7 SEO Trends for 2024
As we step into 2024, the dynamics of SEO are shifting, influenced by technological advancements and changing user behaviors. This guide delves into the top 2024 SEO trends, spotlighting strategies, and insights crucial for staying ahead of your competitors. From leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies to refining your content approach, these trends emphasize the importance of pursuing excellence, adaptability, and foresight in search engine optimization.
Table of Contents
1. Search Generative Experience & Bard
2024 marks a pivotal year for Google to integrate generative AI in its search results with search generative experience (SGE). SGE became available via Search Labs in May 2023. It was estimated that SGE would launch to the public before 2024, but that didnât happen. Itâs safe to assume that Google will roll out SGE to the public at some point in 2024, and it will shake up the SEO world. Itâs predicted that some sites may lose up to 50% of their organic traffic. The SGE result will take up the majority of the real estate on the search engine results page (SERP), answering user queries right on the SERP and making it more difficult to generate traffic organically, especially for informational queries.
In addition to SGE, Google also released its AI chatbot, Bard, in March 2023. Bard, like SGE, is still considered to be in experimental mode, meaning that Google hasnât integrated it with their search engine in a similar manner that Bing has integrated Open AIâs language models for their users, branded as Copilot. Currently, the experience with Bing and Copilot is a back-and-forth toggle and not a complete integration of the two. Itâs easy to see how these AI chatbots will inevitably have a symbiotic relationship with search engines.
There are browser extensions that enable the ability to have Bard on the SERP, responding to your queries, in addition to getting results from Google. As Google continues to improve Bard, more people will utilize these extensions that allow its use on the SERP. Eventually, itâs not difficult to think that Google will just integrate Bard right on the SERP as part of the search engineâs user experience without downloading an extension. Undoubtedly, just like SGE, the integration of Bard in search results will change the way people interact with search engines, thus transforming SEO strategy and tactics. Will Bard become integrated with Googleâs search engine experience in 2024? No one knows, but at the very least, more people will be utilizing the browser extensions to have the AI chat function on their SERP alongside SGE, inevitably changing search behavior.
Preparing for SGE and the potential of Bard becoming more widely used as part of the search experience will require a comprehensive understanding of the remaining SEO trends covered in this guide.
2. EEAT
The concept of EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) has gained prominence, focusing on the credibility of brands. Content needs to be written by people who have experience and expertise in the topics that theyâre covering. This is especially important for websites that fall under the Your Money Your Life (YMYL) category â meaning if a website has the potential to significantly impact the health, finances, or safety of a person.
This goes beyond just having an authorâs name displayed on the content page, although that is one small element of conveying EEAT. Consider some of the following high-level tips for improving the EEAT of your website:
- Have credentialed subject matter experts write content
- Writers should contextually reference their experience with the topic
- Reference high authority sources in content when making claims
- Have a âfact checkerâ or âreviewerâ for all content â someone other than the writer
- This person should also have expertise and experience in the subject
- Have a transparent editorial policy that website visitors can read
- Establish topical authority with content pillar pages and have associated long-tail content to support the content pillar pages
- Create relationships with high-authority websites relevant to your niche and leverage those relationships for backlinks and displaying authority and trust signals on your site
There are many nuances and elements to ensuring you have a comprehensive EEAT strategy. Although the above bullet points are not a complete list, they are a good starting point. Following these, EEAT best practices will become increasingly important in 2024 and for the years to come.
3. Product Led SEO Strategies
In his book âProduct-Led SEO,â Eli Schwartz delves into leveraging products as the primary driver for organic search growth rather than traditional keyword-researched content-based strategies. Schwartz emphasizes that by focusing on building great products or product experiences online, businesses can naturally attract and retain users.
This approach contrasts with the standard SEO models of churning out vast content in hopes of ranking on search engines. Product-led SEO posits that when users find genuine value in a product-oriented experience, they engage more deeply and become natural advocates, leading to organic backlinks and positive user signals. This strategy, therefore, promotes sustainable organic growth anchored in user satisfaction and product excellence.
With the evolution of SGE, the product-led SEOâs significance becomes even more pronounced. SGE aims to deliver a more personalized, engaging, and efficient search experience by generating results tailored to usersâ needs. In this SGE era, merely producing voluminous content wonât suffice. Instead, businesses that offer meaningful product experiences that resonate with user intentions will naturally rise in prominence.
Product-led SEO strategies are also an important element of building brand awareness and establishing EEAT with your target audience and with Google. Heading into 2024, one of the only sure ways to secure organic traffic in the generative AI search engine era is to have product-led SEO strategies that deliver real value to your users.
4. Brand Building
In 2024, SEO transcends beyond mere keywords and links; it’s a vital brand-building tool. A strong brand presence online improves trust, recognition, and, search rankings. Integrating brand values and messaging consistently across all platforms is key.
