Are you looking for the best SEO advice in 2020 to boost the rankings of your website?  

SEO is a constantly changing arena, and it is essential to stay informed of the latest trends.

Some may say, "the more it changes, the more it is the same"! There is some truth in that adage, in the sense that old well tested techniques keep on working year after year. And some parts slightly change over time as well.

To avoid any confusion in the vortex that is modern SEO, we will summarize fundamental aspects to stand out and optimize your visibility in 2020 and beyond. 

Respond to the intent

Remember, Google is trying to satisfy the user and to provide an answer to what they are looking for.

Given the niche you are working in, and it does not matter what niche as the approach is the same for all niches, you need to determine the queries users type in google, so you can create the content that can best answer their questions.

It is commonly accepted that there are three main types of search queries:

• transactional search queries: this is when the user wants to make a purchase, like in "best sunglasses online",
• informational search queries: this is when the user is looking for specific information, like in "most visited country",
• navigational search queries: this is when the user wants to browse a given site, like in "CNN".

The key to success is to offer answers to both transactional and informational search queries. You need to find the right balance between both.

If your pages are mostly landing pages trying to reply to transactional search queries, then google may consider the site to have thin content or be a pure affiliate site, which they do not favor.

If your pages are mostly deep content information pages trying to reply to informational search queries, then you may rank well, but the site will not convert enough sales. 

That's why it is necessary to have both types of pages which can answer both kinds of queries. This way, Google will treat your site as an authority site in your niche, as well as a good and trusted provider of services or products.

Master your keywords

The first operational phase of your SEO strategy should therefore be to create an outstanding keyword list.

There is nothing new in talking about keywords as they have been used since the beginning of SEO. The novelty is that you must pay considerable attention to your keywords and make a better keyword list than your competitors. 

Part of this work involves reverse engineering your competitors. Some SEO tools such as ahrefs enable you to uncover which keywords your competitors are ranking for. Let's say you make a list of your top ten competitors (or even top 20 or more); then each website will rank for different keywords in your niche.

This way, you can identify all the questions users may search for answers for, both informational and transactional. 

You should also study how difficult each keyword is, as SEO tools provide an SEO difficulty metric that tells just that. Some long-tail keywords will be easier to rank for, and you can target these terms initially before attacking harder ones. 

Write beautiful content

In the past low-quality content could rank well even for competitive terms. But with the passing years, this is less and less possible.  

Probably because competition for page 1 spots has become more intense over the years, it is notable that the content of the top pages is getting better and better.

Exceptionally well researched in-depth articles are getting more and more common. The long-form, i.e. materials of a few thousand words in length, are appearing more regularly as well. This type of high-quality presentation includes beautiful images, well-presented charts, industry research, related videos, all this in a fun and entertaining way.

Internet users love to read new and relevant content. They prefer interesting, appealing content in a well designed enticing modern looking website, rather than dinosaur looking websites, which are a thing of the past.

Sometimes a touch of humor or a sharp pen will allow you to anchor your editorial line and give an identity that is your own.

Provide information that your competitor failed to provide, offer more diverse content with videos, images, quotes and provide real actionable tips,

Give priority to pieces that go to the essentials without the fluff. This way, you can also attract more inbound links than your competitor from reference sites impressed by your content. 

Grasp technical SEO 

On a separate note, you need to also pay close attention to the crucial technical SEO aspects of your website that are required to rank high.

Here is the checklist of the leading technical SEO elements needed to belong to the top-ranking sites:

• improve site speed
• proper page title/URL
• simple navigational structure
• optimized internal links
• use compression techniques
• use rich-snippets
• share on social media
• only use necessary plugins
• run regular SEO audits
• use SSL/https 

Technical SEO can be time-consuming, but these checks must be performed regularly to make sure your site runs at its best.

Here again, because more and more sites are competing for the same keywords, the bar is moving higher and higher. Nowadays, you have to have excellent technical SEO parameters to be a serious contestant in the SEO game.

 Conclusion

Let's not make SEO more complicated than it is. By just using the simple tips presented above, you will already be one step ahead of most webmasters.

SEO can be perceived as difficult or confusing because of its aura of secrecy. Unlike most other skills that can be learned, this is not a skill with a ready-made handbook, as Google's algorithm is a well-guarded proprietary technology. 

But with the help of the SEO community at large, one can learn the simple best practice techniques that will make your site appreciated by Google and the Web users.

Remember to (1) respond to the intent, (2) master your keywords, (3) write beautiful content and (4) grasp technical SEO aspects. These are the foundations any webmaster needs to get started or to get better at SEO.

