SEO Predictions for 2019

Search engine optimisation (SEO) continues to change and involve with Google regularly tweaking their algorithms in order to deliver their unrivalled search engine experience. 2018 has seen page speed, mobile first indexing and some broad algorithm updates changing how websites rank on SERPs. With these changes in mind, it opens the question, what will 2019 bring for SEO? We asked our SEO friends from across a range of sectors, what their predictions are for 2019 in SEO.

Firstly Simon Osbaldeston with over 3 years of SEO experience at Limitless Digital Group gives us an insight into what he thinks will matter in SEO for 2019.

“ My prediction for 2019 is much of the same. Google is moving towards a journey completion based approach to organic search so more stealth update disruption is likely while they tune their algorithms. As they expand their task-based features beyond bookings into other areas, we’ll see more competition for snippets and features and less success from the organic listings below. Long tail search with high intent (and the keyword here really is ‘intent’) will eat into head keyword search volumes, meaning another year of decline from parent keywords and an uptake in lower volume high conversion traffic. This means we must get better at the customer journey, get better at deep diving into our keyword reports, optimise our content for task completion before parent keywords.”

Sam Pennington, Technical SEO Manager with over a decade of digital experience delves into voice search and image search in SEO for 2019.

“ After years of talk about voice search being the next thing to dominate search, the industry will start to realise that voice only really serves informational queries and that it becomes less of a focus for many.

These people will then switch their attention to "image search" as this is a very untapped element of search and Google purchased a company called Tenor in 2018 which was a Gif search company and recently applied for a patent on an image tool which will help identify the contents on an image and make it relevant to search queries. Google will be looking to monetise some element of image search and SEO's will focus on how they can improve the strategy to been seen and gain traffic through this avenue.“

Gerry White experienced digital marketing specialising in SEO and Analytics as well as co-organiser at eCommerce Roundtable, www.takeitoffline.co.uk discusses the technical capabilities and challenges in SEO and how they will impact 2019.

“In 2019 SEO will largely build on the trends seen in 2018, Google is increasingly moving towards satisfying intent more than driving traffic to websites - so to drive the same traffic from search engines it's critical that websites are better at proving to Google that they are the most critical source or destination for the users intent. More importantly than ever will be an understanding of the technical requirements to show what and how you are talking about, whether this is through schema or through APIs - and understanding of entities will be increasingly critical. In addition, a broad understanding of everything from JavaScript through to UX will be required of SEO people.

Enterprise SEOs will be more reliant on ever sophisticated toolkits to be able to deliver at scale, on top of that education & advocacy will be critical for people to succeed in their careers. 

Understanding of voice, apps and the diversity of how search is accessed will be important but more companies should invest in fundamentals before trying to truly tackle the multi-channel world.“

Will Larter SEO specialist at Mayfly Internet Marketing gives us his thoughts on how SEO impacts big brands and link building.

“It's always hard to predict what any given year will give us in terms of SEO. However, I think that:

Finally, James Cordall is the Director of Digital Marketing for the Priory Group talks about quality and links.

“2018 saw major changes to the Google algorithm with the “Medic” update rolling out in August, this had a particular impact on healthcare sites with Google punishing low-quality sites.  I can only see this being further enforced in 2019, so I would highly recommend reading Googles E-A-T guidelines (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) and tailoring your site content accordingly. E-A-T guidelines can be implemented and adhered to by companies of all sizes so it can be a great leveller to help small companies gain ground in the SERP’s. Also, never miss an opportunity to get a backlink to your site (see above)”.

Be a part of the conversation on social and let us know your thoughts under #marketing2019!

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