{"id":209817,"date":"2021-03-24T14:03:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T11:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking\/"},"modified":"2021-03-24T14:03:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T11:03:28","slug":"6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking\/","title":{"rendered":"#6 SEO Changes for 2021 and How They Might Affect Your Ranking"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a279b2861784\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a279b2861784\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking\/#Here_are_six_major_changes_you_can_expect_in_2021\" >Here are six major changes you can expect in 2021:<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking\/#1_Page_Experience_signals_will_factor_into_ranking\" >1. Page Experience signals will factor into ranking.\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking\/#2_Local_search_will_become_more_competitive\" >2. Local search will become more competitive.<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking\/#3_Voice_search_will_make_ranking_even_more_important\" >3. Voice search will make ranking even more important.<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking\/#4_Search_intent_will_eclipse_everything_else\" >4. Search intent will eclipse everything else.<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking\/#5_Mobile-first_indexing_will_become_the_default\" >5. Mobile-first indexing will become the default.<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/6-seo-changes-for-2021-and-how-they-might-affect-your-ranking\/#6_Long-form_content_that_meets_the_%E2%80%9CEAT%E2%80%9D_test_will_perform_better\" >6. Long-form content that meets the \u201cEAT\u201d test will perform better.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#6 SEO Changes for 2021 and How They Might Affect Your Ranking<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-inner\">\n<p class=\"opener\">Today, nearly <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/99firms.com\/blog\/search-engine-statistics\/#gref\">93 percent<\/a> of all web traffic comes through search engines. Google doesn\u2019t share its data on the volume of searches performed, but it\u2019s estimated that the search engine processes <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/google-search-statistics#:~:text=Google%20does%20not%20share%20their,and%20four%20searches%20each%20day.\">2 trillion<\/a> queries per year.<\/p>\n<p>With the average person performing three to four searches a day, search engine optimization has never been more important. SEO best practices are always evolving, so it\u2019s critical to stay on top of emerging trends and changes to Google\u2019s algorithm.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Here_are_six_major_changes_you_can_expect_in_2021\"><\/span>Here are six major changes you can expect in 2021:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Page_Experience_signals_will_factor_into_ranking\"><\/span>1. Page Experience signals will factor into ranking.\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Perhaps the most significant change to search is the Page Experience Update to Google\u2019s algorithm coming in May 2021. This update means that user experience will soon become an official ranking signal. Page Experience will take into account everything from mobile-friendliness to website security protocols.<\/p>\n<p>To benefit from the update, websites must meet all three of Google\u2019s Core Web Vitals. Web vitals measured will include page load speeds, the speed at which users can interact with a page, and how often users experience an unexpected layout shift.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To meet the new standards, content should load within 2.5 seconds, the first input delay should be no more than 100 milliseconds, and pages should maintain a cumulative layout shift of less than 0.1. Core Web Vital updates will also affect Google Discover, Google\u2019s personalized content feed.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Local_search_will_become_more_competitive\"><\/span>2. Local search will become more competitive.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>According to Hennessey Digital, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hennessey.com\/seo\/local\/what-percent-of-google-searches-are-local\/\">46 percent<\/a> of all Google searches are users seeking information about local listings. \u201cNear me\u201d searches jumped <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/digitalagencynetwork.com\/seo-guide-how-t\">150 percent<\/a> from 2019 to 2020, and since nearly <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/99firms.com\/blog\/search-engine-statistics\/#gref\">one in five<\/a> local searches lead to a purchase, ranking high in local listings is absolutely critical.<\/p>\n<p>In the past several years, Google has sought to improve the quality of local search results by leveraging users\u2019 location data. It also started emphasizing photos of businesses, displaying prominent calls to action, and adding features such as Posts to Google My Business. In 2021, you can expect local search to become more competitive as more businesses begin utilizing GMB features.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re also going to see a rise in zero-click search \u2014 search where a user never visits a website because his question is answered in the search results themselves. The rise in zero-click search makes getting into Google\u2019s \u201clocal pack\u201d even more important. (These are the top three local businesses that show up in SERPs.) If a user is searching for a nearby restaurant, for instance, he may never even <em>see<\/em> those restaurants that don\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ear in the top spots.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Voice_search_will_make_ranking_even_more_important\"><\/span>3. Voice search will make ranking even more important.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/voicebot.ai\/2020\/04\/28\/nearly-90-million-u-s-adults-have-smart-speakers-adoption-now-exceeds-one-third-of-consumers\/\">A third of U.S. adults<\/a> now own some kind of smart speaker. By 2025, household penetration rates are expected to reach <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/1022847\/united-states-smart-speaker-household-penetration\/\">75 percent<\/a>. With more people working remotely during the pandemic, there\u2019s been a sharp increase in the number of people using smart-home devices for voice search. This new behavior is going to have a dramatic impact on SEO in 2021 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses trying to optimize for voice search should aim to appear in the top one to three spots on Google <em>and<\/em> try to get content to appear as a featured snippet. Google has been adding more featured snippets and answer boxes to SERPs to answer questions quickly and succinctly for voice queries. Today, about <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/voice-search-seo-study\">40 percent<\/a> of voice search answers come from featured snippets.