Enterprise SEO is unique. It’s SEO on a grand scale. And to stay competitive in 2017, enterprises will have to use new techniques to reach the top of search engines.
To help enterprise SEO Managers crack the top of first page results, we’ve gathered enterprise 2017 SEO trends to keep in mind moving forward. Here’s what the enterprise SEO experts had to share.
Epic Long Form Content
If you’re in SEO game, you know the power of long-form content for piquing SERP’s. Beth Carter, Chief Strategist at Clarient Creative shares why enterprises need to create epic content in 2017 and where to start.
As engagement factors such as time spent on page and bounce rates seem to be increasingly important in Google’s ranking algorithms, we’re already seeing enterprise SEO managers creating “epic” long-form content that packs tremendous value. Because creating this type of content requires a lot of resources, SEOs will focus on identifying existing posts that are already performing well and simply republish the post with additional content and depth. In fact, this won’t be a one-and-done venture. SEOs will come back to these posts throughout the year to quickly and efficiently build more value—and therefore create more SEO juice.
Rise of Power Pages
Ricardo Martinez, Founder of Perconvly builds on the idea of long form content. He shares why enterprises should use “power pages” to leapfrog search engine ranks.
In 2017, you are going to start seeing many more power pages. People are starting to realize content only matters when it is high quality and lengthy. Writing short articles just to have content is not enough anymore. Power pages have the ability to rank faster while providing much more value to readers, which is overall, what the search engines want.
Positive Mindshare
We’re seeing Enterprises hit the mark when it comes to optimizing on-page SEO elements. But competitive SEO will need more than that in 2017. Here’s Annkur Agarwal, Co-Founder of Pricebaba on what Enterprises need to reach the top of search results.
Having tracked Google’s approach to SEO, I’m expecting market perception and signals showing credibility to count more than standard onsite & offsite maths. I’m already seeing sites with zero optimization managing to rank very well due to good PR and specialization in their industry. Simply put, Google has more avenues to rank a site than ever before. Doing everything right on an SEO checklist won’t be as important as actually creating positive mindshare in the market.
Niche Content
Janil Jean from Logo Design Guru also touches on the point of search engines becoming more intelligent. She shares a few unique ideas for competitive enterprise SEO.
One trend that stands out in 2017 is AI and machine learning. I’m referring to the capability of Google’s RankBrain and its impact on SEO practices. We predict RankBrain will be using big data to dynamically create customized search results. If you want RankBrain to find your pages, consider creating very niche content for your audience. E.g. installing chatbots to pick and offer information to live visitors on your site based their preferences.
Featured Snippets
Search engine users are looking for answers. Enterprises providing direct solutions will bubble to the top of results pages. But why not take it one step further? Here’s Trey Gordner, Founder of Koios with his Enterprise SEO trend for 2017.
The new white whale of SEO is the featured snippet. In 2017, Google will continue its practice of scraping pages to display extended information directly in search results. Searchers perceive a featured snippet to be a badge of authority from Google. Enterprises that appreciate this fact will tailor their messaging to answer specific questions from prospects and format their content appropriately for Google’s snippet crawlers.
Influencer Marketing
Enterprises are looking for cost-effective ways to expand their digital influence. But the key to this idea is sustainability. Here’s David Mercer from SME Pals to explain the power influencer marketing has for the enterprise.
SEO has seen a shift toward influencer marketing in 2016. And this trend is only going to gather momentum. It offers a cost-effective way to gain long-term, sustainable reach and coverage (i.e. quality backlinks) than any other marketing technique. The reason? According to independent studies, bloggers are a far more trusted source of information than traditional endorsements. Unlike traditional endorsements, influencer marketing is not really a “paid” relationship – it’s more like a genuine friendship or mutually beneficial relationship that offers great search optimization potential. Big business still focuses on paid relationships, so there is a window of opportunity in 2017 to build genuine relationships with influencers and start growing your search visibility quickly.
Mobile vs. Desktop
Mobile has grown to become the dominant device for search over the past few years. And for enterprises looking to stay competitive in SERPs, they’ll have to adapt to the shift. Andy Kinsey from SEO Andy tells us why enterprises have to re-design their content for mobile.
In 2017, I see SEO continuing the ‘cat and mouse’ game between mobile and desktop. But by year’s end, I would expect every site optimizing for search engines to be focusing first on mobile vs. desktop as it diminishes in importance. On an enterprise level, this will be huge, it means many websites will shake up and redesign to offer mobile-friendly content (think Microsoft) rather than the current standard which provides a bad user experience.
Conversion-Focused Mobile Approach
SEO expert Anthony De Guzman takes the mobile shift one step further and discusses the topic from a conversion-focused angle.
With Google’s many mobile-related updates, such as the mobile-friendly boost and the more recent mobile-first index, it’s clear Google will focus their 2017 algorithm updates on mobile. The mobile-first index affects how a mobile version of a website impacts its overall rankings. Given that many enterprise businesses have alternate mobile pages with condensed content, it will be interesting to see how that content influences the page’s keyword relevance, and the impact Google’s Panda algorithm may have on it. That being said, I believe a mobile conversion-focused SEO approach will be the trend as that may correlate with Google’s definition of mobile user-friendliness.
Enterprise SEO Trends for 2017
Enterprises using new SEO techniques will find their content on top o SERPs in 2017. Thanks to our expert contributors for sharing the SEO knowledge.
