9 Essential Search Engine Marketing Trends for 2024 (+ Tips and Examples)

By Intelligent Relations Team

November 3, 2023

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SEO marketing is essential for reaching your audience and staying competitive.

But it comes with a slew of challenges. 

One of the biggest SEO challenges is Google’s algorithm updates. The only way to stay ahead in SEO is to be informed and to adapt to these updates and shifting search engine marketing trends.

And even if you manage that, you still must produce high-quality, relevant, and engaging content on a consistent basis. That requires significant time, resources, and the expertise of knowing how to create content for both humans and search engines.

Successful SEO also requires identifying the right keywords to target. As trending keywords change over time, balancing high search volume with low competition can be difficult.

You know that your brand and website need an SEO boost. But where do you begin?

The latest SEO trends are always a good place.

So, that’s the good news. We’ve compiled 9 of the top search engine marketing trends in one place along with actionable tips and real life examples. 

Read on to learn which SEO trends to focus on in 2024 to get your website to the top of the search engine result pages.

Our List of Search Engine Marketing Trends for 2024

• Public Relations
• Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust
• Content That Solves Problems
• SEO Competitor Analysis
• Image SEO
• AI and SEO Automation
• Well-Optimized Websites
• Voice Search Optimization
• Local SEO

1. Public Relations

Public relations initiatives can positively impact SEO thanks to link building, enhanced authority, and online reputation management. 

Additionally, an authoritative and positive online reputation can enhance user trust, which also affects SEO through increased dwell times and engagement.

That’s what makes PR one of the most important search engine marketing trends.

To leverage PR for SEO, you’ll need to get backlinks and coverage from authoritative sources. Gone are the days when you could guest post your way to a great backlink profile. 

Now, it’s about creating original, high-quality content that naturally generates backlinks. PR content matches this description. Think about what type of content would naturally attract a journalist to pick it up, write about it, and link back to it.

That can include: 

• Original Research
• Original Data 
• Thought Leadership
• Collaborations with Industry Experts
• High-quality Educational Content

After creating your content, you’ll need to network with journalists, influencers, bloggers, podcast hosts, and other potential collaborators to share your content far and wide. 

Focus on people who would be most interested in your content and find it most relevant to their work. Also, focus on building long-lasting relationships. 

While this may seem counterintuitive from a backlink building perspective, getting regularly featured in authoritative publications is still a clear signal of your authority and expertise. 

Once your PR efforts start to pay off, monitor your brand mentions across the web and ensure they link to your website. You can try to convert unlinked brand mentions into backlinks.

Here are the top reasons why PR is one of the leading search engine marketing trends: 

• Quality Backlinks: PR can help you secure backlinks from reputable sources, which significantly boosts a website’s authority and SEO rankings.
• Increased Organic and Referral Traffic: PR helps you distribute SEO-optimized content to a broader audience. This increases the chances of earning organic traffic, getting higher rankings, and earning referral traffic.
• Online Reputation Management: PR can enhance your brand’s online reputation. This reduces the impact of negative content in search results.

Here is an example of what backlinking looks like in PR: 

Pro Tip: Prepare strategies for handling negative reviews, comments, or controversies effectively. These can impact your SEO performance and public perception.

Want to get started on a PR strategy? Learn how to make a PR plan that works by reading our guide: How to Write an Effective PR Plan [Tips + Examples]

2. Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust

One of Google’s top considerations now when ranking content is a page’s E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trust). A good E-A-T score can come from signals within the content, from the author, and from the website itself.

As of December 2022, Google expanded its E-A-T criteria by introducing an additional “E” – Experience.

What does this mean for SEO trends? 

Google will now factor your firsthand experience into its content quality evaluation. It’s now important for you or your writers to possess real-world familiarity with particular topics.

That’s why paying even more attention to E-E-A-T is now one of the most crucial search engine marketing trends for 2024.

For starters, you need to think about what topics you cover and who is writing them. Does the person writing your content have experience? Are they an SME (subject matter expert) on the topics they cover? 

If the answer is no, here are some things to consider:

• Can you hire SMEs to write your content?
• Can you select an SME from within your company to be the face of your content?
• Do you have an SME within your company who would be willing to write content?
• Are you already doing thought leadership alongside your SEO content?

If you’re already doing thought leadership, you should be covered. Thought leadership already requires that the person making the content is speaking from experience. And by showcasing that experience they establish their authority in the industry.