Native SEO (search engine optimization) can provide the edge you might want to surpass your opponents. It does not matter if your goal is to reach the whole nation or just aiming towards a small audience.

 
Because unless you keep local SEO in check and avoid classic local search engine optimization mistakes, you will not reach any of the two.
To get essentially the most out of local SEO, you want the proper mixture of each on and off-page web optimization, hyperlink constructing, social media advertising & marketing, voice search optimization, and many others.

 
With so many components to think about, it is no surprise that so many small companies forget to invest in content optimization and go with paid advertisement or no investment in search engines at all.

 
For those who have carried out your web optimization ABCs, but still end up caught and getting nowhere on native searches, you could be certainly making one of the next 5 local SEO mistakes

1. Searching for backlinks within improper locations

Backlinks are one of many top 3 ranking factors. In fact, I would go as far as placing it just as important as creating quality content.
Google takes them under consideration when rating an internet site. Nevertheless, to work, backlinks should be extremely related to your pages and should not come from a place like Fiverr. Another important thing to consider is that pages have more value that huge unrelated global directories.

A better tactic is to hunt referrals or possible link opportunities through manual outreach. Search for native companies or organizations with may add worth to your organization. Associate with them to extend your scope.

Another thing you can and should do is to run your competitor’s URL through a keyword research tool in order to see which links are linking to them. After that, get an excel file with all the names and start contacting each referring domain not only related to your niche, but also (hopefully) related to your location.

2. Having a poorly optimized site

With the evolution of mobile devices, online searches slowly transitioned until a “mostly mobile” type of queries. To seize these users and solve their problems, your blog or website ought to be optimized for UX (user experience), which implies having a responsive structure, a clean & understandable look, and fast loading times.
When reviewing your website’s interface, try to enter your user's head and simulate a logging session.
After that, be sure to ask yourself:

Does the user know what the page is about in less than 5 seconds?
Are your landing pages simple to navigate and skim?
Are there enough images to make the reading easy to the eyes?
Is the font I am using easy to read?
Make sure that your guests can discover what they are searching for rapidly and add social media sharing buttons to extend the attain of your merchandise.

3. Not Investigating Who Your Online Competition Is

Prior to now, an easy Google search on your local opponents would provide you with all the data you needed to start a content strategy.
These days, Google takes so many aspects under consideration (location, personalization, intent matching, and many others) that you make you rank different pages and different keywords in a variety of positions depending on the language, location, search intent and device the user is using to make the search.
To seek out your true native opponents, do a Google search for every focus keyword your company is trying to rank for, and start filling a spreadsheet as detailed as you can. While you are at it, look at the type of content that they are ranking with; are they:
Case studies?
Blog posts?
List articles?
Services page?
The power is on the data so do not get too lazy about it.

You will have to repeat this in all the areas your company has a presence on, or at least every place you wish to rank on. Once you have gone through every area and studied every competitor you found, you will have a clearer view on who your competitors are, and how to outrank them.

4. Neglecting your NAP citations

Citations are mentions of your enterprise across the internet. The term stands for Name, Address and Phone number— and they should always be typed and found both by users and Google in the same. No spelling mistakes, no different addresses, NAPs must always be congruent. Based on Moz, citations are one of many top-ranking components for native searches, so constructing your citations and guaranteeing they've consistent NAP info will do quite a bit to your Google rating.

I would suggest you have a word file at your desktop and fill all the information that directories such as Google My Businesses or Yelp ask for. Through this small action, you will not ever forget or cause incongruencies across the different platforms you wish to sign up for.

5. Forgetting to optimize your photos

Local searches are not restricted to textual content. Due to the blended nature of search results, customers can see pictures on the SERPs and Google images. So, what better approach to stand out from your opponents than by having a gorgeous picture show up whenever they do a search?
Since engines like google can’t see photos like we do (They read the code and content from it) , you can potentially rank inside the image results through proper addition of keywords to alt tags, picture names, file name, and textual content inside the image.

Keep in mind that the more these meta descriptions and alternatives texts get associated to the key phrases searched, the higher the chance that your photos will pop up within the search results.

Though native web optimization is not that difficult, most small companies fail to take full benefit of its numerous advantages. While this is sad to hear as someone who works on SEO, it is a good advantage for those of you who take the time to visit websites such as this one to learn about good SEO practices.

In case you have any doubts related to this topic, or SEO in general, be sure to contact me through the comment section, my website, or even through my SEO podcast which can be found in any major directory as “Frugal SEO”.