Top three digital trends for 2021

By Liniar’s Simone Sangha.

I hope everyone has had a great New Year and is feeling positive about the year ahead. This article will focus on the top three digital trends that I believe will be at the forefront in 2021, all aimed at enhancing your digital strategy for the year.

Google listings and local SEO. Schema structured data 8.0 was released this year. This means there has been an update from Google to the way they display local search results about your business. Some of the currently supported types of data Google uses are: local business; restaurant; event; review; product.

With more individuals working from home due to the pandemic, we have seen an increase in local searches and support for local businesses, but only those visible to Google can be seen online.

I recommend using testing tools to test your website’s structured data and update it as soon as possible. Here at Liniar, we use an online tester by Google: https://search.google.com/test/rich-results.

Voice search. Have you ever asked Siri or Alexa about the weather? With big brands such as Apple, Microsoft and Google releasing smart home devices, more individuals than ever are opting to search with their voice. Voice search is becoming as popular as more traditional methods due to ease, efficiency and simply because it’s accessible.

Your search engine optimisation results could change dramatically if you do not carry out due diligence about voice search and its developments. Stay focused on optimising keywords for voice to appear more frequently in top search results as this could potentially increase your website traffic tenfold.

Interactive content. Adding engaging elements to your website can help retain existing visitors and also help you to acquire new ones. Whether you’re using artificial intelligence, videos, live streams or content blocks, consumers will be looking for an ‘experience’ online in 2021. Poor customer journeys could result in high bounce rates (visitors exiting your website quickly).

I would recommend getting impartial feedback on your website to highlight areas to improve and develop. Use analytics to track individual page traffic and ask internal employees for feedback of usability for the best insights on areas of your site to improve.

Digital marketing has transformed even more quickly over 2020, forcing many businesses to get on board faster than they initially anticipated. I’d advise doing additional research from your own business stats analytics to help define your 2021 digital strategy.

Let’s hope for a more positive year in 2021.

Bonus tip. Be sure to record yearly statistics from your website and look into your campaign data as this will give you crucial insights into what worked over the last year, so you are better equipped when creating your digital strategy in 2021. This will save you time and efficiency in the long run and enhance your existing approach.