How do you achieve SEO success in 2021, and what should you focus on? In this article, you will learn which effective SEO optimization strategies will bring you the greatest success in 2021.

Core Web Vitals

According to information from Google, Core Web Vitals will play a fundamental role in your ranking in 2021. So, how can you optimally prepare your website for these updates, and what are the most important web metrics? Web metrics are performance parameters that Google takes into account when evaluating your site:

• CLS. A fundamental performance metric that indicates how quickly a page renders. → Indicates the responsiveness of the page;
• FID. This parameter indicates the total loading time of the page, including all scripts;
• LCP. The loading time required for the main screen.

If you believe the words of Google's management, these web metrics significantly influence a website's search engine ranking.

Use Google Search Console to identify the URLs that need to be optimized.

The optimization itself depends on how your site is structured. For example, the measures required for a WordPress site can differ significantly from those for a Shopify site. In principle, however, you must identify the subpages of your website that have a poor rating in order to work on them individually.

• Go to your Google Search Console and then to "Core Web Vitals"
• Page is being analyzed
• "Weak" URLs are identified and must be edited individually

Google Passage Ranking

In October of last year, Google announced its new search tool called "Snippets." With the help of this technology, Google can now analyze specific sections of a website. Currently, about 7%-10% of search queries are already displayed in the form of snippets.

How does the new "Snippets" technology work?

Google can now rank a specific excerpt of your page, also known as a "snippet," in the SERPs. This technology is similar to an improved version of featured snippets, which is why all the main factors that influence page ranking still apply. The only difference is that the checked page, provided it is correctly organized and optimized, has an increased chance of ranking.

Mini-pages

With the help of snippets, Google can now evaluate and rank individual sections of your website as a mini-page. To do this, the content of the page must be divided into appropriate sections, each of which describes a "subtopic." In addition, it is all the more important that H1-H6 tags are formatted correctly. It can therefore be assumed that longer, structured texts rank better than those that are short and unstructured.

Visual Search

Visual search refers to online searching using image content. This means that neither text nor a voice command is entered for the search query; instead, an uploaded image, a screenshot, or a photo found on the internet is used. Based on current trends, an even greater increase in visual search is expected in 2021. Almost 40% of internet users have already used visual search, either consciously or unconsciously. Today, Google Lens is capable of identifying about 1 billion objects.

Domain Authority

In the past, a website's authority was measured by the number of websites linking to it. However, this is no longer the case. Websites are now evaluated based on their expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. This principle is known as E-E-A-T. Google's current recommendations for website quality assessment are directly linked to E-E-A-T.

Although E-E-A-T has always played a relatively important role in rankings, its significance has increased significantly of late. Google has even stated that it aims to rank only reliable sources, with E-E-A-T being the key factor. All of this suggests that Google strives to rank only content created and published by experts and professionals in their respective fields.

Video continues to gain momentum

According to Cisco statistics, video content will account for 82% of all internet traffic by early 2022. Surprisingly, even 82% does not meet the demands of global internet users. Despite the fact that there is more video content on the internet today than ever before, nearly 45% of respondents said they would like to see more video content. For you, this means that using video messages on your website can improve your UX and help you keep up with SEO trends.

Selected video snippets

As you may have already noticed, video snippets are becoming increasingly common on Google. However, to get a video snippet onto the first page of Google, you need to keep a few points in mind.

• Video SEO optimization: To understand what a specific video is about, Google uses its title, tags, and description. Choosing the right keywords and writing a clear description is a must!
• Creating a YouTube channel: Did you know that YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world? It's twice as big as Bing!
• Choosing a subcategory for your video on YouTube (IT, travel, sports, etc.) makes it easier for Google to identify your video's content and display it as a snippet in search results.

Conclusion

SEO is a constantly evolving process that grows in importance every year, yet becomes more difficult and complex as the number of websites increases. It is therefore worth seeking professional help for your SEO. Sign up now for a free consultation.