experiences, you’ll find that you will be optimizing for search automatically. 

Invest in site speed. “When it comes to SEO, speed matters. Mobile sites that take more than 5-seconds to load have a 70% lower mobile session rate than those that load in under five seconds. According to Google, for every second that a mobile page load is delayed, conversions can fall by up to 20%.”  – safari digital

Ensure you are using structured data. “Structured data is becoming increasingly vital, and it allows your content to be better understood by search engines. Google offers you a Structured Data Testing Tool that you can use to familiarize yourself with the concept and start applying structured data for your website and landing pages. This helps to deliver rich results from your website or landing pages to appear on SERPs.” – Search Engine Watch 

Target “People Also Ask” questions. Use PAA questions to optimize your content to appear in these results. Consider: 

• “Adding questions and answers to your content (don’t limit yourself to just the bottom of the page)
• Using the right headings to mark up such elements (h1, h2, h3, whatever works for your page)
• Copying the formatting of results that are currently appearing in PAA.”

– Moz

Evolve your content for voice search. Voice search is increasing in popularity. So, you need to make sure your content is built for voice. For example, “the average reading level of a voice search result is 9th grade.” Page speed is also important in voice search SEO. “The average voice search result page loads in 4.6 seconds (52% faster than the average page).” – Here’s What We Learned About Voice Search SEO, Backlinko

Invest some time in understanding how AI can help boost your SEO. “AI-powered SEO uses AI tools to analyze keywords and your site performance to determine which steps can help you rank higher in search results. AI can analyze data, see which pages rank above yours, and tell you how to raise your brand’s profile. Google’s BERT and Rankbrain algorithms, for example, are powered by AI.” — rockcontent

Optimize for voice search. “Voice search is rapidly becoming a crucial tool for reaching a wider audience, especially as voice assistants proliferate across devices globally.” In fact, by the end of 2024, the number of voice-activated assistants is expected to surpass 8.4 billion. – Everything You Need To Know About Voice Search Optimization, thrive