The biggest survey of the year by Serpstat: digital antitrends and what you
shouldn't do in 2020

In 2020 I think it's time to move away from the one-size-fits-all approach once and for all, and stop chasing algorithms and the "must-have tactics".

Far too often I come across campaigns where people have tried to use a standard playbook in order to get a website to rank, without making considerations for the website platform, current technical issues, historic (and legacy) issues, competitors, or even the differences in SERPs, in terms of SCRB (special content result blocks).

This is enhanced by poor blog posts designed to generate traffic and tools designed to bandwagon trends - like LSI tools (when LSI is an indexing method, not an optimization method).

Hopefully, 2020 will be the year more of the industry shifts away from the standardized package approach, and more towards bespoke consultancy.

Along with the ever-advancing machine learning capabilities that Google is demonstrating, I'm also excited (and curious) to see how user behavior changes with the increased adoption of YouTube as a search engine, and the advent of Google Discover.

Countries such as Japan and South Korea are already heavily using YouTube as a primary search engine, favoring video content to satisfy their queries, and Google Discover is another model taking users away from traditional search as a form of content discovery.

We had portals like Netscape in the early days of the internet, and they thrive still in Asian countries, so the Google Discover version (if personalization is effective) could provide both an opportunity, as a new way users can discover your content, and a threat, as it could take some users away from searching for new content and relying on the Discover feed.

My advice is to do still the same best practices for every project, without testing and without thinking about the benefit of the specific project is still done a lot and shouldn't be done in 2020 anymore. So work through the same fixed checklists/audits for every project in the same way may be an antitrend.

There're several things that aren't worth doing, but I do think it makes sense to talk about link building as that's what I'm really good at! I've faced a good number of SEO specialists who were trying to improve their site's ranking while only focusing on the on-site issues. The problem with this approach is that you spend tons of time and resources on creating new content pages, optimizing old ones, and so on, but traffic still doesn't come. So, don't forget about the importance of links, especially if you're based in a highly competitive market.

When talking with clients about their digital strategy, I still get the feeling that their activities are disconnected from each other. In particular, SEO is seen as something technical and separate as most colleagues have a hard time understanding what SEO really is. To stop this antitrend in 2020, in-house SEOs should do a better job in educating their colleagues and bring the core of SEO into the organization: focusing on user needs and providing high-quality content that is easily accessible within a website. If this mindset becomes part of the organization, it will get easier to work together in e.g. seeding activities across all relevant channels.

You may ask how you can achieve this? Stop using SEO-lingo and start using words everyone in the organization understands. So rather describe your request for adding internal links in recently created articles by emphasizing the benefit for the reader than using terms like "by doing this we improve the flow of link juice through the website" when talking to editors. Most of them have never heard about link juice – and basically don't care about that.

1. If you still believe that stuffing your articles with keywords is a way to go, please stop... It shouldn't come as a surprise that Google has become hyperfocused on the context, rather than the keywords. It also means avoiding using the exact anchor for all your links. In 2020 context is still king. Understand the user intent, write relevant articles that give value to your readers, and forget about counting your keywords. Once and for all.

2. Another thing to avoid is producing a long-form but low-quality content. While relying on the popular assumption that long-form content ranks better than the short one, don't accidentally offer your audience (and search engines) poorly written pieces just because it might rank higher in Google. It won't. Search engines still value quality and context over length. Instead, think about implementing topic clusters in your content marketing strategy in 2020. Review your existing content, research keywords you want to be ranking for, choose a few pillar pages (main topics), plan your subtopics (supporting articles) and start writing!

3. Ditch thinking about your social media numbers and focus on providing value and building a real community around your product or service. It's that simple. Bots... If you still use or consider using them, please don't waste your time and money. Even with the fast advancing technology (also for shady marketing solutions), it will never become a sustainable solution and any serious business should not come close to supporting their marketing efforts with bots.

4. This might be an unpopular opinion, but... listicles (articles titled "10 Best Ways to Generate Leads") should really be off your menu in 2020. They are easy to write and might attract those looking for quick solutions, but they usually provide little to no value. Such pieces are usually very broad and cannot be effectively implemented by the readers. They also often require further reading. Instead, focus on writing in-depth content. Once again - implementing topic clusters can be your golden shot!