<\/p>\n<p>Ranking is another factor that makes content more likely to be chosen as a voice search result. (About <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/voice-search-seo-study\">75 percent<\/a> of voice search answers come from the top three results on Google.) Page load speeds also appear to play a role in voice search, which makes sense when you consider that these users expect instantaneous answers.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Search_intent_will_eclipse_everything_else\"><\/span>4. Search intent will eclipse everything else.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Google is always trying to improve the search experience for its users, and it\u2019s getting better and better at understanding intent. In <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>, there are <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/blog\/search-intent-and-seo-a-quick-guide\">four types<\/a> of search intent: informational (\u201cwhat\u2019s the capital of North Dakota\u201d), preferential (\u201cNetflix vs. Hulu\u201d), transactional (\u201cKohl\u2019s coupon\u201d), and navigational (\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> login\u201d). Based on the user\u2019s search, Google knows what type of content to serve up first \u2014 a Wikipedia page, a retail website, or the actual web page the user was looking for.<\/p>\n<p>Semantic search is playing a much bigger role in gauging intent. Essentially, semantic search helps search engines understand what users are looking for by analyzing search context and how words in a search query are related to one another.<\/p>\n<p>As Google\u2019s understanding of intent becomes more advanced, the degree to which a piece of content matches search intent will become more important than technical SEO practices. That\u2019s not to say that meta descriptions and tags are no longer important, but if you have limited bandwidth, it\u2019s better to focus on SERP analysis to create more competitive content. You should also pay attention to the <em>type<\/em> of content that would best serve a user\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_Mobile-first_indexing_will_become_the_default\"><\/span>5. Mobile-first indexing will become the default.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>This shouldn\u2019t be <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> to anyone who\u2019s been following Google\u2019s algorithm updates over the past five years, but it\u2019s still a significant change. Today, many businesses have separate versions of a website for desktop and mobile users. The problem is that those versions aren\u2019t always identical. Google doesn\u2019t have a separate index for mobile and desktop, and in the past, the desktop version of the website was the default.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since more than half of searches are now performed from a mobile device, Google has been slowly transitioning to a mobile-first index. In 2019, mobile-first indexing <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/mobile-sites\/mobile-first-indexing#:~:text=Starting%20July%201%2C%202019%2C%20mobile,practices%20detailed%20in%20this%20guide.\">became the default <\/a>for new websites. Starting in March of this year, Google will make mobile-first indexing the default for <em>all<\/em> websites.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6_Long-form_content_that_meets_the_%E2%80%9CEAT%E2%80%9D_test_will_perform_better\"><\/span>6. Long-form content that meets the \u201cEAT\u201d test will perform better.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Even as screens get smaller, text-based content is getting longer. Long reads have been outperforming shorter pieces, with posts longer than 3,000 words getting up to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/blog\/seo-trends\/#header5\">three times <\/a>more traffic. In the future, creating long-form content may help you outperform the competition in search \u2014 as long as the content is high-quality.<\/p>\n<p>With AI-generated content becoming more sophisticated and readable, Google will be working overtime to cut through the mass of spammy content to serve up the most reputable results. For this reason, you can expect an even greater emphasis on Google\u2019s \u201cEAT\u201d principle in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEAT\u201d is a concept that dates back to 2018. It stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Since something like \u201ctrustworthiness\u201d is hard to quantify, it\u2019s not a direct ranking factor yet. However, according to Google\u2019s public liaison for search Danny Sullivan, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/eat-seo\/#is-eat-a-ranking-factor\">Google uses<\/a> a variety of factors as a proxy to gauge whether or not a piece of content meets the EAT criteria.<\/p>\n<p>Changes to Google\u2019s algorithm might cause some fluctuations in rankings this year, but at the end of the day, Google\u2019s top priority is improving the user experience. That means delivering the most relevant search results in the most user-friendly format. As long as you\u2019re paying attention to UX and creating helpful, informative content, you\u2019ll be on track to succeed in 2021 and beyond.\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-inner\">\n<p class=\"bio-name\">Kimberly Zhang<\/p>\n<div class=\"bio-desc\">\nKimberly Zhang is the Editor in Chief of Under30CEO. She has a passion for helping educate the next generation of leaders.<\/div>\n<p><!-- social-link --><\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General <\/a><\/span>category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.noupe.com\/business-online\/seo-changes-for-2021.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#6 SEO Changes for 2021 and How They Might Affect Your Ranking&#8221; Today, nearly 93 percent of all web traffic comes through search engines. Google doesn\u2019t share its data on the volume of searches performed, but it\u2019s estimated that the search engine processes 2 trillion queries per year. With the average person performing three to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.noupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/myriam-jessier-3n3Or1UMnVQ-unsplash-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[78068,78045,78070],"class_list":["post-209817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-digital-marketing","tag-online-business","tag-seo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}