6 important Search Engine Ranking Factors in 2020

First page ranking on Google is very hard to achieve these days due to a number of factors. But these top six  factors will  help your website to rank better on all search engines and increase traffic as well..

1. Content Length

The length and relevance of content is an important ranking factor this year.Google evaluates content based on its relevance.It is getting easier to rank relevant content above 1500 words using appropriate keywords. Longer content ranks better because it has potential to earn more backlinks

2. Quality of backlinks  

High quality back links from contextual websites and  high domain authority media websites are still considered to be a significant ranking factor for all types of  websites, but it is not the number one ranking factor like it used to be. More backlinks show  that the website is getting popular and a sudden increase in traffic as a result. The backlinks and high quality content will work in tandem to get a higher ranking in 2020.

3. Social Signals

Social signals are  playing a much more vital role in engaging customers and driving traffic for a number of websites, so it is believed to be a major ranking factor in 2020.The number of likes, shares, comments and engagement   are very much important in a brand's success and failure in 2020.

4. Mobile first

We are seeing an increase in searches from mobile devices compared to desktop.This indicates a significant increase in mobile users in 2020. Mobile-first index means it is mandatory to have a mobile -optimised version of the website to ensure that your website rank high on Google.

5. Page Loading Speed

Page loading speed is a key ranking factor as  slow website's user experience is poor. Fast loading websites give a better user-experience. Desktop websites should load in less than 3 seconds and mobile websites should load in 2 seconds or less.There are practical ways to speed up the website by reducing the size of images and also by caching the  web pages.

6. Encryption

There is a strong mutual relationship  between HTTPS encrypted websites and first page rankings in Google.Google  confirmed that  HTTPS encrypted websites will rank better than the HTTP ones. The only solution is to buy and implement a new SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate. This certificate is used to encrypt the data that travels between a computer and a website.

Other important ranking factors are user experience, H1/H2 headings , diversified anchor text etc.All successful  SEO agencies and professionals are making sure that their websites are optimised using these factors. 

The Future of Digital Marketing in the UK

As predicted during 2016, mobile technologies, VR advancements, and wearable gears are the definitive focus of the year, and almost every digital marketer in the UK is jumping on the train.

Businesses are starting to scope new and original ways to incorporate these kinds of technologies into their own marketing strategies. UK digital marketers should also have in mind on a couple of things that are regaining popularity during the year.

Revival of silent videos

The trend came back unexpectedly on 2017 touted because of the “swipe left” phenomenon: while 80 percent of internet users own a mobile device, average video viewing time is 1.7 seconds. It means users are consuming content so fast they are not even listening to it.

Because consumer attention is a scarce resource, marketers have had to come up with savvier solutions for their contents. For example, many have chosen to pack a punch at the beginning of the clip, an immediate hook in the first couple of seconds.

For example, the social media clip that Apple pushed to showcase the release of the iPhone 7 was a simplistic clip with frames changing every 0.5 seconds.

Task of the community managers

2016 became the year of the community managers, and 2017 is not going to be any different. Brands keep thinking social media is their one-trick pony, bur brands that succeed in the digital market are not pushing 10 tweets a day.

Consumers don’t want to see brands selling their stuff on social media. They want to see interesting stories, funny content, and other creative ways to sell an idea, rather than a specific product.

More so, social media has added humanity to online conversations as more and more people can interact with the product creators. They can give feedback in real time, lay out their opinions, criticise, share, and even create their own representations of a marketing stunt through memes, reviews, tutorials, and more.

So, the responsibilities of the community manager are not to schedule daily tweets, but to sort out creative ways to open communication lines with their consumers and make them feel a part of what they are consuming.

In other words, community managers should become the human face if the company and provide the brand of a personality and values.

Setback of live content

Streaming content is problematic because it is just not working out. Despite its immense potential to receive live comments from their consumers, most UK brands don’t seem to realise how to manage it.

Often times the production values are too low or the content is too boring. Without a real high-value exchange, live content is not going to have an impact on consumers.

More so, watching live content spends time and requires full attention, so the streaming event really has to be worth it.

Experian , for instance, is holding successful chats via Snapchat, YouTube Live, and Periscope to talk with consumers about their financial issues.

Democratisation of content

During 2017, brands will need to engage and connect with their clients better than ever before, because nowadays consumers can share and interact with almost any kind of content on the web, as well as create their own.It means companies are not competing with other brands anymore, they are not competing with the entire Internet.

For example, YouTube is still the powerhouse of the web, hoarding almost 70 percent of the entire web traffic, and the most viewed videos on the site are product reviews. It’s a rather complex idea for most companies as more than half of US and UK consumers check out a YouTube review before buying a product.

Consistent user engagement

The key is creating consistent user engagement through their digital content. Anything the brand publishes should amass retweets, favourites, shares, comments, likes, dislikes, or whatever it is on the social media of their preference.

On Facebook, the goal is to obtain shares and reactions as most people are not commenting anymore; on Instagram, the goal is to obtain comments; and on YouTube, the goal is to get subscriptions and likes.

The quality of the “amateur”

Any company wanting to inspire constant user engagement has to accept that their audience now possesses a broad range of tools (like Instagram’s Boomerang or Facebook Live) that can create better and more engaging pieces of content than the stuff brands are developing at their laboratories.

In fact, a 2016 survey found that 85 percent of the users find user-generated content (UGC) more interesting and influential than brands’ videos and photos. Another study ground shoppers who interacted with UGC beforehand are 97 percent more likely to convert to a retailer.

Digital marketing researchers have found audiences prefer “amateur” content because it looks more genuine, and such phenomenon will only keep increasing as brands fail to understand is no longer interesting to see fully-commercial ads that are only showing a product for sale.

It means there will be a surge of UKdigital marketers plunging into the UGC branch.