Can You Keep Up With SEO Trends in 2024?

With the rise of AI-generated content and some major search engine algorithm updates, it’s more important than ever to keep your marketing strategy agile and competitive if you’re going to place high on the SERPs. SEO trends in 2024 and beyond will be more than just link-building and keyword research; you’ll have to keep up with rapid advancements in AI tools like ChatGPT and create even more interactive content across multiple platforms and social media pages.

Sound like a lot? Don’t panic – we can break down the future of search engine optimization for you so you can keep your conversions high and your web pages on the first page of the SERPs — no matter what year it is.

The Future of SEO and Machine Learning

Last year, artificial intelligence had quite a moment. Natural language learning models and generative AI saw rapid advancements, but have they really changed the world of content creation as we know it? Kind of.

The digital landscape has seen a flood of AI-generated content – but a lot of it is not high-quality. AI still struggles with many simple tasks, such as knowing the order of the alphabet and determining true information from false.

Google Search has been using AI for over a decade, but they have recently begun to use it in a way that might affect your organic traffic and click-through rate. On rare occasions, it may place misinformation at the top of the search engine results page (SERP).

Search Generative Experience (SGE)

Search Generative Experience (SGE) is a generative AI that has changed how Google’s SERPs work. In response to a search query, users are now presented with AI-generated content at the top of the page.

Google announced SGE in 2023 as a way to revolutionize user experience by allowing for more descriptive search queries and a quicker gist of the topic – which could lead to a rise in clickless searches.

Previously featured snippets and sponsored ads would be at the top of the search rankings. With SGE, an AI-generated answer or even image takes the top position. With users finding their answer in the first position of the SERPs, they may be less likely to look further for relevant content and click on your link.

Like featured snippets, SGE does include links to websites where the answer can be found. Featured snippets gave one website the top spot, whereas SGE gave it to three. But it also pushes other organic searches further down the SERPs.

While this function hasn’t rolled out completely, to guarantee SEO success, you need to be proactive – so how can you do that?

Double-Down on E-E-A-T in Your SEO Strategy

When Google indexes a site, it prioritizes sites with good E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. This will likely grow in importance as more AI-generated content hits the web.

So what does this look like for your content strategy? It means collaborating with subject matter experts (SME) to develop high-quality content and boost your expertise. Author bios that show the helpful content actually comes from humans who know what they’re talking about will start becoming more common as SEO professionals try to differentiate themselves from AI.

It also means developing strong, trusted brand signals, causing backlinks and link building to become increasingly important as ranking factors. Schema markups that signal your qualifications to the search algorithm will also help.

Stay On Top of Algorithm Changes and New Core Web Vitals

Technical SEO experts are all too familiar with how Google likes to change things up. This year will be no different – in fact, there are already some major changes we know are coming. Google intends to faze out third-party internet cookies in 2024. Also, Google’s Core Web Vital metric – First Input Delay (FID) – will be replaced by Interaction to Next Paint (INP) in March.

The loss of cookies means that you have to be much more proactive about gathering your target audience’s info when they land on your website. And the new FID metric will mean designing a responsive, interactive user experience is all the more important.

But these aren’t likely to be the only changes Google rolls out this year – so you need to keep on your toes and keep an eye out for major algorithm updates.

Optimize For Voice Search

Optimizing voice search will be especially important for local businesses – but even ecommerce stores can benefit from it. Voice search has been steadily on the rise, especially when the user intent is to find a local business to shop at.

Optimizing for voice search is similar to other SEO efforts, but voice assistants often rely on local directories such as Google Business Profiles or Yelp. Practicing good local SEO can help boost your voice search profile.

Voice search keywords also tend to be more conversational and natural to how we actually speak — so keywords tend to be longer. You need to make sure your website is also optimized for mobile since that’s the primary device people turn to when voice searching.

Utilize Niche Long-Tail Keywords

If you want to attract leads, the more specific the keywords the better. You may be tempted to try and place on the SERPS for keywords with high search volume, but the key to SEO success is actually doing the opposite. Zero search volume keywords are set to be a major lead-generating trend in 2024, and if you want your online presence to thrive, you had better get on board.

Partner With SEO Experts

Is your schedule too busy to keep up with the ever-changing digital landscape? Does monitoring digital metrics give you a headache?

Achieving SEO success is a full-time job – we know. There’s no shame in getting some help if you’ve already got your hands full. That’s where we come in. Our experts have the knowledge you need to stay on top of SEO trends in 2024 and beyond. Contact us today, and we’ll keep your SEO and content marketing strategies fresh — no matter what year it is.