5. Choosing quantity over quality. It's hard to believe that this still has to be mentioned, but unfortunately, I still come across blogs who would rather publish 3-4 times per week and keep the pace, than produce one valuable piece of content weekly. The best cure for this is to turn your attention to case studies. Such articles filled with real data can be a real gem for your audience. Yes, they take time to write, but your readers and search engines will reward you for it!

Creating content just for the sake of having content. I have been approached by several companies to help them improve their SEO content marketing efforts and I find that +50% of their blog posts weren't providing much value to their audience, their content team said that publishing weekly content on the blog is better than few a month but realistically, it is better to publish few but high-quality content than too much low-quality content.

Also, as Google is evolving from a keyword-oriented approach to an entity-recognition approach, it is fundamental that the content we create takes into consideration the intent and context of the search instead of purely optimizing content according to keyword ratio.

With the increase in entity recognition, structured data plays a fundamental role in specifying the type of content the website has, whether it is product information, company data, local business hours, event data, etc.

Voice search will have no impact on most brands in 2020. It's just not as relevant as people think. Yes, it's a big trend in how people search, but it's still mostly used for simple, short answer Q&A. Not every search trend is an SEO trend. Just because people use microphones to search for quick answers, that doesn't mean you should run out and change your content strategy.

Organic traffic, from both search and social, will drop in 2020. This is the biggest marketing (anti)trend and it will lead to a shift in budgets toward paid promotion, especially paid influencer marketing. Marketers that have invested in organic influencer marketing (aka, collaborative content marketing) will do well. Also, marketers who have built email lists will be somewhat protected.

I've seen too many company blogs being used only for the purpose of SEO. People writing 1.500+ words articles with basically no valuable information but instead carefully packed with repeating phrases and keywords.

Well, the problem is that people start to realize this and are annoyed by this practice. Because it shows that those articles are not written with the first priority of helping someone, instead it has been written in order to trick search engines into believing that this article will solve the problem of the user.

Those pointless blog posts should be completely removed from your SEO strategy in 2020. Instead, companies should focus on creating valuable information and a place that I, as a user, want to revisit for the next post.

With that in mind search engines will also notice how people revisit blogs directly and stay longer on the pages because they actually love what they read. And search engines will reward these factors as well with better rankings!

I don't think this is necessarily an anti-trend, but there's definitely a paradigm shift in the way small brands need to think about how they're driving traffic to their sites. During these past few years, online ads have become an incredibly expensive marketing channel, especially for startups. Unfortunately, the days where you could create an online business (say, a dropshipping store), invest a few hundred dollars on online ads and see orders automatically coming in are gone forever.

Instead, in such a competitive market where more and more brands keep popping up, it's extremely important to focus on attracting high-quality leads and retaining customers for as long as possible. One of the best ways to attract qualified leads to your business is by setting up a strong SEO strategy from day one. It's a long road, but it sure pays off. Once you've converted those leads into customers, it's very important to keep them around for as long as possible, increasing their lifetime revenue. A great way to do this is by applying a customer loyalty-centered approach to your customer lifecycle marketing strategy. You'll be making sure that your customers keep coming back but also talk to their friends and family about your brand, increasing the reach of your business through one of the most trustworthy marketing channels: word-of-mouth.

Not all emerging SERP features (FAQ, How-to, rich snippets) will steal traffic. How much traffic sites lose to these features will depend on the query and how much content is revealed in this feature. Sometimes, a snippet taking up more space on the SERP will earn more traffic simply for being perceived as more relevant than the average result.

In 2020, there will likely be a backswing to how much SEO is automated. As more SEOs use python to make their operations easier, content strategies may start to look similar across different brands. This will force marketers to keep certain operations manual and depend on human intuition (rather than a script) to make critical decisions.

In 2020, Google will pivot slightly from intent-based algorithm updates to those focused on trust. Too many sites are copying one another, and the last four core algorithm updates by Google were link-based. Going forward, backlink authority and correct intent won't be enough to rank well for competitive topics. Content marketers will need to think very carefully about their competitive advantage, or their traffic will suffer.

In 2020, a content marketer's source will need to come from the horse's mouth, not just Google. Blogs, YouTube channels, and newsrooms will lose their "expert" image without proprietary or firsthand information to give their audiences.

