Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is the most important strategy for online based businesses today because success in business depends on visibility. Getting your website or landing page on the first page of Google Search is essential to increase website traffic and revenue.

The conditions used by various search engines to determine the relative position of a website on it's result page changes from year to year, and it is very important to keep up to date and optimize your website whenever there is a change in the search engine algorithm.

Here are the important trends you should follow to win the SEO race in 2019!

1) Technical SEO is the way forward!

Technical SEO improvement should be a major area for you to invest in, in 2019. With website development language and methods growing in complexity and efficiency, you need to keep your sites up to date as well.

Some key areas you should focus on are:

• Speed: Google rewards websites which are simple and quick to load. Website speed is a HUGE determinant for search engines, and the time it takes for your page to load is directly related to how high you rank on search engine results. Some quick fixes you can do right away to increase website speed are optimizing the number and size of image files on your website, reducing the number of plug-ins you are using and using a good website hosting service.
• JavaScript: Learning the basics and understanding JavasScript, and its potential to affect your SEO campaign is a must have skill you should have. JScript, simply put, allows search engines to  “crawl” and “analyze” your website. A mistake here, and your website will lose rank very quickly. Learning the basics of JavaScript may be a very useful skill in 2019.
• PWA or Progressive Work Applications: A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a web application that uses modern techniques to deliver an app-like experience to users. You should consider upgrading your website to a PWA because of the various benefits offered to users such as Offline Access and Push Notification among others. PWAs are the next big thing and will surely set you apart from your competition!

2) Hello, Siri!

Market research and prediction statistics show that 50 percent of all searches will be done by voice by 2020. Users will use devices like Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomePod to complete most of their searches without even looking at a screen! You need to be ready for this change and adapt your website accordingly.

Voice searches are almost always longer than typed searches, and you must thus adapt your SEO accordingly. Using keywords smartly is the way to succeed and you must try to incorporate commonly spoken phrases, such as “What”, “Where”, “How” and “When” into your web page slugs and page keywords.

3) Mobile Optimization:

2019 is the year of Google mobile first index, so if you aren’t ready and your website isn't mobile optimized, you’re going to lose massive SEO points and de-rank your way to the bottom. With mobile first indexing, Google will now start using the mobile version of your website as the first criteria in deciding where it should place your web page on it's search results. People are now increasingly using their phones for performing quick searches and it makes a lot of sense to prepare for this traffic.

Is your website mobile optimized? Check it here: Google mobile friendly tester

If you want to learn more about SEO and how it can impact your business in a positive way, head over to FMIGuild and join a large community of online business owners who are learning to create, grow and succeed in this industry! Click on the banner for the course on SEO and Marketing by the expert authority Natalie Minh(MS,MBA).

Looking for experts to design a SEO friendly, mobile optimized and Voice Search ready website for you? Go to NatalieMinhInteractive and ask for a website analysis today!