There’s one thing you learn after many years and decades of promoting online projects — the digital space changes incredibly fast. It doesn’t matter what brand, website type, topic, design, structure, or purpose you’re working with. At some point, you inevitably realize that some methods and techniques have become outdated and no longer deliver results. This is especially evident in search engine optimization (SEO). A site may not have a “super-slick” design or the latest engine, but if it’s well-prepared and adapted for the web, search engines will find it, and users will find it comfortable to use. On the other hand, some sites may look flashy, use fancy engines, and polished code — yet receive barely any traffic. Search engines might technically be aware of their existence, but many of their pages never make it into the index.

Every project is different. Some SEO methods work for years — like proper title formatting, essential meta tags, etc. But there are also SEO trends that arise from technological advances. The most basic example we’ve mentioned multiple times is voice search and optimization for it. This trend is still new and will continue evolving for a long time. But it's already here, in demand, and full of potential.

In this article, we’ll take a look at new SEO trends in digital marketing that have emerged recently and are becoming essential, recommended, or even critical for successful search engine optimization of virtually any website.

Mobile Indexing

What it is: if you have two versions of your website (site.com and m.site.com), Google will begin indexing your mobile version separately. That means both versions will exist in their database.

What it means for you: if you have a separate mobile version of your website, it’s better to switch to a responsive design that works well for both mobile and desktop.

A few years ago, Google changed its algorithm to favor “mobile-friendly” sites by giving them better rankings — and for good reason. In 2017, over 50% of search queries were performed on mobile devices.

And now, in 2018, it’s even more crucial. Google is currently rolling out mobile-first indexing, and they officially announced this on March 26, followed by a global update of their search and indexing algorithm in early July. Essentially, Google will now view your mobile website as the primary version. Their bots will first crawl the mobile site; the desktop version will be crawled afterward. For companies, this means that being “mobile-friendly” with a decent ranking is no longer enough — you need to be fully mobile-ready. If you only have a desktop version, it will still be indexed, but the lack of a mobile version will hurt your visibility. Google will issue warnings about non-mobile-optimized content, slow loading times, and more. And if the user isn’t happy with what they see — they won’t visit your site.

Bottom line: either have two versions of your site, or use responsive design that looks and works great on both mobile and desktop.

Enhanced SERP (Search Engine Results Page) Features

What it is: search engines now display results in more ways than just the “10 blue links” we’re used to.

What it means for you: your SEO strategy must now include more content and significant technical expertise.

These changes are obvious to any user. Google, Bing, and Yandex now display a variety of results: image carousels, “instant answers” (aka featured snippets), related questions, and even tweets. We covered many of these options in detail when discussing voice search. These SERP features are becoming more common. Google now even displays more than one quick answer for certain queries!

Getting your site to appear in these SERP features is key to successful SEO — this year, next year, and beyond. There’s no simple opt-in form to submit your site for inclusion. Instead, a well-developed SEO program can help you stay competitive. If you know which keywords trigger these features, optimizing your content for them can go a long way. Plus, strong technical markup can help boost traffic.

Bottom line: create lots of relevant content tailored to frequent search phrasing, and make sure your technical setup is clean to improve traffic and attract visitors.

Personalized SEO

What it is: different users get different results for the same search query. Two people in different cities — or even on different streets — will see different search results.

What it means for you: nothing scary. Just keep creating useful content and developing your site — your audience will find you.

Google and other search engines use personalization more than many people realize, aiming to deliver more accurate results to users. This has made personalization more widespread in SEO and digital marketing, not just in UX design. Digital marketers have tons of data “ at their fingertips ” — from basic demographic targeting to work-related and even psychographic personalization. This allows for detailed customer profiling. And it helps not only to better identify leads, but also to provide a customized website experience.

In recent years, personalization has proven mutually beneficial — improving user experience and increasing ROI for businesses.

Bottom line: think about your users and offer content that truly interests them — even if it’s a narrower topic than what competitors are targeting.

Link Building

What it is: link building now requires a more targeted approach than it once did.

What it means for you: just because link building sounds “outdated” doesn’t mean it actually is. It still works!

Building backlinks remains important and should be a core part of your SEO toolkit. Search engines view links as endorsements. The more authoritative the linking domain, the more valuable the backlink — and the more trustworthy your site appears.

Focus on getting “quality” links. A backlink from a site that’s thematically aligned is more valuable than one from a generic design gallery. A healthy backlink profile includes links from various sources: websites, blogs, and social media. It’s not about chasing high-profile domains — it’s about working with relevant sites that add value.

Mobile Site Speed

What it is: site speed is now a ranking factor in Google Search.

What it means for you: if your site operates in a competitive niche, you need to make sure all pages load fast — this can directly affect leads and sales.

Site speed has always been a key part of growth strategy. We know that slow pages lose conversions. But it's more important than ever now that Google has officially included it in their ranking algorithm since July 2018. This change — called the Speed Update — focuses on mobile performance.

Remember Mobile-First (building a mobile-optimized site based on mobile network conditions)? The idea is simple: Google assesses speed from the user’s perspective — and uses it to rank your site. While great content can still help you rank high, don’t forget about speed and optimization.

User Experience (UX)

What it is: user experience is now a major factor in Google’s ranking algorithm.

What it means for you: don’t overload your site with outdated content or confusing structure.

This topic is huge. But aside from link building, most SEO issues now loop back to UX. Whether we talk about site speed, personalized SEO, or Google’s RankBrain — it’s all about creating the best possible user experience. UX has never been more important for SEO than it is now. A fast, mobile-friendly site with quality content (not just long blocks of copy-paste text) will always remain in demand.

Conclusion

The innovations and technological advances of recent years — and those still to come — are making SEO more exciting than ever. No one claims SEO is “solved,” or that we’ve discovered all the best methods. Things will keep changing. But with proper planning, strategy, and focus, marketers can stay ahead of the curve. These trends aren’t just temporary — they matter.

We didn’t touch on PPC, voice search, or local SEO here — we’ve already covered those in-depth elsewhere. SEO consists of dozens of tools and tactics. In this article, we focused on the core areas that have changed the most over the past year. Some of them we’ll explore even further in future posts.