Every year I set time aside to reflect on what has happened in the digital marketing industry. It’s important to take time and evaluate what worked and what didn’t in the past year and look ahead to what trends are coming in the upcoming year. In 2019, search engine optimization (SEO), will still play a large part in digital marketing, blogging, online shopping and for anything you search for online. In this blog post, I will break down each topic and provide tips for how to add these items to your strategy.

What Will Be the Top 9 Blogging & SEO Trends for 2019?

1. Mobile-First Index
2. User Experience (UI/UX)
3. Technical SEO
4. HTTPS & GDPR
5. Featured Snippets
6. Videos + Images
7. Relevant Content
8. Voice Search
9. Link Building

If you’d like to learn more details about the top trends and how to develop and implement a strategy for them, keep reading below:

Focus on Mobile-First Indexing & Optimization

In March of 2018, Google announced that they were rolling out mobile-first indexing. What does this mean? When Google crawls a website, they will review and index mobile content first. With so many users browsing from their phones and other portable devices, Google wants to provide searchers with results from the best possible mobile content.

How to Optimize for Mobile Search Indexing

Is your website/blog mobile friendly (aka responsive)? If not, you’ll want to upgrade your website or blog to responsive design in 2019. If you’re using WordPress for your blog or website, there are several responsive theme templates available for purchase. I recommend purchasing a theme through Bluchic. They offer great online support, and their templates are easy to use + customizable.

Optimize Websites + Content for the Best User Experience (UI/UX)

Once your website is responsive, your work doesn’t stop there. As you write copy, format the text so it can be read from a mobile device. Here are some examples to help improve your copy:

• Add headers to organize and break up the copy
• Include bulleted lists
• Insert images throughout the post

On-Page SEO will Still be Important

Don’t forget to add basic on-page SEO to your page content. Make sure to add title tags, alt tags, optimizing image names, header tags and checking for duplicate content. Missing these basic elements throughout your content can hurt your overall SEO efforts.

Focus on Secure Site (HTTPs) + GDPR

Google wants users to feel safe when they browse online and have continued to make security a priority and a ranking factor. There were two topics focused on security in 2018: HTTPS and GDPR and both will continue to be important in 2019.

How to Switch Your Blog From HTTP to HTTPs

Switching your site from HTTP to HTTPs is an important, yet daunting task to complete for your website. To learn more about the importance of switching to HTTPs and how to do it, you can read my blog post here.

Checklists / Resources to Learn How To Make Your Site GDPR Compliant

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/06/04/gdpr-the-checklist-for-compliance/#3a71c9e05bec
• https://www.hubspot.com/data-privacy/gdpr-checklist
• https://gdprchecklist.io/

Focus on Featured Snippets – aka “Position 0”

Have you ever typed in a question into Google and seen a white box with answer appear at the top of the search results page? This answer box is known as a featured snippet, quick answer and is also called “Position 0.” This position is the most coveted spot on Google’s search results page. Unfortunately, there is no guidebook for how to optimize for this ranking. What we do know, is Google likes to pull in lists, tables, charts, and Q&As into the answer box. This type of content is easy for Google to pull, format and feature in this area. So keep this in mind as you think through, write and schedule content for 2019.

Year of Visualization: Video + Shareable Images

More so than ever, users have come to expect visual content. Visuals are everywhere, and social media has made images, and video more prominent. It’s easier to watch a quick video tutorial than read through detailed steps in a blog post. So remember to add relevant images or videos throughout your copy. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words (and can easily be shared)!

How to Create Visual and Shareable Images for your Blog

Creating beautiful images for your blog is intimidating if you aren’t well versed in Photoshop. Don’t you worry, there are now great online tools that provide you with templates to easily format and add text to images. I use Canva to create graphics for my blog posts. Easil is another image platform. There are also several affordable image subscriptions sites you can join like Haute Stock.

In-Depth & Relevant Content Writing for your Audience/Readers

In 2019, it’s still important to produce in-depth and relevant content for your readers. With so many blogs, you’ll want to make sure the content you write is unique and gives your audience reason(s) to continue to come back to your blog. Each blog post should be between 500 – 2,000 words so you can adequately explain your topic to your readers. This character count will also provide Google with enough copy to crawl and index. Before you begin writing, I recommend completing keyword research and creating a content outline. If you need help with keyword research, you can read my blog post here, or purchase my SEO course for a complete guide to blog, and SEO writing.

Content Writing with Voice Search in Mind

How often do you ask Siri, Alexa or other voice tools questions? By 2020, up to 50% of searches will be voice searches. In conjunction with voice search, users are now asking more detailed questions. You will want to keep this in mind as you brainstorm blog topics, complete keyword research and write copy for your blog posts. Try to anticipate what questions your audience is asking and answer those questions within your copy.

Link-Building from Credible Sites

Link building will continue to be important in 2019. A successful backlink strategy starts by building relationships with other content creators in your industry and niche. Look for opportunities to collaborate with reputable sites and bloggers. For example, look for guest blogging opportunities. Keep in mind, you’ll want to make sure that the guest content you feature on your site is in line with your overall message/branding, and will not hurt your reputation.

Do you have any predictions or thoughts on what the top SEO and blogging trends will be in 2019? Let me know in the comments below!