SEO Trends For 2024

If you’re ready to make some changes to your search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy throughout 2024, there are some key trends that you need to know about in order to successfully maximise your online impact.

The world of SEO is changing at a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace. In fact, 2023 has brought about so many transformational changes to SEO, including the launch of Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), which leverages generative AI to provide more context and information to searches.

And this pace isn’t likely to slow anytime soon. Now, if you’re wondering how you’re going to keep up, I want to start by saying: don’t panic! It is possible to adapt to the constantly changing SEO landscape and ensure that you’re maintaining your competitive edge without everything overwhelming you.

The trick is to be selective. So, I’ve put together some of my top tips, tricks and need-to-know advice to help you ensure your SEO strategy is firmly on the right track both as we enter 2024 and progress throughout the year.

1. Firstly, it’s not ALL about AI.

Yes, AI is a hot topic of conversation, and for good reason. In fact, I’m going to mention AI frequently throughout this article. But I want you to remember that you sit at the heart of both your business and your SEO strategy.

And what I mean by this is that there is no replacement for the human touch. So, while I am a firm believer that businesses who fail to incorporate AI into their digital strategies will ultimately fail to maintain their position as a thought leader within their niche, it is vital to work with AI rather than relying on it too heavily and neglecting your human touch.

AI is an extremely powerful tool, but to ensure it works with and for your business rather than against your best interests, you need people on your team who understand how to leverage its power and potential.

2. Next, I want you to know that Google is redefining the term “helpful.”

Google will start to prioritise websites that demonstrate the ability to provide its audiences with “helpful” content. But what exactly does this mean?

Well, Google will start to assess the helpfulness and, therefore, the value of your website as a whole. So, essentially, this means you need to ensure that the value of your website is crystal clear and stands out from the crowd for the right reasons.

Additionally, Google will start viewing “expertise” as a significant factor when differentiating between websites. This means that it will place a higher value on sites that share original data and key insights that can be attributed to specific authors who are recognised within their field.

3. Google’s SGE isn’t going anywhere.

This is something that has caused both anxiety and excitement across the SEO industry. But what exactly do you need to know about SGE right now?

Ultimately, AI is going to cause some upset with regard to search query performance as well as data gathering and platform balance. So, the key to leveraging the potential here is to ensure that your site is easily discoverable by generative AI. In practice, this means maximising the identification of every opportunity to put your brand directly in front of an interested audience.

I think it’s also worth emphasising once again that robust SEO strategies that deliver meaningful results can only be developed and implemented by humans. So, while AI is constantly evolving, it is simply not possible to rely on it entirely, and this will remain the case for some time to come.

4. Disruption is inevitable.

I’d argue that no one actually likes disruption. However, it is where much of the sector’s evolution occurs. So, it’s somewhat of a necessary evil that we all need to get used to.

2024 will bring plenty of disruption that is likely to show its face in numerous different ways. But although the most successful models for achieving key business goals are likely to change, it is important to remember that the fundamental elements relating to how searchers will look for information online will remain the same.

So, how should you approach this changing landscape?

Firstly, I want you to keep in mind that the intent behind searches conducted by individuals categorically needs to inform every decision you choose to make. Thin and spam results just aren’t going to cut it anymore.

Secondly, it isn’t going to be possible to neglect your technical SEO strategy and still expect to see positive results. Core updates are going to continue to roll out, which we all know can play havoc with search positions. This means that maintaining a tidy and organised website is in your best interests, always.

Thirdly, clearly, AI was going to come up here too. So, here it is. This is one of the best areas in which you can utilise the power of AI strategically in order to free up your time to keep an eye on the bigger picture. Yes, deep diving into data is important, but maintaining focus on the bigger picture is the only way you can continue to make the best, most informed decisions that will keep you on the road to success.

5. Understanding the fundamentals of more complicated SEO concepts is essential to future success.

There are numerous complicated SEO concepts, including algorithm machine learning, language models, and schema. While it has been possible to scrape by without much of an understanding of these concepts, this is going to change moving forward.

The ‘entity’ is something that will play a key role in future SEO strategies, largely because it is both a data and a human model of understanding. Don’t panic about this too much just yet, but keep this piece of knowledge in your back pocket for the future.

And if you do want to act on this sooner rather than later, I recommend starting by developing organised maps of entities as this will help you to improve your user experience and prepare you to benefit from future success across both search and AI platforms.