It is not a good idea to join every SEO trend if you have not done the basics. A fast-loading AMP does not work without good content. Do not expect long texts to rank if they do not match the user's search intention. There is no master plan for THE SEO strategy, THE perfect SEO text, THE perfect link graph. Many SEOs are extremely focused on putting SEO in calculations and graphs. Learn to identify the user's intention and help him covering his actual needs. In my opinion, modern SEO is not to work on a checklist of ranking factors. SEO becomes more and more a construction kit of excellent communication, deliver great user experience, understand data mining and above all being empathetic to understand the target group.

I think that SEO anti trends can save your business a lot of trouble. Staying away from myths and all sorts of so-called "tips" that can ruin a website. The web is full of stuff that offers a few valuable information on what to follow in 2020. You can find something you can rely on a thorough search and from trustworthy websites.

The SEO industry evolves so fast that it forces websites and businesses to do the same. Don't get caught up in SEO strategies that worked two years ago. Follow experts and see what they are recommending, and also test to see if it works for you.

If something doesn't bring you any results, it's time to flip the page.

1. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of SEO strategies that worked and now don't is duplicate content. Duplicate content doesn't get you penalized, while copied content does.

2. Another antitrend for 2020 is putting more effort into building links, than building content. Links don't value more than content. I've seen fresh content with no links that ranked better than old content with lots of links. A natural link profile and good content can bring you high rankings.

3. PPC is not a straight way to money land great results. Even though is a quicker way than SEO, it doesn't mean it's more efficient. You have to stop lying to yourself that PPC guarantees instant and fast results. Lots of marketers and startups quickly jump to the conclusion that PPC will bring them instant results. That's an antitrend.

4. Unfortunately, if you don't have expertise in paid advertising, you can lose a lot of money. Creating effective PPC ads is a full-time job.

5. Another antitrend that you shouldn't follow is being the #1 on SERP with your Google Ad. It will eat you a lot of money and consume your daily budget in a flash. Set up smart goals, that will bring you results.

5. The first antitrend on the list is focusing more on keyword research than on competitor spying. We all know that finding a good keyword is important, but finding a niche, and a gap is way more important. Checking your competitors for specific keywords will trigger valuable information. You can see what type of content ranks on the first page, what headings and title tags do they have, what additional topics are related, what other questions people ask, and many more. Adding all of these to your content will only make it stronger. So stop keyword hunting if you don't see the bigger picture.

6. I oftentimes see people creating candy-eye headings with no call-to-action. That's antitrend that needs to disappear. You have to make it compelling. Be different than your competitors.

1. We find ourselves competing with other brands for very specific keywords, and outranking them on these keywords is a huge win. Exact match anchor text backlinks are one way to signal to Google that we're the authority on a specific topic, and it prompts Google to rank us higher than our competitors. These may be great in the short term, as they help with search rankings. We may be over-zealous in our drive to secure exact match anchor text links as a result, especially when competitors big and small are doing the same (oftentimes even buying link placements on a large scale). But in the long run, it can seem very suspicious to Google, whether you're asking for mentions or doing it intentionally through guest posting.

More and more, Google is trying to align the intent of a search with the content of pages themselves to help its users. So I'd recommend focusing on diversifying your anchor text, and focusing more on the intent. Use anchor text that is similar or relates to the keywords you're trying to rank for. Over time, it's definitely a safer bet, you rank for a wider range of keywords, plus it helps you rank for the user intent.

2. Over-blogging is counter-productive. You run the risk of having competing blog content on your blog, you have less time for distribution/promotion, and even less time to audit older content for updating/repurposing. Still, a lot of brands are driven to publish blog posts often. But they don't see the results they could if they just took a step back, and approached things a bit more strategically.

For example, publishing blog posts consistently (instead of frequently) is underrated but effective - your subscribers learn to expect it and look forward to it. Updating old content to make it more relevant keeps you current and authoritative, and is way less time consuming than creating content from scratch. Repurposing content into newer formats lets you reach a wider audience by building on content that exists rather than creating something new out of nothing.