To get started on E-E-A-T as one of your search engine marketing trends, create author profiles for your content writers. You need to signal to Google that your author has industry experience. You can do that by creating a bio that showcases that experience. Here’s an example from Ahrefs for Joshua Hardwick, the Head of Content. 

Joshua’s bio points out in the second sentence that he has 11 years of experience in SEO. The bio is supported with an image of the author and links to social proof – the author’s social media profiles. Those profiles should also highlight the author’s industry experience. 

The next step is to make sure that your author bylines connect to your author bios: 

Here you can see that Ahrefs links out to the author bio page and also adds a more concise version of the author bio right on the page. 

Want to know what else makes E-E-A-T one of the most successful search engine marketing trends? 

Here are a few reasons:

• Enhanced Credibility: E-E-A-T signals to search engines that your content is credible and reliable because the person making it has real life experience with the topic.
• Better User Experience: E-E-A-T factors contribute to a more informative and trustworthy user experience. This reduces bounce rates and increases user engagement.
• Competitive Advantage: Focusing on E-E-A-T principles allows your content to stand out from competitors. It demonstrates a commitment to high-quality content and expertise.

Pro Tip: Reinforce any claims made in your content with actual data or quotes from SMEs. Cite your data by linking to reports and research. You can also use original data and link to your own reports or research. Using data storytelling is a great way to establish authority within content.

Need ideas on how to make your content more authoritative? Check out our guide: Thought Leadership Strategy: 14 Steps to Balancing Authority and Authenticity (+ Examples)

3. Content That Solves Problems

Google’s pivotal “helpful content” update will have an impact on content creation in 2024, making it one of the top search engine marketing trends for the year.

While Google has always prioritized quality content, this update places user satisfaction at the forefront of gaining SERP results.

So, what exactly does Google consider “helpful” content? 

Helpful content caters to human audiences, resonates with an intended demographic, and comes from expertise. Some examples include how-to guides and FAQs.

To create content that helps readers, focus on quality instead of quantity. Be sure to answer questions web users might ask when conducting a Google search.

Also, prioritize keywords that reflect common user queries and problems. Address these issues comprehensively in your content to provide solutions and attract organic traffic.

The top reasons why helpful content is one of the leading search engine marketing trends include:

• Relevance: Problem-solving content addresses user queries and needs directly. This leads to higher search engine rankings by satisfying search intent.
• Engagement: Problem-solving content can increase user engagement. This reduces bounce rates and improves SEO performance.
• Long-term Value: Content that provides solutions can sustain its value over time. This contributes to steady, long-term SEO benefits.

The article below from Monster.com is an example of what helpful content looks like as one of the latest SEO trends: 

Pro Tip: Consider using interactive content formats like quizzes, calculators, and decision tools to engage users and assist them in solving problems right on the page. You can also provide value-added content like checklists or templates that help with problem solving long after they finish reading. Both types of content can reduce bounce rates and increase time on the page.

Think your content could use a boost? Then you’ll want to check out the top content marketing trends for 2024: 7 Top Content Marketing Trends 2024 [+ Tips and Tricks]

4. SEO Competitor Analysis

In 2024, completing an SEO competitor analysis has gained traction as one of the most current SEO trends. It will continue to be crucial in shaping effective SEO strategies.

While you may have conducted a competitor analysis for your business or PR strategies, an SEO competitor analysis is a bit different. 

Your SEO competitors aren’t necessarily the same as your market competitors. Instead, these are the websites that are out there creating and ranking for content that’s similar to yours.

The reason why SEO competitor analysis is one of the top current search engine marketing trends is because it helps with E-E-A-T.  

SEO managers who conduct analyses gain insight from their competitors that they can use to inform their SEO campaigns and content strategies.

The first step is to determine who your primary SEO competitors are. Essentially, they are the other websites already ranking for the keywords you plan to target. 

Start by analyzing search results for your target keywords. Tools such as SEMRush and Ahrefs can help pinpoint your competition’s performance.

Also, conduct a keyword gap analysis to identify keywords your competitors are ranking for but you’re not. Optimize your content to target these keywords and close the gap.

Here are reasons why SEO competitor analysis is one of the most innovative search engine marketing trends:

• Strategy Refinement: Competitor analysis helps identify gaps and opportunities. This enables you to refine your strategies for better search engine rankings.
• Keyword Insights: Analyzing competitors can reveal valuable keyword insights you may have overlooked and potential keywords to target.
• Benchmarking: Benchmarking against competitors allows for tracking progress and setting realistic SEO goals and KPIs.

