Just like most other industries or media technologies, SEO and organic search continue to evolve and change. As a digital marketer or business owner, it’s important to be aware of and up to date on the latest trends and developments to stay competitive and rank higher in search results to reach your target customers no matter the industry your business is in.

As we head into 2024, there are a few key SEO trends and concepts to know of and utilize in your organic strategy.

AI On Search

If you’ve been paying attention to technology or the news at all, you probably know that this year has been “the year of AI” with the explosion of artificial intelligence and large language model (LLM) platforms such as ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.

And then, in May, Google rolled out a new AI/LLM-powered functionality to Google Search to users who signed up for the program, known as the Search Generate Experience (SGE).

So, how will SGE and AI on search impact SEO and local search in 2024?

• Google’s Search Generative Experience will no longer be in experimental phases and is expected to be rolled out to all searchers in 2024.
• SGE summarizes and compiles results from across the web and is likely to encourage users to start searching with long-tail keywords.
• The click-through rate of standard top-three search results won’t be as high as it once was.
• Total organic traffic could drop anywhere from 18% to 65%.
• High-quality, informative content will be even more valuable.
• Structured data/schema markup may grow in importance as a factor to appear in SGE results.
• Generating reviews will be even more important as SGE puts local businesses head to head in its results.
• Measuring SEO results and gaining data from SI search may not be as straightforward.

The Evolution of the SERP Appearance

In addition to the full rollout of Google’s AI-powered SGE, users can expect that the visual appearance of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), as well as Google’s interpretation of search intent, will continue to evolve and shift in 2024.

This year, we have already observed various shifts in SERPs for various queries such as “water heaters,” “new boiler installation,” and “spray foam insulation” — with Local Service Ads, big box stores, large media outlets, Google product listings, aggregate sites/directory listings, and YouTube videos now dominating the SERPs, where local businesses used to rank more prominently.

Additionally, Google has recently announced that to simplify search results, it would be reducing the visibility of FAQ-rich results (only appearing for “well-known, authoritative government and health websites” and completely removing how-to-rich results from SERPs).

What could this mean for SERPs and SEO in 2024?

• Investing in informative/authoritative blog content to address new search intent for priority keywords and satisfy Google’s EEAT evaluative search criteria
• Ensuring all citations and aggregate directory listings are accurate and optimized
• Adding an eCommerce element and utilizing Google Merchant Center may become more important
• Utilizing YouTube and video content

Growing Importance of Multimedia Content

Mentioned in the last section was YouTube and video content — multimedia content has gained more real estate on Google this year compared to 2022, and we predict this trend will only continue in 2024, especially for informational and long-tail search queries.

As Google interprets search intent for various keywords and industries differently, savvy businesses will respond by creating the content that users are now engaging with as part of their customer journey.

And since Google owns YouTube and TikTok has such a large market share (Google is also exploring a partnership with TikTok), these are the platforms to invest in when it comes to multimedia content production.

How can local businesses utilize video and multimedia content in 2024?

• Creating accompanying YouTube videos for existing pages or blog posts on your website, e.g., adding a How-To video to a blog post titled “How To Know if You’ve Blown a Fuse.”
• Building a multimedia content plan and calendar.
• Having a staff member film TikToks answering commonly asked questions by their customers and uploading them to their Google Business Profile and website.
• Obtaining video testimonials from customers and uploading them to the website, Google Business Profile, etc.

New Core Web Vitals Metric

Back in May 2023, Google announced that one of the Core Web Vitals metrics, First Input Delay, which measures responsiveness/interactivity, would be replaced with what is called Interaction to Next Paint.

These Core Web Vitals metrics are a factor in Google’s ranking algorithm, so paying attention to any updates in them is important.

FID currently measures the first interaction a user makes with a page with “input delay” as the measured metric. A “Good” FID is less than 100 milliseconds. INP also measures interactivity but measures “processing time” and “presentation delay” instead.

More simply put, it measures how much time elapses between a user interaction, such as a click and the next time they see a visual change on the page.

For INP, Good is a score of less than 200 milliseconds. An INP over 500 milliseconds is Poor.

This new metric will become an official Core Web Vital in March 2024.

What does this mean for your website, and how should you prepare for 2024?

• Getting your site’s current INP scores using Google’s PageSpeed Insights
• Identifying any issues causing delays or unresponsiveness
• Optimizing custom-coded elements on the site, such as contact forms or image slides
• Reviewing and optimizing/removing any third-party scripts that could be making your site less responsive

Outrank Your Competition Online With Blue Corona

Search engine results pages are more competitive than ever. If your competition is outranking you on the web, it’s time for a new SEO strategy in 2024.

Blue Corona is the leader in SEO for home service companies, with more than 500 contractors across the U.S. choosing Blue Corona as their marketing partner.

For a free marketing consultation and to see exactly how your website performs against the competition, contact us online today!