Just when we think we’ve finally come to grips with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), tech giants like Google have to go and change the playing field…

More than half of all searches globally performed on Google’s platform, are now performed on mobile devices and other prominent search engine platforms like Bing and Yahoo are experiencing similar results. Because of this, the way Goole calculate’s search engine rankings and indexing is shifting, to reflect the transition from desktop to mobile device searches.

According to global media platform ‘The Drum’ , companies like Google have already taken advantage of the SEO opportunities mobile devices present, and are swiftly developing new search and streaming apps in order to utilise them. Catherine Turner, a reporter at The Drum, predicts that these technological developments will have ‘profound implications for publishers, advertisers and agencies’.   

One particular platform utilising the surge in mobile-based searches is Accelerated Mobile Pages, often referred to as AMP. Last month, Google began promoting web-based news articles that comply with AMP guidelines as part of their open source AMP initiative, which they’ve been working on alongside key technology companies, ad-tech businesses and publishers in order to “ improve the web for everyone”. AMP aims to ‘improve the web’  through the coding it uses to build web pages for static content, which renders the web pages spectacularly fast. So fast that web pages built with AMP, load four times as fast and use 10 times less data than equivalent non-AMP pages.

Because most mobile data plans don’t possess the same internet speed as a desktop computer, especially when said mobile device is on-the-go, having AMP built into your mobile website puts online companies at a great advantage. Google want to optimise the experience of mobile browsing for all users and believe this can be achieved by standardising AMP amongst mobile versions of companies’ key websites. Furthermore, they  given websites that integrate with AMP a higher ranking factor, within Google searches performed on a mobile device. It is even predicted by media commentators that Google will soon start penalising non-compliant pages.

Mobile optimisation doesn’t stop with making websites mobile-friendly; it must also encompass mobile apps. Dan Calladine who is one of the global heads at media network Carat, predicts that SEO through mobile apps will be the biggest game changer in search marketing for 2016. This is because the inclusion of mobile apps will provide consumers access to content in their search results that wasn’t there previously.

Google started indexing the content of apps over two years ago, so that when people searched, they could find results whether in an app or on the web. However, up until last year, a google search only showed information from apps that had matching web content or apps already installed on your mobile device. Consequently consumers were denied access to a significant amount of relevant content…until now.

Google has recently announced that suggestions for new apps to install, will now appear in mobile organic search results for relevant search queries. This means that content previously locked away in apps can now be found through an organic google search, just like on a traditional web page, only it will encourage the consumer to download the app in order to access the content. It also levels the playing field for app-only players such as WhatsApp.

“There’s a rising number of things that exist only on an app and Google knows it has to be searching in this; we can expect ‘app SEO’ to become a new area of search engine advertising for brands to consider in the future” Calladine predicts.

Another digital trend impacting on SEO is machine learning; a specific form of artificial intelligence. Machine learning is defined as the field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed and is used when a consumer conducts a search in order to produce relevant results. Currently tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, Apple and Facebook are investing in ‘narrow’ or ‘soft’ artificial intelligence as these are able to deliver results a person really wants, even before they’ve finished talking or typing.

While this appears a little ‘twilight zone’ upon first hearing it, media experts claim that this ability is totally within the realm of possibility.

“Search Engines will only truly become intelligent when the engine can anticipate what the person using it needs, even before intent has been revealed,” Ravleen Beetson the UK sales director at Bings Ads, said in a recent interview with The Drum.

Beetson also mentioned that Apple’s Bing-powered Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Google Now are all paving the way for this revolutionary search model. Microsoft for example, has already put numerous weight behind their intuitive personal assistant mobile device ‘Cortana’, which uses semantic systems in order to better anticipate the behaviours and needs of the phone owner. For example, nudging the individual to leave for a scheduled appointment or making sense of their current location and traffic conditions.

Beetson sees this as a trend from which “new search behaviours will emerge which will ultimately empower marketers to open up to new opportunities and behavioural data.”

Indeed, while the ‘mobile space’ has acted as a catalyst for greater trends in technology for us to wrap our heads around, it cannot be denied that it presents exciting opportunities for businesses and the way we market to consumers. Watch this space.

To find out more on the trends discussed above, read The Drum’s synopsis on the latest trends in SEO for 2016 http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/03/10/three-search-marketing-trends-you-need-know-googles-amp-app-seo-and-machine-learning