According to Forbes, Search engine optimization (SEO) is a game, which is all about staying ahead of your competitors. And the best way to make sure you do just that is by following the latest SEO trends and adjusting your website content accordingly to continuously keep in front of the eyes of your potential customers. This will help you leave your competitors far behind who have yet to follow the SEO trends, which is totally a yesterday’s news.

The SEO industry is moving forward in a rapid speed, and with that, you need to move in the right direction quickly. This article will help you analyze and create new strategies parallel to the SEO trends in 2017. Let’s begin.

• HTTPS becomes compulsory : Moving on to HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) from HTTP will give a huge benefit to your company website. It will keep the exchanged data between the user and the company secure. In today’s time, customer has become more cautious when dealing online, and now they expect nothing less than a safe experience whenever they visit a website. It is quite cost efficient to switch from HTTP to HTTPS, but the main reason to adapt is the positive ranking on Google results.
• Use Long-form Content: Long-form content, which is considered to be over 2,000 words, is proved to help increase the search engine results of the website. Using long content is a strategy marketers have used for many years and it is still going strong in converting website traffic to leads and revenue.
• Social media as referral traffic : Social Media will continue its dream run as the largest referral traffic for website with Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Instagram being the top referrals. This is because customers are using social media for customer supports and asking about the products along with getting latest offers.
• Increment in voice search: Echo by Amazon and Google Home helps the customers to search for their queries without even lifting their fingers. Now, one can get their answers by simply speaking, whether if you want to call a number or request an Uber or order a pizza, you can simply ask your phone to do it. This technology will certainly see an upgrade this year, which will help your business to get listed on voice search.
• Increase in Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) : Google is a big fan of AMPs which is an open-source protocol allowing the webmasters to develop web pages that has the tendency to load very quickly on mobile devices. This will allow your website to open four times faster and use less data charges, allowing the user a better experience visiting your website. Google is now beginning to favor those sites that have adapted to AMPs and if you too want increase your website worth as well, then switch to AMP soon.
• Increased user experience: The more the user stays on the site, the greater the chances of converting the traffic to sales. And to make it happen, it is necessary that the website offers best user experience, which can be done by uploading informative content, quick loading of website, error free, pleasant look, easy navigation and social media links.
• Prioritize mobile search: With more and more people are using mobile devices to search for their queries, it has become necessary to design your website that offers best view on mobile devices. The percentage of mobile traffic is growing rapidly and not strategizing mobile search would certainly lead to the loss of potential customers and increased sales. Choose responsive website design for your e-commerce website and convert your every lead into sales in 2017.
• Link your website to other sites: Google link buildup will allow your website to enhance the traffic by a greater margin in 2017. However, using link buildup properly is highly necessary. It will allow your website to reach on the top search engine results.

These are few of the latest Search engine optimization  trends that will dominate 2017. If you want to gain more popularity and reach a higher audience, then it is essential that you follow these trends effectively. Targeting mobile searches over desktop seems to be the best idea to start from. Make sure you use all your resources carefully.