Working on SEO every day in the hope of seeing your ranking take off is all well and good. However, there are now so many e-commerce businesses in the same market, all competing for the same keyword queries. What if you took a different approach? In this article, we’ll discuss predictive SEO, which refers to two very distinct concepts. The first is predicting upcoming trends so you can position yourself ahead of everyone else. The second is anticipating the results of SEO efforts at a predetermined time, whether those efforts involve technical optimization, content, or backlinking. To discover the benefits of predictive SEO, the tools to use, and the pitfalls to avoid, read our guide on the topic!
The first tool for building your predictive SEO: human logic
It seems so obvious that we often overlook this option. Humans can anticipate certain aspects of their future by combining logic, foresight, and a little imagination. When you decide to explore new niches to develop your SEO strategy, common sense should be your first tool. In fact, analyzing raw data and imagining how it might evolve can already help you come up with ideas that are both profitable and promising.
Anticipate the decisions of sought-after brands
If you develop a stable business relationship with your suppliers—or even those of your competitors—consider discussing their plans with them. They may drop hints that will help you gain an edge over your competitors.
For example, if you hear that a brand featured in your catalog is working on a new product line, you can take this information into account when designing the structure of your online store to include this future line.
You can also lay the groundwork by adding content on this topic to your e-commerce blog in advance. For example, if a brand sells linen home textiles and is developing a line made from recycled cotton, you can easily address the topic to position yourself for thosekey search terms before anyone else.
Experiencing mergers and acquisitions among large companies
How can you find out about the most secret plans of large companies, such as a merger by absorption? The clues may be subtle, but if you closely follow the news about companies whose strategies or products interest you, certain details will stand out.
Let’s take the example of ARIIX, a company specializing in multi-level marketing and the sale of wellness products. In 2019–2020, it performed remarkably well and won numerous awards in its industry. During 2020, rumors of a merger with NewAge began to circulate. At that time, NewAge product lines began appearing in Ariix’s online stores—and vice versa—even before the merger was officially announced in 2021.
While some would have viewed this as merely a medium-term collaboration, others took the rumors seriously and positioned themselves for new search queries in anticipation of this merger. These e-commerce businesses gained a significant competitive advantage by being the first to rank for high-impact keywords.
Anticipate the events that will shape the trend
Are you looking to carve out a niche in merchandise based on cultural and sports phenomena? This is an excellent way to hone your predictive SEO skills. Here are three areas to focus on to optimize your SEO based on future trends.
Learn more about film productions
Focus your research on the latest movie news. Don’t limit yourself to reading industry publications; try “networking” to connect with reliable people in the industry. Curiosity will help you develop effective predictive SEO.
For example, *Avatar* was released in 2009, and it will take more than 12 years for the second installment to come out. The third installment is scheduled for 2024. Anticipating its content based on this information will allow you to rank as high as possible in search results when the movies hit theaters.
Follow the video game calendar
Apply this same strategy to the world of video games. The gaming community is booming, and certain esports disciplines will soon be making their debut at the Olympic Games. The potential is enormous for your online store and your SEO strategy.
Stay up to date on gaming trends by following well-known social media pages. Plan your blog content and marketing around upcoming major game releases. This predictive SEO strategy can pay off, since the web is gamers’ favorite playground: your site will be ready to handle this new traffic when the time comes!
Stay up to date on sports news
The Olympic Games are easier to plan for than other sporting events. What if you focused on niche sports instead? Traffic for niche sports will be lower, but with effective marketing, you can expect a high conversion rate. Keep a specialized blog updated with targeted content . Optimize your content forkeywords related to upcoming competitions. This will give you a head start in appearing among the top results on the SERP when fans start searching for the event.
Stay Ahead of the Competition When It Comes to Social Changes
No one could have predicted the onset of a pandemic, but some realized it would be a long-term situation and took proactive measures. If we look at previous major epidemics, we knew it would take at least two years to bring the spread under control and limit mortality rates among the population.
For example, in 2020, depending on the country, wearing a mask was not a central part of the protection strategy. However, many of us have come to realize that, in the face of a respiratory illness, this form of protection would logically be essential after the lockdown.
As a result, some players in the FFP2 mask industry deliberately adjusted their strategy. Their predictive SEO strategy paid off, as they were able to position themselves ahead of everyone else on promising trends.
To round out your predictive SEO strategy: artificial intelligence and predictive ranking
The human brain is highly effective at anticipating trends for a given business. However, it has certain limitations when it comes to determining which SEO actions would be the most profitable. When it comes to adopting a predictive SEO strategy,artificial intelligence proves to be incredibly effective. Here are three concepts to explore and incorporate into your marketing strategy to improve your future organic search rankings. By doing so, you’ll be able to determine which actions taken on your project will impact your rankings.
Machine learning enables better use of predictive SEO
In recent years, SEO professionals have become increasingly interested in predictive SEO. Why? Because advances in machine learning are proving increasingly effective across a wide range of fields. Indeed, this approach is infinitely faster and more reliable than “manual” analysis. In the past, you had to go through the necessary—and tedious—steps of an audit, implement the resulting recommendations, wait, and then analyze the initial results of all that hard work.
As a result, predictive ranking becomes one of the most reliable tools for predicting what will work tomorrow in your SEO strategy. It determines which actions to take and in what proportions to achieve the results you expect.
How did we get here? The pioneers in this field include Uplix Lab AI and Oncrawl. These companies are developing powerful predictive SEO solutions. According to Uplix, machine learning has a 92% reliability rate with an 8% margin of error!