Brand building has always played a pivotal role in the landscape of SEO, but it will become even more important with the rollout of SGE. While traditional SEO practices focus on optimizing content, ensuring sound technical SEO, and getting backlinks, establishing a strong brand presence amplifies these efforts and fosters organic growth.
When a brand is recognized and trusted by users, it translates to increased click-through rates from search results, as users are more likely to select a brand they are familiar with over an unknown entity. Search engines, in turn, recognize these engagement metrics as indicators of quality and relevance, often rewarding established brands with higher rankings.
Moreover, a strong brand can increase organic mentions and backlinks from reputable sources, further bolstering SEO efforts. In essence, brand building and SEO are symbiotic, with each enhancing the potency of the other in the quest for online visibility and user trust.
5. Multiplatform SEO Strategies
Multiplatform SEO strategies involve optimizing content across various platforms and search engines, acknowledging usersâ diversified online search behavior. Some of the platforms that marketers and SEO professionals should consider making an integral part of their strategy include:
- TikTok: The popularity of TikTok has exploded over the past few years, with 150 million monthly U.S. users.
- YouTube: The video platform is the second most popular search engine in the world, and is owned by Alphabet, so YouTube videos will continue to be prevalent on the SERPs.
- Pinterest: 80% of people who use Pinterest say the platform helped them discover new brands or products weekly.
- Amazon: The number one ecommerce platform in the world has to be a part of any ecommerce businessâs SEO strategy. If not, you are going to be leaving money on the table.
- LinkedIn: The business networking social media platform LinkedIn, has over 1 billion members and should be a key aspect of any B2B SEO strategy.
Which platforms you decide to dedicate your marketing efforts to will depend on your company and who your target audience is. The right SEO marketing mix must be determined based on research and data analysis. But itâs guaranteed that your SEO strategy needs to consider more than just Googleâs search engine if you want a successful organic growth marketing strategy in 2024.
6. Strategic Backlink Building & Forums
The focus on strategic backlink building emphasizes quality over quantity. It’s about acquiring links from reputable, relevant sources that genuinely boost the website’s authority and drive targeted traffic.
Long gone are the days of PBNs and niche irrelevant guest posting to generate backlinks. Backlinks must be secured from highly authoritative domains relevant to your niche. This is done through creating high-value, EEAT-driven content that educates people and helps solve their problems.
Additionally, in the age of AI-generated content, forums are making a big comeback on the SERPs. Forum results are showing up on quite a variety of queries, especially keywords with âreviewsâ or âbestâ as modifiers. The new discussions and forums SERP feature started appearing after Googleâs December 7th, 2023 algorithm update.
Answering questions and providing value to people on forums will become an aspect of strategic backlink building for many brands in 2024. It will also be worthwhile for some brands to start their forums, and to try and rank in the new forums and discussions SERP feature.
7. Optimizing Workflows with AI
AI is revolutionizing SEO workflows, offering tools for automation, predictive analysis, and data-driven decision-making. Embracing AI can significantly enhance efficiency and effectiveness in SEO strategies. The SEO who doesnât integrate AI into their workflows in 2024 will not be an SEO in 2025 â itâs that important. The companies that donât integrate AI into their workflows and processes in 2024 might not be companies in 2025.
AI has already started taking over the digital landscape in a massive way throughout 2023 with the release of ChatGPT 4-Turbo, custom GPTs, assistants API, and Gemini. Not to mention the countless AI tools that have come to market to assist with content writing, data analysis, and automation.
Weâre at the beginning of the AI boom, and those who donât take notice now will be left behind, wondering where all their organic traffic went â to a website with an AI-savvy SEO at the helm of their SEO strategy.
It should be noted that AI needs to be integrated into workflows intelligently and with great care. AI can still hallucinate quite a bit, and it shouldnât be overly relied upon. Humans still need to be an integral part of most SEO processes to ensure quality control is maintained. AI canât totally replace human SEOs â yet.
Why It’s Important To Stay On Top Of SEO Trends
Staying on top of SEO trends is vital for maintaining a competitive edge. It ensures that your strategies align with the latest algorithms, technologies, and user preferences, maximizing your online visibility and success.
Moreover, if youâre not actively preparing for SGE by building your brand with EEAT-driven product SEO strategies on all the platforms relevant to your audience in 2024, your competitors will be beating you on the SERPs by the end of the year, no doubt.
Will SEO be in demand in 2024?
Absolutely. The need for strategic and effective SEO has become increasingly crucial. Companies and brands that can adapt to these evolving trends and incorporate them into their digital marketing strategies are the ones that will thrive in the ever-changing online landscape. SEO in 2024 is about being relevant, authoritative, and user-centric, ensuring your content resonates with your audience and search engines alike. Staying informed and agile in your SEO practices is the key to unlocking sustained organic growth and visibility.
At Growth Skills, we are actively working on pursuing these strategic trends for our clients. Weâll continue to adjust and adapt our strategies as Google iterates on its algorithm, advancements in AI are made, and consumers continue to become increasingly savvy multiplatform researchers seeking the highest quality content, services, and products.
