Trends in SEO in 2020

31/01/2020
  • Let's review the trends in SEO in 2020. This year looks to be busy, so we had better be ready for what is to come. Take note!

  • It is impressive what the organic positioning can change in a short time. Of all the disciplines and strategies of online marketing, it is undoubtedly the most dynamic. 

    Let me do a little of SEO-fiction and, seeing the way the wind is blowing, consider those that I think are going to be the trends in SEO in 2020. I do not believe that I am going to be much wrong but, as always, we are open to your opinions. Take a look to which I anticipate and let´s talk later. 
  • #1 – Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence all out

  • It is no secret at this point that Google is focused on using artificial intelligence to boost its algorithm. Even so, the last movements of the past year clearly marked the path along future will pass

    In November BERT was revealed, which represents a breakthrough in semantic web by being able to establish bidirectional relationships between the words of a sentence. 

    This, which sounds so complicated - and technically it is - has a very simple practical application, making the search engine can understand in a more organic way the way people express themselves. 
  • Although its deployment is progressive and it was not clear when it would be operational in Spanish, the truth is that they rushed and BERT began to work in searches in this language a couple of weeks ago. 

    The trend is clear and obvious, but there is not much we can do to adapt. It is not necessary to adapt on page or off page SEO nor is it a matter of generating authority or linkbuilding. In this case, what is updated is the part of how the algorithm understands searches, and that is outside the web. 
  • #2 – Recurring core updates

  • Over the years, many updates have been made in the core of the algorithm. What happens is that since 2018 they have become fearsome, seeing the disaster known as Medical Update for many sites. Then new updates have arrived, without a fixed periodicity but without pause.  

    With each update, the results have been debugged, leaving winners and losers. Pages with good rankings that sink and others that recover. 

    The only constant that can be found, considering that the core are transversal and do not pursue or enhance specific things, is that the pages that suffer the most are those of topics such as health or financial products. Hence, the authority of sensitive sites like YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) is being increasingly looked with care. 
  • If we see a traffic drop just after the release of one of these updates, it does not mean that we have suffered a penalty. Actually, the search engine criteria have been updated and it is “rewarding” the content of another page. 

    In this regard, we cannot do anything for technical SEO purposes. Recommendations come through content. Try to raise it to the maximum level, make it deep, detailed, interesting and, above all, that it is aligned to the user's search intentions providing real value.  
  • #3 – Position Zero

  • Without a doubt, one of the SEO trends in 2020 that is less funny, but not because of that we will look the other way. 

    Google has been using the content that users generate through our websites and blogs for too long to respond to searches

    The problem for us is at the moment that "invents" formats that allow anyone searching to obtain a solution within the search engine itself without having to click on the link that generates a visit. 

    This means less organic traffic, while we do much of the work for Google. 

    To do this, they use the so-called featured snippets, which are located at the top of the SERPs or results pages. That is the reason why they receive the name position zero. In addition, they are rich formats, so they show images and lists. This together with the relevance they acquire thanks to the outstanding position. 

    Until this month, there was an interesting advantage for the owner of the content, and that is, if he achieved position zero , he also used to have additionally his URL with a Top 10 ranking that allowed him to be on the first page. This way some traffic was dug up. 

    This has gone down in history, so as of now, duplicated results are not longer published and they send the URL to the second page or even further back. 
  • You have to get into the fight, so I will give you some advice to try: answer questions directly. This is exactly what Google prefers, direct answers. To do this, optimize your content regularly, that is: placing the key text in the first part of the page, highlighting keywords with bold, correctly using H1 hierarchizing the content and, if it fits, using summary tables that can fit in the featured snippet

    Finally - and if you have not already done so - this is the time to get down to work with rich snippets to try to improve visibility and get into those zero results. 

    Be sure to apply them to your pages correctly and keep in mind that you must use schema.org to make the markup. Looking ahead to 2020, data-vocabulary is no longer in effect when it becomes obsolete, but only the pages 
  • These 3 trends in SEO in 2020 will be the source of much talk, but not the only ones. What else do you think we should consider?

  • Images | Unsplash.

Jordi Ordóñez


Jordi Ordóñez is an eCommerce and SEO consultant with more than 16 years of experience in online projects. He has advised clients such as Castañer, Textura, Acumbamail, Kartox or Casa Ametller. Write in the official blog of Prestashop, BrainSINS, Marketing4ecommerce, Photography eCommerce, Socialancer, eCommerce-news.es and SEMRush among others. He is an editor on the Oleoshop blog.

search posts

Last posts

This website stores data as cookies to enable the necessary functionality of the site, including analytics and personalization. You can change your settings at any time or accept the default settings.

cookies policy

Essentials

Necessary cookies help make a web page usable by activating basic functions such as page navigation and access to secure areas of the web page. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.


Personalization

Personalization cookies allow the website to remember information that changes the way the page behaves or the way it looks, such as your preferred language or the region in which you are located.


Analysis

Statistical cookies help web page owners understand how visitors interact with web pages by collecting and providing information anonymously.


Marketing

Marketing cookies are used to track visitors on web pages. The intention is to show ads relevant and attractive to the individual user, and therefore more valuable to publishers and third-party advertisers.