This is the ultimate guide to search engine optimization in 2021.
And let me be clear about something:
This is NOT your average “SEO in 2021” predictions post.
Yes, I’ll cover the most important SEO trends this year.
But you’re also going to see new strategies that are working great right now.
So if you’re looking to improve your SEO next year, you’ll love this updated guide.
Contents
Optimize for Featured Snippets
CHAPTER 1:Core Web Vitals
According to Google, core web vitals are going to become a ranking factor in May 2021.
And in this chapter, I’m going to show you exactly how to get your site ready for this upcoming Google update.
(Including a real-life example of how I dramatically improved Backlinko’s core web vital scores.)
Let’s dive in.
Core Web Vitals: What You Need to Know
Core web vitals are a set of three specific web page experience metrics that Google considers super important:
- Largest contentful paint
- First input delay
- Cumulative layout shift
According to Google, core web vitals will directly impact rankings.
That said, they also point out that core web vitals aren’t a make or break ranking factor. In other words, you can still rank with poor core web vitals scores.
That said, there’s really no reason NOT to optimize your site’s core web vitals.
So it makes sense to set some time aside to work on them.
Here’s how.
How To Improve Your Core Web Vital Scores
To be clear:
The exact steps you take to improve your core web vitals depends on your site.
For example, a site that runs on Shopify will be different compared to one that runs on WordPress.
That said, here’s the process you can use to figure out what you need to fix.
First, pop open the Google Search Console and click on “Core Web Vitals”.
Then, take a look at how the pages on your site stack up.
(I basically ignore the desktop scores. Google’s mobile-first index means that mobile scores are what really matter).
You want to really zero-in on “poor URLs”.
In my opinion, Google is going to punish poor URLs more than boost up good URLs. So you want to prioritize getting your URLs out of the red.
Again, how you tackle this depends a lot on the core web vital that you’re struggling with.
For example, a bunch of my pages had a poor CLS score.
