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The search engine optimisation (SEO) industry didn’t experience dramatic updates and changes that have been standard in previous years. However, a lot more has changed than you probably realised. If you’re interested in Google changes that took place in 2017, check out this guide.

Smart speakers and digital assistants like Google Now, Siri, and Cortana are changing the way people are searching for information. A much larger percentage of searches are now focused on getting bite-sized pieces of information such as facts, locations, figures, and statuses, as opposed to searching for full-sized web pages. This shift to smaller pieces of information is creating more personalisation especially as these assistants use much more of your search history than Google has historically. This shift means that building a rapport with your clients and customer base is more important than ever.

Another big change has been a growing focus on ‘people also ask’ questions. Smartphone users are far less likely to use their keyboards and Google’s digital assistant is limited in its interpretation. This has caused the value of these suggested searches to go through the roof and so has their prevalence in the search results.

As well as ‘people also ask’ questions, Google results also lifts answers from web pages which draws extra focus to those pages. This may mean that for a web page to be as valuable as possible in 2017 and the years to come, it must be providing answers and solving problems that can’t be solved in a few short sentences.

It was inevitable but it finally happened: 2017 was the year that mobile search traffic outpaced the traffic from desktop searches. Mobile devices and tablets are now the default devices of the typical searcher. This makes it even more vital than ever before to create a site that is just as beautiful and functional on mobile devices as it is on a desktop. There are few things more frustrating than being unable to access a site that has your perfect product because you’re not at your computer.