SEO in 2024: 10 Trends Every Business Should Plan For

Search keeps changing, but the goal stays the same: help people find useful answers quickly. Here are ten trends worth planning for in 2024.

1. AI is changing how results look

Search engines are experimenting with AI-generated summaries above the usual links. Pages that answer questions clearly, and show real expertise, are best placed to be quoted or linked.

2. Helpfulness beats volume

Google has repeatedly said it wants to reward content written for people, not for search engines. A handful of genuinely useful pages usually outperforms hundreds of thin ones.

3. Page experience still counts

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is due to replace First Input Delay as a Core Web Vital in March 2024, so responsiveness will matter more than ever.

Seven more things to watch

• Mobile-first indexing: Google predominantly uses the mobile version of your site.
• Video and image search: descriptive file names and alt text open extra doors.
• Local search: an up-to-date Google Business Profile drives calls and visits.
• Brand searches: people who search for your name are a strong trust signal.
• Structured data: helps search engines understand products, articles and events.
• Privacy: first-party data and consent-based tracking are becoming the norm.
• Technical health: crawl errors and slow pages quietly cap your growth.

Pick two or three of these, do them well, and review the results every quarter. If you would like help deciding where to start, get in touch with our team.