I think it's tempting to frequently publish shallow, scratching-the-surface type posts to have fresh content that gives you a little organic traffic boost every other day. But I think the competitive edge brands need is focusing on in-depth content that's consistently updated and repackaged, keeping your subscribers engaged over a longer period of time. It builds your authority/credibility, builds trust over the long-term, helps you rank in search results and more. The value is there - it just takes a bit more time and focus.

Using structured snippets like FAQ'S are going up and personal branding becoming more and more important in 2020 as Google ranks brands and therefore wider brand and content marketing campaigns are key to SEO success.

You can bet that automation will only continue to dominate Google Ads campaigns in 2020. What we can hope to see for 2020 is a further strength of advanced machine learning. Google will be launching "responsive ads" and automation will only save more time on such repetitive tasks so you can focus more on what matters – your customers.

Videos are taking over the text content, more brands are now focusing on micro creating video content for their products. Even for Facebook ads, videos are working very well and soon image ads will be replaced by videos.

In 2020 effective personal branding will differentiate you from the competition and allow you to build trust with prospective clients as many companies realizing that personal branding can kickstart their products or services to the next level.

In 2020, I think that anything that isn't organic will take a drastic drop. With search engine crawlers becoming more and more sophisticated, it may not actually "pay" to pay. Plus, there are so many other ways to build links to help you rank better. Of course, there's always guest posting and link exchanges, but also learn how to harness the power of HARO (Help a Reporter Out), so that you can provide quotes in lieu of backlinks on high-traffic sites.

There's always been a debate about what's the most important - content on your site that's optimized, or content that is well-written and informational. I'm here to tell you that the answer is both. If you're making the effort to build links back to your site, you're going to want to ensure that once you get that click, that the information on your site will be worthy of multiple visits.

Marketing trends are always changing, but for 2020, I think that it's going to be all about innovation. Even if something works, chances are that in six months, it's going to be old news. The thing to remember is that you're always going to need to be prepared to pivot at a moment's notice.

What needs to go in the upcoming year is the notion that "if it isn't broken, then don't fix it." In marketing, you must constantly be on the lookout for new ideas and new ways to say exactly what everyone else in your industry is saying. One thing I see is that too many companies aren't paying enough attention to the subject lines of their email marketing strategies. That extra five minutes could help you gain 20% or more clicks. Be concise, yet explain the benefits of not sending the email to the trash bin.

For the new year, it's important to remember that content is STILL king. Too many businesses are worried about ranking their content, rather than ensuring that the content is well-written and is a good representation of their company. For example, stuffing keywords into content in an unnatural way is, unbelievably so, still being done. Write your content with your keywords in mind, and be sure that they fit the topic and flow well in the sentence.

SEO is super important, but it's definitely time that content isn't created simply to support a long list of keywords and links. In 2020, discover a better way. Create an outline for your online content, find the best keywords, and then craft an informative piece of content that will be beneficial to your site visitors, as well as SEO-optimized for ranking.

One antitrend is pushing out mediocre content for the sake of boosting up pages on a website. This tactic is something that I still see today and can range from duplicate city pages to content with no clear purpose or intent. Instead, focus on content that addresses the user's intent and includes the appropriate language and answers to the query. Additionally, it's time to ditch the antitrend of ignoring technical problems on a website. It doesn't matter if the content is great or the link profile is strong, if there are server issues or other problems, the site is going to suffer in search rankings. Do regular technical audits to catch and fix problems affecting the foundation of the website. Finally, another antitrend in SEO is a lack of transparency. Explain, report and show your work. Period.

Instead of giving do-follow links to sponsored posts, it's better to give sponsored links. Google will be smart to detect from its Artificial Intelligent Algorithms whether the site has acquired the link naturally or through sponsorship and may penalize the site based on understanding. Similarly, MOZ Domain Authority will be a tool Google will rely on for SERP. Therefore, in 2020 instead of doing SEO through learning and experience, it would be best to pass from an SEO checklist from MOZ.

Basic Ads will not work in 2020 unless it's an established brand. Quality Score of PPC Ads will be much more strictly analyzed. Instead of going with traditional ad copy-writing, it's better to ensure that the essence of ads reflects the metric of anxiety, value, and motivation.

In 2018, Google preferred skyscraper content for ranking and in 2019, it's still preferred, however in 2020, short, to-the-point content will become a major search signal. The problem with skyscraper content was too much fluffing that loses the essence/value of the content.