This video from SEMRush explains how to make competitor analysis one of your SEO trends: 

Pro Tip: You can also study your competitors’ backlink profiles to discover high-quality linking opportunities. Consider guest posting or contributing bylines on the same websites to improve your link-building strategy. Also look for lost or broken link outreach opportunities.

5. Image SEO

Image SEO is frequently overlooked on websites. However, it’s always played a vital role in enhancing rankings. By prioritizing and integrating it as one of your search engine marketing trends, you can grab some low hanging fruit that other SEOs might be ignoring. 

Here’s how it works:

Google crawls HTML elements associated with any images you add to your content. 

That can include:

• File Names
• Alt Tags
• Image Descriptions
• Scheme Markup

Google also pays attention to the technical aspects of your images including: 

• File Type
• File Size
• Pixel Size
• Mobile Usability

Image SEO ensures that your images hit all of these targets. Make sure your file names, alt tags, and descriptions are in place and optimized for keywords. They should also describe what’s in the image. 

That’s especially important for image descriptions. Your description text is what’s read to users who can’t see the image. So, making sure it accurately describes the image makes your content inclusive for those with visual impairments or limited internet accessibility. 

Remember to convert your files to new formats like WebP, compress your images, and size them correctly for your website. Ahrefs has one of the best image SEO guides on the Internet if you want more detailed information.

Image SEO still stands as one of the most important search engine marketing trends due to:

• Enhanced User Experience: Optimized images improve page load times and overall user experience.
• Increased Visibility: Image SEO allows images to appear in image search results. This provides an additional source of organic traffic.
• Enhanced Social Sharing: Well-optimized images are more appealing when shared on social media platforms. This can increase the likelihood of your content going viral.

Here is an example of what it looks like when you end up in Google’s Image SERP pages:

Pro Tip: Create an image sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console. Creating a separate image map ensures search engines can index your images properly. Plus, it can help increase your visibility in image search results.

6. AI and SEO Automation

The use of AI-generated content has grown significantly, making it one of the new SEO trends of 2024. In fact, about 54% of companies are using AI for its cost-saving capabilities. And the integration of SEO and AI within numerous marketing applications is on the rise. 

Here’re the key thing to remember when considering jumping on AI as one of your search engine marketing trends this year: 

Google discourages churning out auto-generated AI content. However, you can employ AI-powered tools to streamline content workflows without compromising originality.

Additionally, you can use AI for SEO automation. It simplifies keyword research, site auditing, and website grading. This allows for more efficient execution and strategic focus.

Instead of using AI to write your content, try using it to streamline your content generation and optimization. Use it to write outlines, tables, or small bits of content like meta descriptions. Use it to assist you in creating compelling, original content that appeals to search engines and users. 

However, be sure to edit and fact-check any AI-generated content. AI is known for producing content with passive voice, which can hurt your Google rankings. Plus, AI sometimes generates inaccurate information, known as “hallucinations.”

Why is AI one of the most innovative search engine marketing trends? Here are some reasons to consider:

• Efficiency: AI can help you save time and resources for more strategic activities.
• Data Analysis: AI can process and analyze large volumes of data. This can provide valuable insights for optimizing SEO strategies and campaigns.
• Predictive Insights: AI can forecast SEO trends and changes in search engine algorithms. This can help you stay ahead of the curve and adapt.

ChatGPT is one of the most popular tools for SEO marketers. Here is an example of how it’s used to create content: 

Pro Tip: When using tools like ChatGPT, your prompts are important. Try a general prompt and see what the AI gives you. Continue to feed the AI more specific prompts. For example, “Write an outline that includes an introduction, four body paragraphs, and a conclusion.”

Are you interested in AI automation or marketing automation in general? Then you’ll want to check out our guide: 10 Emerging Marketing Automation Trends for 2024

7. Well-Optimized Websites

Since the 2021 page experience update, Google has emphasized the importance of high-performing, fast-loading websites in its ranking algorithm. 

Despite the update’s initial impact, Google’s full rollout was extended until March 2022. The search giant continues to refine the criteria for assessing a page’s performance. 

Page Speed Insights and Core Web Vitals will remain important tools for assessing and enhancing website speed and performance. This makes website optimization one of the most crucial search engine marketing trends.

