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Big Surge: 5 Upcoming SEO trends for 2020

Search Engine Optimization trends are constantly changing, and it’s important to keep up with the rapid developments on the scene. It’s clear that 2019 was a busy year for SEO, and the new year will be no different. Or rather, it’s going to be very different, as new SEO developments, algorithms, and technologies come into play. To help you prepare for a new year in online marketing, we’ve compiled a list of 4 upcoming SEO trends for 2020.

1. BERT Algorithm

In 2019, Google introduced BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) into its search algorithm. The algorithm was created to better understand the context of the words people used in internet searches. BERT aims to more effectively interpret the meaning behind what users ask. And according to Google, it is utilized approximately once in every 10 searches. It is currently English-language exclusive, and is used in colloquial searches that include “for,” “like,” “to,” and other similar prepositions.

This means that rather than simple keyword matching, the algorithm considers factors like whether the user is looking for more information on an item, or if they’re trying to track down and purchase an item. For example, say someone wants to know how espresso machines work, but they can only find results on where to purchase one. The BERT algorithm works towards focusing their results to make them more informative-focused rather than strictly transactional.

Unfortunately, content creators can’t actually optimise for BERT. However, they can change their content and keywords to better match up with the intent of popular search results. This stresses the importance of understanding what users really want from their keyword searches. Carefully researching general search trends will play a huge role in taking advantage of the BERT algorithm.

2. Google Set to Stay on Top

It comes as no surprise that Google holds the crown as the most used search engine. But just how far ahead of the competition is this search engine titan? Well, results from 2019 show that Google is holding strong with 75% of desktop searches, with the closest competitor being Bing at 9.97%. The Chinese-based search engine, Baidu, was the third-highest used search engine at 9.34%, and Yahoo brought up the rear with 2.77% of desktop searches. Google had just about than 2.3 trillion searches in 2019, and 15% of its daily searches were carried out by new users.

With that being said, it’s more important than ever for businesses to keep up with Google and its search trends. What’s more, you’ll want to aim for being one of the highest-ranking on search results. That’s because 67.60% of user clicks are from the first page of results! Additionally, the average length of articles in the top results of Google is 2,416 words (or 2,312 words for voice searches). And keyword length has also proven to be an important factor in Google search results. Keywords with four or more words have been used more often by users, as they’re hunting for specific information. Google has proven to be not only an asset to businesses but essential to the overall success of their website and internet presence. As we enter 2020, it’s important now more than ever that businesses take full advantage of what Google has to offer.

3. UX (User Experience)

Another one of the top SEO trends for 2020 to watch out for is the growing focus on UX–User Experience. What this really means is optimizing your webpage so that it’s at peak functionality, so that users won’t have any problems using your site. Ensuring that your webpage is at its top technical performance is another important factor in creating positive UX. Setting up your webpage for success in this regard can mean revamping your website, whether it’s minor updates or giving your site a complete overhaul. Technical systems like SEO automation, JavaScript frameworks, and Progressive Web Apps have so far proven to be nearly essential for top functionality.

It’s no surprise that page speed is certainly one of the most important factors in the technical side of UX. Google Chrome has jumped into the ring of UX and speed improvement. The company has added helpful programs like speed reports and “slow warning badges.” In 2020, discussions between webpage owners and their developers will have to focus on speed and performance more than ever. UX goes hand in hand with website traffic, and so those who take measures to create an improved user experience will be able to propel their site to the top of search results.

4. Keep up to Mobile Traffic with Mobile SEO

Trends from 2019 showed that more people are accessing the web through mobile devices than by any other means. Last year, voice searches accounted for 20% of mobile searches. What’s more, almost half of online transactions were carried out on mobile devices. With mobile users taking up 52% of online traffic (compared to desktop users at 45% per cent) it seems that mobile SEO is the inevitable future of the internet for 2020. Google has even been known to prioritize mobile sites for mobile searches. In other words, websites built only for desktop won’t come up at all when searched on a mobile device. So, to keep up with the increasing mobile traffic, it’s important to optimise your website for mobile. That means ensuring you’re optimised for voice search, as well as for overall mobile SEO.

One of the most important measures to take is ensuring that your website looks good on a mobile screen. These days, many website developers suggest that businesses design their website for mobile before they do for desktop. There are also so many different types of mobile devices, from smartphones to tablets and everything in between. Which is why it’s also important that your mobile design adjusts well to the screen size. For more tips on how to get your website in ship-shape for mobile traffic, check out our previous article on mobile SEO.

So there, you have the top 4 upcoming SEO trends for 2020. With so many rapid changes made to Search Engine Optimization and digital marketing in the past year, we can expect 2020 to be even more eventful.

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6 Tips to Help Your Email Marketing Skills | Big Surge Inc

There's a lot to email marketing: help you navigate the world of email etiquette, we’ve got a list of 6 tips to help your email marketing skills!