Similarly, the ranked pages of high brands do not want to pass link juice to low web content. Therefore, instead of going with the traditional method for content marketing such as guest posting (it's getting tougher for SEO professionals to find good guest posting opportunities), it is better to create content that gets natural links and mentions.

I think we'll see the fall of quantity over quality. Trends focusing on 19 or 35 best strategies for link building will drop, and be replaced by 2-3 strategies that deliver the best results and how to scale them for your business.

Many marketers are curious about testing new ideas, but end up spending too much time in the sandbox. Coming up with new ideas and testing them is important, but it should be extracurricular. Instead, focus on efficiency and implement the link-building strategies that give you the best results.

Many SEO gurus tell their followers that they have to create extremely long posts if they want to succeed, and many content marketers do it. The result? A lot of long content without any value for readers. When readers learn something from reading your content – your traffic, subscriber list, and organic backlinks will grow.

There are so many frameworks for creating content that marketers forget to provide value for their readers. Time is very expensive, and readers won't waste it on fluff. Keep it actionable to keep your readers engaged.

I think we all need to move away from creating large amounts of content that relate to every aspect of the niche without a clear focus. For example, a home inspiration blog will create content around kitchen appliances this week and then bathroom accessories next week. Yes, I understand that it's all related to an extent but those are large subniches alone. In 2020, relevance is even more important to search engines.

Instead of creating bathroom content today and not revisiting it for months, create all your bathroom content over the course of a few months. You'll notice that it'll be easier for you to rank it that kind of content and you create a better resource for users. After that, move on to the kitchen.

When you've built up these content categories, you can then create learning paths that help people navigate your website and learn about only what they're interested in while moving further down the funnel you've created. Think of your website not as a publication but as a library and the people who visit not as engaged audience members but as passersby who need to be enticed to stay.

We're going to hear less and less from Google on their updates and on dated concepts like PageRank given the way it's now using mechanisms like RankBrain, neural matching, and BERT. The machines have taken over and the human element of search (think "votes") discussed in the past, needs to and will die away.

SEO professionals who put less emphasis into building links and more into linkless mentions are going to be in for a rude awakening if their goal is to rank well. The Web is not a place for a "if you build it, they will come" mentality, marketing content means active promotion and link building. It's what the "O" in SEO stands for!

I appreciate the time and energy it takes to execute content and swipe files but keep in mind you're not the only one reading those things. Take the basics and adapt with a flare, especially if you're using templates that were shared in mass-distributed articles or embedded in tools. Your open and execution rates will improve if your email doesn't sound like everyone else's.

Work hard to stop your dependency on Google for traffic and brand building. I know, I know – easy to say, hard to do but consider this. According to SimilarWeb in December 2019, two of the top five sites ranking for Travel and Tourism accept contributed content. The benefits and opportunities of being seen on those mega-sites are endless, consider getting involved and becoming an influencer on dominant sites within your industry.

Lastly – make 2020 the year you attend or apply to speak at a conference or meetup. Our industry needs fresh blood and new ideas, be part of the movement!

Content, content, content… everyone is creating it, little is being seen or shared. Now more than ever you need a dedicated email list for content promotion. Find a way to collect and use email to get your content in front of influential people.

PPC in 2020 would be another trend that is most likely to fade away in 2020. It has a vast potential to drain the budget. Since it's complicated, many marketers with a lack of necessary technical know-how in PPC don't reap the full benefits of it. Same with SEO, PPC is essential, but it's only the one single piece of a huge pie. There are more crucial things to focus on rather than PPC.

Marketing is never fading away– it will evolve. In this world that turns everything digital, the old methods are being forgotten. Small businesses prefer to jump into digital marketing to engage more customers rather than put extra effort into offline guerrilla marketing.

Content marketing in 2020 would be extremely louder. Marketers are busy doubling their content even if they're not an expert or specialized - instead of knowing their objectives. And the competitors just follow them around to cut through the noise, even if they're not as good.

When it comes to social media marketing, most companies believe that they need to keep a focus on their products and show them off from different angles. While your product matters, you need to put your customers first. In the era of authenticity, people buy from brands they trust, so it's important to make the move from a product-centric approach to a customer-centric approach: share customer reviews, show behind-the-scenes moments, publish UGC. All in all, you need to think about their needs and wants and do your best to build brand loyalty and trust. Why? In 2020, customers have choice overload which means it's nearly impossible to hook your target audience's attention with a product unless you have a community of loyal customers who trust you.

