Content is king!
Of course, this year's popular conference for trade visitors once again impressed with top-class speakers. Spread across three themed rooms, almost every search engine optimizer got their money's worth. From e-commerce SEO, with a focus on increasing performance and sales, to SEO coding including optimization measures in terms of page speed, SEO traffic and user-centric SEO dashboards, to onsite/offsite SEO, i.e. the basics of backlink and keyword optimization.
But what new trends can we look forward to in the coming year? Which methods are still here to stay? According to Patrick Klingberg, Managing Director of artaxo, content remains king! Convincing website visitors of your content in just a few seconds: that is the fine art of online marketing. At a time when websites are no longer convincing due to their uniqueness, content marketing is becoming increasingly important in order to manifest your own expert status on the web.
SEO 2019: Was everything better in the past?
But which content is the right one and how do I know which SEO adjustments need to be made? One thing is clear: the life of an SEO has not become any easier over the past few years. It was nice to have a Google algorithm that was made up of 200 ranking factors and could therefore be used as a benchmark for optimization measures.
Today, this algorithm is created using machine learning. Nobody really understands it - not even Google itself - and yet it certainly works. It is clear that the weightings now differ across industries. The classic SEO basics, such as technology, content, links, etc., are still relevant. However, due to the inclusion of signals that are difficult to measure - keyword search intent or user behavior - SEO in 2019 is far less transparent than it used to be.
FAQ page snippet still all the rage
For Johannes Beus, founder and CEO of sistrix, his presentation focused on the SERPs. The Search Engine Result Pages need to be analyzed more than ever. You should also look beyond your own horizon. How is your direct competition positioned, how can you learn from their web presence and optimize it on your own website if necessary? Unsurprisingly, basics such as keyword sets and strong backlinks once again come into play here.
On the other hand, FAQ snippets are a point that many SEO experts are focusing on in addition to traditional SEO measures. This was emphasized in particular by the best speaker at SEO Day 2017, Rene Dhemant, as well as Maximilian Muhr and Jan Achtermann (formerly Urlaubspiraten). The SERPs can be easily dominated with simple measures. With the help of the accordion dropdown, websites gain space in Google searches, which can be a real game changer, especially in the mobile view. The fact that you also offer users a quick way to answer specific questions is the cherry on top of the cake, so to speak.
And what else in the SEO world?
What else did SEO Day 2019 have to offer? Topics such as Google index maintenance, link juice optimization and customer journeys will remain relevant in 2020. SEOs can also continue to score points by using synonyms, semantics and annotations. A font size of at least 16px should be standard for every good website anyway.
When it comes to lazy loading, the traffic light principle of "green is green, it doesn't get any greener" still applies; keep an eye out for keyword cannibalism; oh, and anyone who previously thought that JavaScript and SEO were a thorn in each other's side was proven wrong by Google's Webmasters Trends analyst Martin Splitt.
All in all, SEO Day 2019 was a complete success and cries out for a repeat. And lo and behold, the time and place for the ninth specialist conference for search engine optimization has already been set for November 5, 2020 (also at the RheinEnergieSTADION in Cologne). And it's clear that FUF // Frank und Freunde will be there again.