Table of Contents Executive Overview
2016 Will Be the Year of Mobile
The Rise of Rich Answers
Leveraging Structured Data
Ensuring Content Answers Questions
Optimizing Geo for SEO
SEO Integration With First-Party and Third-Party Data
Next Steps
About TeleTech
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Executive Overview
Just 2 percent of businesses are “very satis�ed” with their website conversion rates.
TeleTech 1
Search engine optimization (SEO) techniques play a
critical role in driving tra�c to company websites. But
for brands that want to boost their online marketing
performance, marketers and other decision-makers need
to keep track of cutting-edge trends and abandon old
school SEO strategies to achieve peak performance.
To succeed in 2016, marketers must pay heed to a number
of critical SEO trends, including how they go about utilizing
structured data and when it’s best to apply geographic
modi�ers. In this eBook, we have identi�ed six top trends
to watch for in 2016, along with best practices for
executing on each of them.
Source: Econsultancy’s 2014 Conversion Rate Optimization Report
Six SEO Predictions to Plan for in 2016 2
The popularity of mobile search continues to surge.
More searches now take place on mobile devices than
on desktop machines in more than 10 countries, including
the U.S. and Canada, according to Google.
As the world shifts to mobile, marketers need to pay close
attention to mobile site rankings. Google gets it – the
company changed its algorithm in April 2015 to include
‘mobile friendliness’ as a major ranking factor in mobile
search results.
“Even if an organization can’t a�ord a tool to help make
its website mobile-friendly, companies should consistently
compare desktop and mobile tra�c in order to understand
how user behavior changes between devices,” says
Travis Low, Vice President, SEO and Organic,
TeleTech Growth Services
Some simple steps companies can take to boost mobile
performance include improving page speed by making use
of browser caching and reducing redirects. Also, be sure to
use mobile meta tags to ensure search engines can crawl
each experience properly.
Trend 12016 Will Be the Year of Mobile
120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0
Billio
ns
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Desktop Mobile
113.4
85.6
U.S. Local Search Market: Mobile vs. DesktopIn 2015, mobile local search volume will surpass desktop
local search for the �rst time. By 2016, we expect mobile
to exceed desktop by 27.8 billion queries.
Source: BIA / Kelsey 3TeleTech
Six SEO Predictions to Plan for in 2016 4
Another big trend that will continue through 2016 is an
increase in rich answers in the search engine results page
(SERP). A rich answer is any e�ort by Google to answer
a query directly without requiring a click through to a
website. Rich answers are increasing in Google searches.
According to Stone Temple Consulting, 35 percent of
Google queries result in rich answers, representing a
38 percent increase since early 2015.
Rich answers typically result from queries like ‘What is
CRM?’ or “How do you pronounce gyro?” In order to earn
domain and web page authority and achieve a high ranking
in Google searches, your organization’s content should be
relevant and strive to answer those questions on topics
you want your brand to be associated with.
For instance, if your company is an online footwear retailer
and you’re looking to attract tra�c for Nike Air Jordan 9
Retro basketball sneakers, your web pages should contain
detailed information about the shoe. This includes when it
was �rst designed along with key features (foot support,
cushioning, traction). The more detailed information is
on a company’s web pages about a particular topic, the
higher the website’s search ranking will be.
Although rich answers were historically served up for
celebrity questions and other de�nitions, Google is
starting to display rich answers for technical and B2B
queries. Websites need to include content to support
these rich answer snippets.
Trend 2The Rise of Rich Answers
18.9%Rich Answers
81.1%Traditional Answers
1.7%Rich Answers
98.3%Traditional Answers
Google Bing
Custom Queries
Source: Stone Temple Consulting, 2015 5TeleTech
65 percent of search experts expect structured data to have an increased impact on SERPs into 2016.
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Structured data helps clearly label HTML which can
sometimes be confusing to search engines. When content
is formatted into HTML code, this can make it di�cult for
web crawlers to interpret the information e�ectively.
Structured data allows search engines to better understand
the information that’s on your organization’s web page and
then use this information to determine your
company’s search results listing.
“Structured data helps search engines better understand
the content on company websites and may reward these
sites with premium organic listings (rich snippets),” says
Low. By utilizing structured data, Google can determine
what your company’s web pages are about.
If a web visitor searches against a topic such as ‘top
ecommerce sites,’ the search results will display ratings,
reviews, recommendations for tools, along with rankings
by tra�c, revenue, etc. All of this information is pulled from
structured data. Brands can boost their SEO performance
by using Schema.org, a tagging vocabulary, to markup
web pages in ways that Google and top search
providers recognize.
