From Creating Shareable Content To UX Accessibility
As we step into the new year, it’s time to take a look at what trends could be at the forefront of marketing. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial part of any business strategy and is important to focus on as we head into a new year of business promotion. So the question is, just how much thought have you given to your SEO? Have you been changing up your strategies, or have you found a plan that works for you?
If you’ve seen your engagement rate falling and your search ranking remaining fixed, you’ve come to the right place. Prioritizing your SEO has some serious cost-effective benefits for business success that can be easily forgotten as we focus on social and PPC strategies. Not only can good SEO increase your target traffic, but it also reduces the need for PPC ad spend, leaving more wiggle room for creative future campaigns. Here are our tips to rejuvenate your SEO tactics and wake up that sleepy SEO strategy for new year success.
1. Take A Step Back And Review
Before making those all-important changes, it’s time to see what is going well, and more importantly, what isn't. Taking a step back and auditing the success of your SEO strategies is a great way to monitor what keywords are performing well and what pages are receiving the most engagement. It’s also important to keep on top of your audience and know your demographic inside out.
- What are the current trends circulating on their social feeds?
- What keywords are most likely to be searched for within your demographic?
- Which content formats (blogs, infographics, videos, podcasts) are generating the highest engagement?
Using audience analytics-based tools, such as Google Analytics and Finteza, is a great place to start when mapping out your audience’s needs and gratifications. Remaining one step ahead of the trends will influence your content creation and keyword optimization, and position you right at the top of their search string.
Additionally, incorporate intent-based keyword research. Instead of targeting broad terms, focus on keywords that reflect user intent, such as informational, transactional, or navigational searches. For example, a search like “best corporate training software 2026” has clear purchase intent versus “corporate training trends,” which is informational.
2. Increase Those Backlinks
Winning over Google can feel like a popularity contest, so the only way to win is to be just that. Increasing your backlink coverage across a range of sites within your niche tells Google that you are an authoritative player within your specialty, or an expert within your subject matter. Google will rank sites with a higher number of wide web backlinks further up than a site that doesn’t have any trace of recognition within their field.
Creating relevant backlinks is a simple and effective process. Whether you introduce guest posting to your strategy that outreaches content to link back to your site, or simply connect and build a relationship with other players in your field, this off-site SEO strategy could seriously rejuvenate your ranking score. Better still, backlinking is a great way to improve your on-site SEO score too, if you position those links strategically. Hyperlinking product pages and consumer-focused content in well-written blog posts can actually drive readers to your site and boost your engagement. Not only will this improve your SEO, but backlink followers are much more likely to become solid sales leads.
Also, you can collaborate with niche micro-influencers and content creators for backlinks. Even smaller websites with high engagement and domain authority in your industry can provide valuable links. Tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz can help identify backlink opportunities from emerging blogs and industry forums that are gaining traction.
3. Create Sharable Content
If you’re looking to switch up your SEO strategy, it could be time to start thinking less about simply creating content and more about creating the right content for SEO success. Whether you’re writing a blog post or creating a feature for your socials, prioritizing sharability is the key to increasing your engagement, brand awareness, and off-site SEO score.
The theory here is that content that is shared amongst your consumers organically across their own social platforms such as Twitter and Instagram is much more likely to encourage their peers to engage with your brand rather than a paid ad across generalized platforms. Why not incorporate new sharable techniques into your content creation such as newsjacking.
- Incorporate newsjacking into your content creation to leverage trending stories in your niche.
- Create visually engaging content formats like infographics, carousel posts, and micro-videos.
- Utilize interactive content such as polls, quizzes, and calculators to boost shares.
Video content continues to dominate. Short-form videos (TikTok, Reels, Shorts) combined with strong meta descriptions and backlinks can improve SEO while increasing engagement. For B2B audiences, consider explainer videos, live webinars, and interactive demos that are both shareable and link-worthy.
4. Improve UX Accessibility
Did you know that 40% of visitors abandon web pages if they take more than three seconds to load [1]? While content is important in determining your SEO score, Google also takes into account your website’s User Experience (UX) design and user accessibility when ranking you against your competitors. If your site loading speed is too low, you won't only lose engagement as customers bounce, but Google can recognize this too. In order to fix this, here are some of the easiest ways to improve your UX design for SEO success:
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Utilize White Space
Removing website clutter will improve the User Experience while reducing the amount of multimedia-based loading time as consumers click on the site.
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Prioritize Your Mobile Users
50% of online traffic comes from smartphone devices. If your UX isn’t smartphone-friendly, your mobile-based demographic won’t stick around.
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Monitor Your Page Speed
Using online tools such as the Google Page Insights tool will provide you with page-by-page insights that can detect what is working and areas you can make more accessible [2].
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Accessibility
Ensure your website complies with ADA standards. Add alt tags to images, use readable fonts, and enable keyboard navigation for better usability. Accessibility improves user retention and signals quality to search engines.
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Voice Search Optimization
With the increase in smart speakers and mobile voice assistants, optimizing your content for natural language queries can improve traffic and engagement. Long-tail, question-based keywords like “How can I improve corporate training SEO?” are gaining traction.
5. Optimize Your Images
Images are a great gateway to a high SEO score as they aid site authority and improve the User Experience. However, in order to improve your SEO effectively, they need to be optimized for UX perfection.
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File Formats
Use WebP or compressed JPEGs for faster loading without sacrificing quality.
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Alt Text
Add descriptive alt tags to assist search engines in understanding your content and improve accessibility.
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Size & Compression
While large-sized images may seem high quality, proper compression reduces page load time while maintaining visual clarity.
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Responsive Design
Ensure images scale correctly across devices and maintain clarity on mobile screens.
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Interactive Images And AR Experiences
Incorporating 360° product views or AR try-on features for products/services can increase engagement, time on site, and backlink opportunities, which boosts SEO.
Ready To Recover Those Search Rankings?
Recovering your search rankings could be a great way to guarantee marketing success this year. In fact, 61% of B2B marketing experts suggest that SEO strategy can generate more leads than any other initiative, making it the perfect tactic for increasing your conversions and ROI in the new year [3]. Whether you choose to spruce up your content game or focus on your UX design, building up your search ranking score has never been more important as we continue to become more digitalized.
AI-powered SEO tools are revolutionizing search strategies. Platforms like ChatGPT, SurferSEO, and Clearscope can help with content creation, keyword analysis, competitive insights, and readability improvements. By incorporating AI tools into your strategy, you can save time, produce higher-quality content, and remain competitive in the ever-evolving SEO landscape.
References:
[1] How Load Time Affects Web Page Abandonment
[3] 27 Mind-Bottling SEO Stats for 2022 (+ Beyond)
Auditing helps you identify what’s working and what isn’t, including high-performing keywords, pages, and audience engagement. It ensures your strategy aligns with current trends and user intent.
Backlinks from reputable, niche-relevant websites signal authority to Google, boosting your search ranking. They also drive referral traffic and increase the likelihood of turning visitors into leads.
Shareable content is engaging, informative, and resonates with your audience. Formats like interactive posts, infographics, short-form videos, and newsjacking increase organic shares and improve off-site SEO.
Google evaluates page speed, mobile responsiveness, and accessibility. A well-designed UX keeps visitors engaged, reduces bounce rates, and signals quality to search engines, improving rankings.
Voice search optimization, AI-powered SEO tools, AR experiences, interactive content, and short-form videos are key trends. These strategies enhance engagement, boost backlinks, and increase organic visibility.