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Local SEO: Turn your Visitors into Customers

Local SEO: Turn your Visitors into Customers

When customers look up a business on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or any kind search engine, their investigating will usually never go beyond that first results page. Getting a spot on that lucrative first page in the search engine results pages (or SERPs) is a goal for many businesses. Many website owners know how search engine optimization (SEO) is absolutely crucial for increasing a website’s chances of making it to the first page. But what can be even more important is taking advantage of an area’s local SEO. Local SEO is a method of search engine optimization where a website tries to appear in searches for “nearby” businesses. For example, if customers search for “shoe stores near me” or “shoe stores in (their town name),” the business who takes advantage of local SEO will appear first in the results.

Using local SEO is the key to reaching the customers in your area, and bring them to your web page is the key to turning visitors into customers. Taking advantage of local SEO isn’t difficult, but it does require some effort from business owners. To make your transition into the world of local SEO easier, we’ve compiled a list of how to use local SEO to help your business.  

Claim your Google: My Business page

One of the biggest things that will help boost a website’s local SEO presence is claiming its My Business page on Google. Google has an excellent feature where a business can create a profile where they enter their location and contact information on a Google: My Business page. This profile connects the business directly to Google, making it more likely to turn up on relevant searches. This is an essential step to bringing your business to the top of the search results. This is because Google pulls the most popular and most relevant entries from Google: My Business to place at the top of their search results.

You may have noticed how a list of three relevant businesses appear in a separate box when you search for a nearby service: some call this the “local pack,” at it is the list of the closest, best ranked and most relevant business from the area. All the members of this “local pack” have a home in the Google: My Business database. Other search engines have similar programs, like Bing Places, and Apple Map, so it’s a good idea to get your business plugged into these programs as well.

Connect with Local Business Directories

Several years ago, we might have told you that registering yourself in the business directories in a phone book was an essential step to reaching the public. Unfortunately, phone books are no longer the communication staple for businesses that they once were. However, nowadays you can register with local online business directories. Similar to Google: My Business, these directories are a great way to get your business information out there. The more places where your business is found, the better the chance it has at finding its way on to search results.

The most important pieces to include in the directory are the business name, the address, the phone number, and the website link, or NAPW. Not only is this information necessary to include, but it’s also important to keep consistent. If you have a different address on Google: My Business than you do on your business directory entry, that can hurt your chances of increasing your local SEO rank. What’s more, a potential customer could get confused about where your location is and as a result, decide to go to a different company. Having your company’s information available across these different platforms is a great way to increase your business’s SEO and to reach a wider audience.

Make Your Location Known

Arguably the most important aspect of local SEO is the “local” part. To achieve ranking in searches for your area, it’s important to make sure your location is known to customers and the search engines. That means plugging your location into as many points online as possible. The NAPW are also very important to include in this case. Be sure to include them on your website, social media pages, and on business directories and Google: My Business, as stated previously.

It’s also very important to include the right keywords that will bring your business to the forefront when people look into certain services and locations. For example, if you run a phone repair store in Halifax, you might want to include keywords like “phone repair downtown Halifax,” “fast phone repair Halifax,” “Halifax affordable phone repair,” etc. Use keyword research programs to look into the results that are most relevant to your business and services. Google Ads has a keyword planner that can be used with a My Business account. Well-used keywords are key to the success of your business’s local SEO.

Hit it Big by Reaching Local

Local SEO can be your greatest ally in growing your business. It can be harder than it sounds to reach the customers that are in your area, and many local businesses find themselves at a loss. That’s why it is important to understand and know how to use local SEO to your benefit. Learning how to use local SEO can help your business grow to be one of the most prosperous in your community. What’s more, as your business gains traction and reaches more people, those customers will be even greater allies! When customers give their positive reviews–whether that be word of mouth or five stars on Google–they tell other people what’s great about your business.

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FIVE TIPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS TO THRIVE IN THE OFF SEASON

For many small business owners in the Maritimes, the peak boom in revenue comes and goes with the tourist season. From about mid-May to the end of September, Maritime businesses are blessed with plenty of customers. There’s fresh foot traffic from nearby festivals, friendly visits from families on vacation, and welcomed swarms of sightseers from tour buses or cruise ships. But when the leaves start falling and the wind gets sharp and cold, many businesses also find the trail of customers start to run cold.

During the offseason, plenty of businesses tend to close up shop until the snow melts and spring comes again. However, some seasonal businesses can’t afford to close for the winter. These businesses often struggle to keep up a steady revenue and meet an uphill battle to make profits outside of tourist season. But even when the chips are down and it seems impossible to bring in much-needed clientele, there are plenty of ways for a business can rope in new customers.

Here on our blog, we’ve talked before about how businesses can succeed in Atlantic Canada. Now, we offer hope for any struggling summertime entrepreneurs out there. Here we’ve put together a list of five tips for your business to thrive in the offseason.

