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If you\u2019re an online business who wants to increase growth and profit this year, then you need to be on top of the 7 most critical SEO trends<\/a> for 2016. This year brings some changes to the way things have been done, and along with market demand, company focuses will follow. With every online site and company now optimizing their online presence to be more easily and actively found by the search engines, no company can afford to lag behind. Here we look at the 7 must know trends for 2016 and how you and your business can stay on top.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 2016, mobile use is swiftly overtaking desktop and tablet use, particularly for searches, as more and more people conduct searches while on the run. Even within homes, people still often turn to their mobile to search first, because it is more convenient than other options. That being said, if your site is not optimized for mobile and can\u2019t be reached through mobile search, then your company is going to suffer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Google\u2019s algorithms are recognizing this trend<\/a> and boosting results that are mobile friendly in the search results. If you are not paying attention to this trend, you\u2019re quickly going to lose out in the SEO race.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While mixed media including text, images and infographics are still very popular<\/strong>, video is quickly outstripping those as a fun, attention grabbing addition to any webpage. Videos are also becoming enormously popular on social media, getting far more click throughs than other forms of media. Videos get 50% better page ranks in Google<\/a>, so you can\u2019t afford not to be including some video content either on your site or your social media account.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Written content is still important however. Videos are not always practical to be watched because they can take more data and make noise. It\u2019s important to have a blend, so that something will come up in the blended searches and there is something that appeals to everyone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 76% of marketers already use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to boost search results, with great success. More than ever, people are turning to their social networks for recommendations of businesses as well as news and updates, so it\u2019s critical for a business to have a presence there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In time it wouldn\u2019t at all be surprising to see search engines indexing social media sites as well, in order to better optimize search results, so it\u2019s important we pay attention to this important aspect of internet life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Siri<\/a>, Cortana<\/a>, Google<\/a> Now\u2026 all these digital assistants help to make our lives easier while we search hands free \u2013 however it means that we don\u2019t have total control over how<\/em> we search in the same way as we would doing it manually. Because the search results can be different, we need to be able to work with this too as businesses, to encourage our results to still show high in the list. This means incorporating long-tail keywords in the way they would be spoken i.e. \u201cHow long do I cook spaghetti for?\u201d and making content that\u2019s more practical, accessible and to the point, to be more appealing.<\/p>\nBe Mobile<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nVideo Rules<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nSocial Content Gains Importance<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nDigital Assistants Popularity Rising<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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