Enhance Your Content Marketing with AI Predictions
Thanks to machine learning, you’ll no longer need to manually review your content and analyze each piece one by one to optimize it.Artificial intelligence does it better than you! In fact, you can optimize a blog post or the impact of your social media strategy using recommendations from intelligent bots. You’ll be right where your audience expects to find you on Google tomorrow.
From choosingkeywords optimized for voice search to topics that drive traffic, you can rely on data from machine learning to develop your content marketing strategy intelligently.
The Technical Foundation of Predictive SEO, or Anticipating Algorithm Changes
The advantage of machine learning is that everything is taken into account and calculated objectively. There’s no human error or cognitive bias to skew the interpretation. As a result,artificial intelligence makes it possible to analyze criteria that would otherwise be tedious to assess and to present the facts. This predictive SEO tool then identifies trends based on the features and their weight in organic search rankings.
In fact, this is a significant advantage when usingartificial intelligence to appeal to Google. While humans may be guided by sound intuition, they cannot match the computational power of AI. AI is able to identify previously unrecognized ranking criteria and determine their weight in the SEO score through continuous A/B testing.
To improve the technical aspects of your website, simply follow the recommendations provided at , which are based on machine learning data and analysis .
Predict the impact of your backlink campaigns using predictive ranking
As we saw in the article on the Private Blog Network we discussed the shortcomings of traditional link building. What if it were possible to anticipate these obstacles and better plan for them using predictive SEO?Artificial intelligence can very accurately calculate the gain or loss in popularity based on the profile of the links you purchase or acquire “manually.” This allows you to refine your link-building strategy. Google will then increase your site’s popularity and improve its search engine rankings.
The three pillars of SEO are therefore covered by machine learning , and your “human” predictions are ready. Predictive SEO opens up great opportunities for traffic to your website’s pages…and for conversions to boost your revenue.
Finding Your Niche Through Predictive SEO: What Are the Risks?
Adopting a hybrid predictive SEO strategy that combines artificial intelligence with trends that humans can predict seems like the ultimate El Dorado. But what are the dangers posed by these tools that allow us to foresee the future?
Predictive SEO Hazard #1: The Risk Is Considerable
Putting all your eggs in the predictive SEO basket is very risky. By definition, the future is uncertain. No one—neither human nor machine—can determine with certainty what will happen. SEO is no exception to this rule! Just like at a casino, only bet what you can afford to lose.
In other words, incorporate predictive SEO into your web and social media content strategies, but maintain a healthy dose of skepticism and diversify your approach to appeal to search engines. Not only is predictive SEO risky, but it may one day penalize you in one way or another.
The golden rule for any entrepreneur is not to put all your eggs in one basket and not to fall prey to the “shiny object syndrome” by jumping on the latest SEO trends.
Predictive SEO Risk #2: When the Unexpected Ruins Your Plans
If you've planned an entire campaign based on the data machine learning, be careful. Depending on your niche, everything could fall apart due to an unforeseen event:
- The blockbuster on which you based yourkeywords to drive traffic has been canceled (Take the example of *Rust*, where no one could have predicted the tragic end to filming due to the presence of live ammunition on set);
- The name of the video game that was supposed to be a huge hit changed just as you were using predictive SEO to drive traffic to your blog posts.
- Your supplier has terminated your contract, so you can no longer sell their products, even though the upcoming marketing campaigns were already prepared.
The possibilities for unforeseen events are endless. Although beyond your control, these glitches can completely derail your entire strategy. Keep in mind this inherent uncertainty in predictive SEO.
Risk #3 of Relying on Predictive SEO: Regulatory Volatility Across Markets
Product regulations are a real nightmare for e-commerce businesses that work with international suppliers and customers. In fact, the rules change frequently, but rarely in the same direction.
Imagine this: you’ve developed an entire strategy to drive traffic to a new line of wellness products. Predictive SEO could end up working against you if, one week before the launch, you no longer have permission to sell in the territory your marketing campaigns were targeting.
A multinational company can easily choose not to market its products in a given country due to this regulatory constraint. But as an entrepreneur, you may not have that luxury. Keep these criteria in mind as you conduct your research, especially if you plan to market wellness products, paramedical products, cosmetics, or other baby care or car safety equipment.
Conclusion: How Can You Gain a Competitive Edge Through Predictive SEO While Minimizing Risks?
Predictive SEO is an excellent tool for planning your content and marketing strategy. There are several reasons to incorporate SEO predictions into your online business:
- You're ahead of the competition;
- You're developing a long-term strategy that will pay off when search volume for your topic is at its highest;
- You can maintain a blog with a wealth of resources without arousing your competitors' suspicion;
- You'll be able to refine your keyword strategy to strengthen your presence on the first pages of search engines.
To develop a plan to anticipate future SEO trends, you have several tools at your disposal:
- Human logic and networking, which enable you to identify the characteristics of a trend worth exploring;
- Data from machine learning, which is much more accurate and efficient.
For the three pillars of SEO, these tools will help your pages rank well—in your content marketing, in your backlinking campaigns ( predictive SEO helps you choose your links more effectively), and in the technical criteria that Google will prioritize in the future .
Be careful, however— predictive SEO can be risky, even dangerous for your business, due to the uncertain nature of predictions. Unforeseen events and regulatory changes in the markets you’re targeting can undermine your entire strategy if you base it solely on predictive SEO. The solution is to remain cautious by combining different approaches to optimizing your websites. In addition to diversifying your efforts, you ’ll strengthen your work and learn from your experiences.
