How effective have your previous SEO strategies been? Have they been successful or did they fail? Just like any other tech industry, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been changing constantly. Gone are the days when all you needed to be top-ranked was keyword placement and content delivery. Now SEO’s job is to provide a frictionless user experience. This is achieved by delivering the right content in a timely manner. Since it’s nearly impossible to crack Google’s page ranking algorithm code, businesses will constantly have to adjust to accommodate the different nuances.
Here are some of the trends that you need to take into account if you want to be on the top in 2018:
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Voice Search
Some consumers prefer speaking over typing as it’s faster and the questions can be more detailed. Voice search can also be beneficial to people with certain disabilities. People speak differently from how they type, so, the accuracy of voice assistants still needs some improvement to accommodate everyone. This means that your SEO strategies need to focus on creating well-structured content that is broken down into sub-sections that can answer more questions at a time. Use phrases that people are more likely to say out loud.
Secure Your Site Served Over HTTPS
In 2014, Google has started to encourage webmasters to switch from unencrypted (HTTP) to encrypted (HTTPS) connections to keep online visitors’ data safe on the web because security became a top priority for Google. They announced HTTPS/SSL as ranking signal and still consider as small ranking factor for your site. In 2018, we noticed that Chrome web browser will soon started to flag all HTTP sites as ‘Not Secure’ in the URL bar and visitors now able to see ‘Not Secure’ warning next to your website URL during form fill up on your pages. So, visit may not trust on your site.
As you may know that, 2017 known as the year of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and HTTPS for websites. So, you can obtain cheap SSL certificate for your website from authorized reseller like Cheap SSL Shop and install SSL cert on the server in order to avoid ‘Not Secure’ warning in Chrome browser and you may get small ranking boost. SSL certificates are used to authenticate website and establish an encrypted connection between a web browser and a web server as it prevents unauthorized access or interception from intruders.
Mobile-First Indexing
Previously, the rating of a website’s relevance to its consumers has been derived from the desktop page. But Google has decided to shift to mobile-first indexing since mobile searches have grown to more than 50 percent of the total searches. Ensure that your websites are mobile friendly by adopting accelerated mobile pages.
Speed
In a fast-paced society, people want everything, including information, immediately. It’s very frustrating to find a page that seems to have the content you need but takes forever to load. If your content takes more than 5 seconds to load, the consumer will look for another website that offers similar content.
Linkless Backlinks
Backlinks have been used as trust signals for most search engines, but when some of the websites abused its usage, Google came up with Penguin Algorithm to tackle web spams. Websites link their pages to authoritative and more reputable sources with higher rankings. This isn’t going to be the case in 2018. Just mentioning who and where your link comes from won’t be enough. Your searches must be able to mention these authoritative sources without linking them to the corresponding webpages. The content around the hyperlinked text must also be important. To get mentions of your searches, you can use the web mentioning tool.
Increase in the Image and Video Searches
Online interactions have evolved to become more visual since the public has desired to engage more using images and videos. Moodstocks and Eyefluence are some of the startups that strive to recognize visual elements more accurately and improve the public’s interaction with them. Tech giants like Pinterest, Bing, and Google have already invested in visual search engines. This is a way to go if you wish to engage your clients more. We will surely see an improvement in the visual searches in 2018.
Personalized Search Results
Besides the typical ranking features like speed and content, personalized search results will also determine how your website is ranked. Search engines utilize users’ information such as browsing history, locations, and interests to give a more personal search result. When a user searches for a specific keyword, your website has to be among the top-rated SERP so that they can use your information. In the future, your site becomes the preferred choice for the related queries. That will give you a chance to dominate that person’s SERP.
Content Quality
This is a trend that is never going to grow old. As more and more people turn to the internet to find solutions to whatever information they need, your website should be able to provide content that is engaging and wholesome. Google finds it more difficult to get quality content, and most of the poor-quality works get penalized. Google considers your content to be comprehensive by using RankBrain. It researches the best-performing searches and looks for the features they have in common to build up expectations as to what your content should contain. Make sure your content is unique, comprehensive, and thought-provoking so as to invite more people to your website.
SEO is ever-changing, and in 2018, search engines will enhance the users’ experience online. Take note of the new trends in 2018 without forgetting the old strategies too – if you want to stay on top of the industry. Here is the Recommended Site to help you rank your site.