1. Take Advantage of Any Holidays

Summer might be over, but there are still plenty of events to look forward too during the cold months. Your business can do promotional events for holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and more. And that’s not to mention the sacred days for retail profits, Black Friday and Boxing day!

If you own a retail store, be sure to order in a new stock of products that matches the seasonal vibe. Find some spooky new Halloween products, or decorate with pink hearts and teddy bears on Valentine’s day. For restaurants and cafes, try making a fun promotional food or drink that will get people in the seasonal spirit. Use seasonal flavours and scents like pumpkin spice in the fall or peppermint in the winter. And certainly you can take advantage of business from holiday visitors just like in the summer! Keep your holiday events in the public eye and you’re sure to get spirited new customers following your events year-round.

2. Be Social! Use Your Social Media

We all know how important it is to keep your customers in the loop. Be sure to have a website, online newsletter, and social media where you can reach as wide an audience as possible. Most importantly, keep updating these platforms frequently. Post about everything, from new products, new events, and new partnerships. Even if there isn’t much to update on, it’s great to post entertaining things that happen at your business location. People love to hear about someone bringing their dog to the office! It’s also smart to stay relevant byengaging with other social media pages or to comment on current events.

It’s also a great idea to set up a blog for your business. There, you can write posts about things that are relevant to your business. Blogs can be used to give updates on events and products, but they can also be used for writing relevant articles. For example, a furniture store can create a blog about the best design ideas for living rooms, and when people search for that topic the blog post will be in the search results. These types of articles can boost traffic to your website and have people engage more with your business.

3. Set Up an Online Store

It may be the case that you simply can’t get as much foot traffic to your business in the off-season. It may be because your town has a small population or because of the region’s turbulent winter weather. But a lack of in-store visitors doesn’t have to mean a lack of shoppers. If you set up an online store for your business, you can go to the customers instead of them coming to you. You can even reach new audiences who would have never found your business otherwise.

This is also a great way of keeping the business of customers from the tourist season who might have otherwise only purchased from you once. Say you own a hand-crafted jewellery store. Over the summer, a customer fell in love with a necklace she bought from you while on vacation. She returns to her hometown and wants to buy a bracelet from you as a Christmas presents for her sister, but your store is too far away for her to make the trip back. If your business has online shopping features, then she’ll be able to use it to find that perfect present for all her family and friends. The people she knows will also find out about your store through her and the trend will only continue.

4. Create Excitement with Promotional Events

Another great way that your business can generate more sales in the offseason is by holding promotional events year-round. You can aim to please certain demographics by having limited time or monthly discounts for people like students and seniors. Or you can reward returning customers by having exclusive deals for frequent buyers. Offering special rewards or discounts will keep customers who are already interested in your business returning throughout the year. Coffee shops will often have promotions where if a customer buys a certain number of drinks they get one free. Or retail stores sometimes provide special discounts for people who sign up for rewards programs. But don’t be intimidated by comparing yourself to the complicated rewards programs big companies use. Your business can use something as simple as a printed card with your business logo and the customer’s name.

It’s also a good idea to hold semi-annual events and sales. Many businesses, big and small, send out monthly fliers with products they have on sale. You could print and mail out simple fliers, and you should definitely use social media pages and email newsletters. If having a flier’s worth of deals isn’t in the cards, it might be easier to have one new or popular product on sale as a promotion. For example, imagine you run a natural soap business and once a month you create a promotional sale for one of your products.

You could also hold semi-annual clearance sales that line up with the seasons, like an end of summer sale or a “spring cleaning” sales. And don’t forget to take advantage of renowned retail sale days like Black Friday or Boxing Day. Take advantage of any limited-time sales, because they encourage consumers to buy sooner rather than later.

5. Collaborate with Local Partners

In Atlantic Canadian, community and collaboration are very important to people. For business owners, that means taking part in the community and getting involved with other local businesses and entrepreneurs. While some businesses are the competition, others are potential collaborators that can help you gain success within the community. There plenty of great opportunities to partner with other businesses or even non-profits in the area. For example, if popular band or theatre group needs a small space to perform, a restaurant or cafe owner can allow them to perform there, drawing in the revenue from the audience that will come watch them perform. In the same scenario, a local clothing store can loan or donate their custom designs to performers and gain promotion.

Complimentary business can also partner up to sell each other’s products, like a popular boutique promoting local jeweller, or a coffee shop selling locally made teas. Communities are all about building each other up, and collaborations are a great way for both entrepreneurs to gain traction in a local economy.

Make the Most of the Off season

Atlantic Canada is a beautiful region year-round. Even though there’s definitely a huge economic boost in the tourist season, that doesn’t mean a business can’t make great profits the rest of the year. Following these five tips for your business to thrive in the off season can truly help make a difference in profits. What’s most important is keeping the local charm of your business alive as it strives to be a first-rate contender on the floor of business competition.