Source: Survey of 150 search experts conducted by Moz. Six SEO Predictions to Plan for in 2016
Trend 3Leveraging Structured Data
More than half of sales and marketing professionals (54 percent) found quality content creation as their most valuable SEO tactic.
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It’s been said that “content is king” and this still holds true.
However, the way that content is written for search engines
and users may be changing. As search engines evolve, the
content that populates web pages should be detailed enough
to answer questions that people pose in search queries.
Comprehensive content will help boost your organization’s
search results listing while also positioning your brand as a
knowledgeable source of information. After all, search
engines don’t rank companies. They rank content.
For instance, a company that provides package delivery
services would want to ensure that it has comprehensive
information on its web pages regarding topics such
as ‘logistics’ and ‘supply chain optimization,’ including
de�nitions and best practices. Doing so will help improve
your organization’s search results and expose your brand
and its content to more visitors.
Source: “Inside Enterprise SEO: SEO Survey Benchmarks for Large Companies,” Conductor TeleTech
Trend 4Ensuring Content Answers Questions
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Geo-targeting your organization’s website will continue
to become increasingly important for SEO as Google’s
algorithm has become much more geo-centric. Be sure
to include city names in content, meta tags, and titles
when applicable. Another SEO strategy for geo-targeting
is to build content around other local “landmarks” in order
to create a stronger theme for the locality, as long as it
is relevant for the user.
For instance, a healthcare provider that provides medical
services in southern California can list each of the 27
cities where its nurses are available and attach those cities
to geographic regions. In this example, the healthcare
provider can pair the word “Irvine” with nearby cities
to a county level page and link that to both a “Southern
California” and a “California” page in order to tee up
relevant search results for visitors.
Six SEO Predictions to Plan for in 2016
Trend 5Optimizing Geo for SEO
Consumers Search With Local Intent Across Devices
consumers conduct local searcheson search engines. They search on:4 of 5
88%Smartphone
84%Computer/Tablet
Source: Google Think, 2014. 9TeleTech
81 percent of marketers report they generate the highest ROI from data-driven initiatives when they use �rst-party data.
Six SEO Predictions to Plan for in 2016 10
First-party data – information a company has collected
about its audience (names, addresses, phone numbers,
transactional data) – can include information that’s drawn
from website analytic platforms, CRM systems, and
business analysis tools. When �rst-party data is integrated
with display ad campaign e�orts, it can serve as a powerful
resource for paid media and retargeting opportunities.
For instance, a retailer can draw on a customer’s behavioral
data (product pages they’ve viewed) blended with
demographic data to generate an o�er based on how
customers with similar characteristics have responded.
Meanwhile, third-party data that’s distributed by data
aggregators such as BlueKai, eXelate, and Acxiom can
help supplement �rst-party data for SEO and be used for
demographic, behavioral, and contextual targeting.
“You could use both data types to tailor a message to
lost customers based on why they stopped doing business
with the company and address that in the messaging to
try to win them back,” says Low.
Source: Econsultancy, Signal.
Trend 6SEO Integration With First-Party and Third-Party Data
Next Steps
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Before embarking on any of the key trends that are driving
SEO, it’s always a good idea to have the right foundational
components in place. This includes deploying the right
tools and building out the internal company infrastructure
that’s needed to help ensure that content can boost your
organization’s website ranking.
Another crucial component to powering SEO is having
compelling content so that your brand’s website and ideas
are discovered by consumers. Optimizing content includes
the use of title tags, meta descriptions, and H1 tags, as well
as relevant tags for images.
Using the right technology and content also requires
another critical component: having the right talent in place
to maximize both of these areas. “Companies need to have
specialized resources in each of these areas because a
technical engineer isn’t going to develop content,” says
Low. “If there are skill gaps, it’s best to work with an agency
or a third party to help supplement these skills.” Top SEO
skills in demand include link building, technical optimiza-
tion, site usability, content marketing (including content
creation and content distribution), and social media skills.
Staying on top of SEO trends and adapting quickly to
change can help your brand stay relevant and catapult
online marketing performance in 2016.
TeleTech
TeleTech is a leading global provider of customer experience, engagement and growth solutions. Founded in 1982, the Company helps its clients acquire, retain, and grow pro table customer relationships. Using customer-centric strategy, technology, processes,and operations, TeleTech partners with business leadership across marketing, sales, and customer care to design and deliver a simple, more human customer experience across every interaction channel. Servicing over 80 countries, TeleTech’s 40,000 employees live by a set of customer-focused values that guide relationships with clients, their customers, and each other.
For more information about TeleTech, please visit www.teletech.com.
About TeleTech