Creating fluff content - typical 500 words blog posts aren't working anymore. However, many companies are pushing those posts on their blogs and they're wondering why their blog posts don't rank anywhere in Google. Detailed and engaging long-form content is your best bet in 2020.

Ask industry experts for quotes for your articles, then ask them to share and maybe link back to the post bring an initial boost. When inviting experts for quotes to focus on those have huge and engaged social media following but also those who have "media about us" page and they show off when they're mentioned. This may bring you some good links.

The biggest SEO antitrend in 2020 will be relying on your current content and hoping it works. As the most recent algorithm changes have shown, not even the best content guarantees that you can stay ranked #1 for a certain keyword. We have to stay on top of the latest updates and always monitor the movements for our top keywords, so that don't lose the fruits of our hard work with a single update.

Cold outreach really needs to go in 2020. I don't think anyone reads these emails any more and for the most part, they end up in spam. I can tell immediately when someone sends me a canned cold outreach email and I don't bother reading after the first sentence.

De-personalized fluff content needs to go. I love it when someone has their own unique twist, even if it's a topic that's been covered millions of times before. I am looking forward to new content with a fresh spin on old topics.

1. Keyword optimization/Keyword matching. Google moved away from exact-matching keyword optimization years ago, yet our industry is somewhat slow to keep up. These days, Google doesn't use the actual string of words that are being typed in the search box. Instead, it looks at the query context and analyzes the possible search intent to deliver results.

2. Using semantic research tools is another good idea. Text Optimizer is an intent optimization platform that helps you cluster any search query into related concepts and entities. It uses Google's search snippets to come up with ideas to expand your initial copy to provide more solutions and meet Google's and its users' needs.

Focusing too much on keywords. I believe content marketers should focus more on themes than keywords in 2020. Keywords should provide direction/insight into what you should be writing about on your blog, but they shouldn't be the driving factor of what's written. Too many marketers stress out about not using a keyword often enough but, in my experience, you could do everything perfectly as far as SEO-optimization is concerned and Google still might not rank your content for that term. Instead, write about a subject well and provide something of value to readers and Google will rank your content regardless of how many times a certain keyword is used.

When it comes to links, more doesn't always mean better. Try at all costs to avoid spammy links from comments, directories, and forums. In the end, these won't bring any real value to your website and can hurt your overall brand. You should instead focus your efforts on building authoritative links that will build your credibility and thus people's trust in your brand. Even if they're fewer in numbers, the ultimate result will be much better.

1. Lack of strategy. Search engine optimization costs time and requires resources. Therefore a strategy is essential. What do I want to achieve? Where are the biggest problems? In which order do I approach the individual topics? Often companies optimize their site without a clear plan. This only costs time and money.

2. Doing without monitoring. Whoever does SEO, should also clearly see the success (or failure). Therefore goals should be defined (e.g. reduction of mistakes, improvement of rankings, lower bounce rate). Only when we see a development can we also assess the success of our measures.

3. Brand Search. Search queries in connection with the brand are valuable. If you are looking specifically for a brand, you are more inclined to buy in the shop or make a contact request. Many companies neglect the brand search because they consider it a safe bank. Interesting search queries related to the brand often go unnoticed.

4. Pure focus on text content. "Content is king," is a common saying. But often you can see pure text content, that was created especially for the search engines. But content can also be e.g. pictures, infographics, and videos. This is not only important for the search engines, but it also helps the user. One should always ask oneself the question, which content helps the users with their decision. A suitable video can sometimes help the visitor more, than ten lines of content. This can make the difference between bounce and conversion.

5. Neglect of the mobile search. There is really nothing more to be said about this in 2020. Anyone who ignores the mobile search today is harming himself.

1. Buying Links from Ebay. It may seem like a good deal, but it is so much work to disavow them afterwards!

2. Rely on only one Channel for Traffic. Not having an idea of how the customer searches and which searchengine he might use.

3. Keyword stuffed texts with white fonts on a white background - this is so 90ies! Please just don't do it.