▍ Introduction

2019 is coming. As search engines’ algorithm and mechanism has been continually adjusted, you might be wondering what
is the best SEO optimization strategy for this year? How to tailor your original strategy to the new trend? Has the
mainstream SEO methods evolved? Well, we are here to share a SEO guide for 2019 with you, providing you some
directions and key indexes. Hope you can achieve better results for your SEO works!

This article will focus on the 2019 SEO trends. It is for the audiences who have some basic SEO knowledge. If you have
any questions regarding the article, you’re welcomed to contact us! Let’s roll!

 

▍Chapter 1: User experience still matters

Frankly speaking, after a few years of learning and trying, people already have a basic understanding on the
relationships among search engines, websites, and users. This understanding will not be changed easily, at least
for the current situation.

Take Google as an example, they have proposed “the 3 most important factors for SEO” in 2016. And the algorithm
Rankbrain has been one of the most important mechanisms invented by Google, which we will explain in detail later.

Please take a look at the image below. Rankbrain applies AI (artificial intelligence) in its algorithm. Let’s assume
that a user inputs a keyword on the search engine, and website A, B, and C appear on the search results
(the left image). The user chooses website C and browses it for a while (the so-called “Dwell time”) before he/she
leaves. As a consequence, the search engine will consider that website C has a better performance than website A and B
for the keyword which the user inputs, and therefore next time when another user inputs the same keyword (the right
image), there’s a chance that website C will be listed at the first position on the search result page. This is how
Rankbrain works --- through self-conducted analysis and credits given to each website, it will keep adjusting the
rankings in order to achieve best results.

Of course, the real situations are far more complicated, but the spirit of Rankbrain is “to analyze user experience
and continue to optimize the rankings.”

This is why people have given up some dirty tricks of SEO. In addition to the fact that Google has launched more and
more mechanisms to attack black hat tricks, the biggest reason is that those tricks are not working anymore. Not only
are they ineffective but they also lead to punishments. It’s 2019 now, please don’t buy in the tricks which claim to
guarantee you a number 1 position of the rankings or any immediate effects. The best strategy is to understand your
users and put an effort in maintaining your website properly.

►  Below are some key indexes for user experiences you should focus on:

 

▍ Chapter 2: Keep track of your CTR

We mentioned “Rankbrain” and “Dwell time” in chapter 1, but don’t forget this, if users are not interested in clicking
your website at all, any more content optimization will be in vain.

Let’s use the example above again. Maybe website A and B have better content, but the user decides to click on website
C, if you were the owner of website A, would you feel frustrated?

To avoid situations like this, you should pay attention to CTR (Click Through Rate). CTR is a common term in the
Internet world. Except for SEO, it is used a lot in PPC too. To optimize the CTR for a website is very similar to
optimize the CTR for ads. The key point is to understand “how to trigger users’ interests within 3 seconds.” Perhaps
3 seconds are too long. Think about how fast it is when you browse a webpage or scan social media posts.

To make a long story short, one way to optimize CTR is to make your target audiences relate to your content. You
should focus on your target audiences and potential customers instead of providing some controversial content to
promote CTR. Using eye-catching but weird content is regarded as one of the black hat tricks too, which may make your
website blacklisted if the title and the content of your site is not relevant at all.

► Below are some key points of CTR which you should focus on:

 

▍ Chapter 3: Use “keywords” in a smarter way

As an important medium that allows the search engine to understand your website, keywords are something to focus on
in 2019 for sure.

However, there are some changes still. Today’s search engine is smarter and maturer in understanding keywords. The
purpose of the search engine is “to provide the most suitable search results” rather than “to provide search results
with the most keywords.” Filling tons of keywords in your website will only make the search engine hate your site. It
doesn’t help with your rankings, at all.

The biggest change for keywords in 2019 is that the search engine focuses more on the context to understand your
keywords.

As mentioned in chapter 1 (so you know why we said it is the most important chapter), use your keywords appropriately.
Do not fill lots of keywords on your website. Try to think about how to arrange your content, improve the quality and
readability, and use data analysis tools to understand your content effects.

►  Below are some key points of keywords that you should focus on:

 

▍ Chapter 4: Understand the essence of data analysis

In recent years, data analysis tools (such as Google Analytics) have sprung up everywhere. You can find your tool
easily and simply pick it up on the Internet, and it might even be free of charge. But do you really understand the
essence of data analysis?

“Data analysis” is a trendy term now. Any business discussion with “data analysis” added in the title could seem
classic. Well, for SEO, it’s the same. SEO needs you to apply a lot of data to evaluate the effects and to decide
areas to improve. If you don’t know data, then you will not be able to understand the problems of your website, not
to mention to take actions to improve your website. However, by “data” we are not talking about just checking how many
people click on your ads or enter your website. It is not that simple.

Digging out the facts about your website from the analysis report and transforming the data into insights are
something you should do. Otherwise, numbers are just numbers. They don’t mean anything. To solve business problems,
you should have dozens of assumptions and conduct some experiments with variations, and then you should be able to
reach conclusions.

► SEO has a lot to do with data analysis. Below are some key points of data analysis which you should focus on:

 

▍ Chapter 5: Mobile-friendly

We know that the popularity of mobile devices is not a new concept anymore; therefore, we want to offer more
information about it:

I. Studies have shown that more and more people use mobile devices to connect to the Internet.

II. For both the developing and developed countries, the rate of people using mobile devices to connect to the Internet is
growing.

III. Around 60% of Google’s search requests are conducted via mobile phones.

Now, you must have the idea of what we will be emphasizing: whether your site is mobile-friendly. 

► About “mobile-friendly”, you should focus on:

☛ Here’s a useful tool made by Google: Mobile-Friendly Test 

 

▍ Chapter 6: Try to use video content for traffics

In the past, we emphasized on “traffic” a lot when talking about SEO. Whether you are trying O2O, social media or
messaging softwares, traffic is the key you will focus on. But in 2019, you should try to understand “video content”,
the effect of which may be better than your expectation.

Do you know that in 2018, Youtube has surpassed Bing, becoming the 2nd biggest search engine? Today, KOL marketing is
popular, even for elections, we can observe some online marketing campaigns. Video content marketing is ruling the
market. According to an article, more than 55% of Google’s search results pages include videos, and among them, 82%
are from Youtube.

However, we are not encouraging you to spend a great amount of money to ask some marketing agencies or KOLs to do
videos on Youtube for you. You should have a strategy and a plan before getting your hands on it.

► The concept of video content and social media is similar. You should focus on:

 

▍ Chapter 7: Voice search

Voice search allows users to “speak” to the device and conduct search queries. Apple Siri, Google Assistant and
Amazon Alexa are some examples.

According to a Google’s study, more than 55% of teenagers and 41% of adults use voice search more than once a day. Is
the number beyond your expectations? Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai has pointed out that around 20% of their mobile search
queries are made by voice search. Well, after looking at the numbers, are you interested in digging more about voice
search?

Most people use different terms and phrases for typing and speaking. Although the meaning may be the same, there are
differences in wordings. Hence, SEO for voice search will be different than the traditional SEO works.

► We know that this concept may be new for you, hence we provide below steps for you as a reference:

 

▍ Note

Above is our 2019 SEO guide. Are you ready for planning your 2019 SEO strategy? If you have any questions, please feel
free to contact us. You may be interested in our SEO service.