The Future of SEO is here

Creating Amazing online experiences is the new SEO

Even though Google has been slowly making changes to their ranking algorithms, more recently they have come forward with documentation proving they are shifting the logic and reasoning behind their algorithms to organically rank.

Put simply, Google will be better supporting businesses who deliver amazing online experiences.

Greg Randall has been predicting and communicating this sea change since 2017 and has been very vocal about it.

Google has finally come forward and has published this significant change to ranking businesses in its search engine.

To read a detailed commentary on this change, click here to read an article written by Greg Randall on this topic.

Google's Statements

Below is a summary of key statements Google has made about this change...

The Chrome team recently announced Core Web Vitals, a set of metrics related to speed, responsiveness and visual stability, to help site owners measure user experience on the web. Core Web Vitals is a set of real-world, user-centred metrics that quantify key aspects of the user experience.

We're combining the signals derived from Core Web Vitals with our existing Search signals for page experience, which are mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines, to provide a holistic picture of the quality of a user's experience on a web page.

The page experience signal measures aspects of how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page. Optimizing for these factors makes the web more delightful for users across all web browsers and surfaces, and helps sites evolve towards user expectations on mobile. We believe this will contribute to business success on the web as users grow more engaged and can transact with less friction. This new holistic picture of experiences will be incorporated into our ranking criteria.

We plan to incorporate more page experience signals on a yearly basis to both further align with evolving user expectations and increase the aspects of user experience that we can measure.

This information was released in May 2020 but Google agreed to pause in its release of this change because of COVID-19. These changes are going live in early 2021.

What are the top digital subject matter experts saying about this change?

To support the above statements, an article has come out from eConsultancy (Greg Randall writes for this international publisher) titled, "Search trends: how will search marketing and SEO evolve in 2021".

This article talks specifically about how UX and SEO are now tightly knitted together and can no longer be viewed as independent of each other.

This article interviews the top Digital subject matter experts in Europe (some are Greg's colleagues) and echoes the comments Greg has been saying: some examples...

“Google has a concrete idea of how a perfect user experience has to look for different industries. In 2021 and beyond, SEOs and marketers will need to focus even more on getting the user experience right.

"If you want your site to perform well in search, you need to get to grips with what users want to achieve on your site – and make those things as straightforward and easy to do as possible."

"2020 marks the end of an era for SEO. 2020 will see the end of SEO as we know it, and usher in a new era for Search Experience. This is due to the string of announcements Google made this year, which will change how the user experience is optimised.”

Google will be Flagging great experiences in (SERPS - search results pages):

Google also confirmed its plans to inject specific "Flags" or signals on search results pages for the sole purpose of calling out those sites who offer great online experiences based on the search terms entered.

This is significant.

In a world where everyone is fighting for a "click" , once consumers understand what this flag represents, it will be an influencer to prompt consumers to click on those links where flags are present.

What does this mean for Businesses?

1. SEO agencies in their current form are redundant. The days of sticking paragraphs at the top and/or bottom of category pages are gone.

2. The NEW SEO is enhancing online experiences. Google now rewards online engagement with improved organic rankings. Online engagement has always been the "digital currency" which drives success. That "digital currency" has now taken on new meaning.

3. Businesses who want to drive SEO in the future must activate customer-centric change.

4. There is a science and methodology to customer-centric change that has been perfected by Greg Randall. Greg Randall has been planning, designing, and bringing to life amazing online experiences for retailers over the last 20 years: back when experience design was not a "thing".

Call Greg now on 0477 723 474 or email him at greg@commaconsulting.com.au to get started.