In combination with content quality, adequate page speed can yield significant rewards. That includes elevated keyword rankings for all pages across your website’s domain.

Be sure to optimize loading times by compressing images, using browser caching, and minimizing code. Both users and search engines favor fast-loading sites.

Ensure that your website is mobile-responsive for an excellent user experience. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites.

What else makes website optimization one of the leading search engine marketing trends? Here are a few reasons to consider:

• Improved User Experience: Well-optimized websites load faster, have clean navigation, and are mobile-friendly, all of which enhance user experience and positively affect SEO rankings.
• Improved Search Engine Crawling: Technical optimization ensures search engine bots can easily crawl and index website content, improving its visibility in search results.
• Lower Bounce Rates: A technically optimized website retains visitors, lowering bounce rates and signaling to search engines that the content is valuable.

The video below shows how website optimization works for SEO marketing: 

Pro Tip: Implement schema markup to enhance rich snippets in search results. This provides additional information to users and can improve click-through rates.

8. Voice Search Optimization

Voice search is on the rise, making it one of the most current search engine marketing trends. In recent years, it has matured into an everyday tool. As it gains prevalence, more marketers are shifting their focus away from traditional text searches.

Voice queries are often lengthier and more conversational than text. Users enter natural language, with longer phrases or questions.

Additionally, most voice searches occur on the go. This necessitates quick, actionable information, such as business hours, contact details, and directions.

To stay ahead of the curve, optimize your content for voice search by using natural, conversational language. 

Also, capitalize on local voice searches by optimizing for “near me” and location-based queries. This is crucial if you’re trying to target local customers.

Here are some reasons why voice search optimization is one of the top search engine marketing trends:

• Adaptation to Emerging Technology: Voice search optimization ensures that a website remains relevant as more users turn to voice-activated devices, which can positively impact SEO.
• Addresses Natural Language Queries: Voice searches tend to be more conversational and natural, and optimizing for these types of queries can boost a website’s SEO performance.
• Gaining Featured Snippets: Many voice search results come from featured snippets, and optimizing for these can improve a website’s chances of being featured prominently.

This video explains how to optimize your content for voice search: 

Pro Tip: To gain featured snippets, first check to see if your keywords include one. Provide concise, informative answers to common voice search questions or questions related to the keyword. Featured snippets are often pulled from 40-50 word answers and lists.

9. Local SEO

Consumers increasingly seek nearby services, making local SEO one of the best search engine marketing trends of 2024. And that’s especially true if you operate a brick-and-mortar business or local service. In that case, local SEO is a must. 

Local SEO involves tailoring your website for local customers. It boosts search result visibility for users seeking local products and services. 

To take advantage of local SEO, create local citations on external websites that mention your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP information). These efforts help boost your presence in local search results.

Make sure you format your NAP information consistently across platforms. You’ll want to include the same information written the same way across your website, social channels, Google My Business profile, and external websites citing your business.

Claim and optimize your Google My Business listing. Ensure accuracy in business information, hours, and location. Encourage customer reviews and engage with them.

Here are a few key reasons why local SEO is one of the top search engine marketing trends: 

• Increased Foot Traffic: Local SEO efforts can drive more foot traffic to physical stores.
• Better Visibility in Local Search Results: Setting up and optimizing your Google My Business profiles can lead to better visibility in local search results.
• Niche Targeting: Local SEO allows for precise targeting of local niches and demographics. This increases the chances of connecting with the right audience.

Here is an example of what local SEO looks like on Google:

Pro Tip: Develop locally-focused content that caters to your target audience. Blog about local events, news, or issues to demonstrate relevance within your community.

Key Takeaways on the Latest SEO Trends

Following these search engine marketing trends is crucial for reaching your target audience and getting to the top of Google search results. While it comes with various challenges, continuous effort, and adaptation can help you succeed.

By monitoring Google’s algorithm updates, you can stay ahead of the curve. Adapting your SEO strategy to these changes can ensure that your website remains visible in search results.

The content you produce also matters. Producing high-quality, relevant, and engaging content is critical for SEO success. Using trending keywords is equally as important for optimizing your content for search engines. Follow these search engine marketing trends and you’re on your way to enhancing all your marketing and PR efforts.

Not sure how to get started with search engine marketing trends? Let us help! Simply book a free consultation with us to get expert insight into how to start or improve your SEO marketing strategy.