It is commonly known that the earlier companies adopt new SEO trends, the quicker they gain traction on the market. However, the main issue behind large-scale strategic transitions is that big and even medium-sized companies can’t immediately adapt to new trends. Therefore, small companies need to exploit their “agility” and try implementing and testing such trends as early as possible.
Despite the fact that search engine optimization has been relevant for so many years, its recent changes are fairly radical. The year 2017 changed in SEO, and some of last year’s changes will only amplify in 2018. In this article, you’ll be able to look into some of the new features that you need to implement in order to rank high in search results.
Voice Search Matters. A lot
Very’s reports state we will be witnessing 50% increase in voice searches within the next two years. Large numbers of people are adopting the voice search technology. ComScore states that around a fifth of American consumers has purchased something via voice search. And this number will grow quickly in the next five years.
What Should You Do About It?
As a business, you need to optimize the vast majority of your content to this new standard. The essence of the shift from written searches to voice is the way certain questions are asked. Your content, especially your headlines must sound “natural.”
People ask lots of questions on the Internet. This is why your headlines and subheadings should contain lots of “how’s,” “what’s,” “when’s,” and other interrogative words. Voice assistants will become increasingly efficient and correct at answering our requests, and voice queries will become an essential part of search engine optimization. It’s your moment to react.
Mobile-First Indexing
We’re all well aware of the fact that now more than half of the Internet traffic in the world is generated by mobile devices. Some countries became mobile-first a few years ago. However, 2018 will change it all, since Google will be ranking sites that are well optimized for mobile, compared to sites that aren’t. So in case, your site isn’t really mobile-friendly, you’ve got a little time to tackle that issue.
What Should You Do About It?
It’s essential that you make a thorough technical assessment of your site. Try using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test as a guide. All you have to do is insert a link to your website. If there will be some flaws regarding the site’s structure or design, you’ll be signaled about them almost instantly.
Brand Building Over Link Building
Starting this year and onwards, we’ll be seeing much more focus on brand image, instead of amassing an outrageous number of links. Links that will come from reliable sources will bring your brand more search engine points, in comparison to twice the amount of backlinks planted on obscure forums.
We’ll be seeing much more of reputation and social media management on the Internet. Google has now shifted from concentrating on quantity to efficiently assessing quality, which will eventually result in a better Internet experience for most users.
What Should You Do About It?
Focus on your image on the web. If you have a team of SEO professionals, consider providing them with some extra budget, in order for them to generate links that are of higher quality of websites with a better reputation.
Focus on the User’s Experience
There is a large number of technical issues that can hinder your website’s use that have nothing to do with design and the architecture of information on your site. For instance, Google has concluded that sites that take more the three seconds to load will lose near to half of their visitors; visitors that are potential customers.
Besides the “intrinsic” loss of traffic, a website with high bounce rates will be ranked lower in Google’s search results. Also, think about the users that haven’t found what they were looking for on your site and “bounced” because they found it confusing. Such factors will become increasingly important over the next few months.
What Should You Do About It?
The easiest way out is to hire a great UX designer and, more importantly, a UX writer. These are professionals that focus on the user’s experience with the site. Websites like The Word Point can suggest writers with relevant experience.
By fixing all possible issues that can lead to high bounce rates, you’ll be recognized as a noteworthy website by Google, and additionally, you won’t be leaking precious traffic in the meanwhile.
Empty Backlinks
Bing has recently announced that their algorithm indexes empty backlinks or simply linkless mentions. This is a great improvement in the world of marketing. It promotes actually good products and services, even if they don’t contain a sophisticated link to them. This must have surely passed through Google’s “head” many times, but maybe this will motivate them to integrate this rule in their algorithm.
The judge is still out whether they’re as valuable as simple hyperlinks, but there have been a few reputable sources writing on the value of these links and that that may be even better than classic links.
What Should You Do About It?
Don’t try to convert most of your mentions into backlinks. These links will be taken into account and will be associated with the emotions and the context that the mention was made in. So rather focus on how you can improve public opinion about your product/service.
Conclusion
It’s great news that the search engines can now transform all these years of bizarre and slightly dysfunctional SEO in an optimization process that will focus on the user/reader/consumer first.
This should probably be your primary goal in creating and maintaining a good image and reputation on the web. Think about how your customer would feel and act respectively. Quality, not quantity.
Erica Sunarjo graduated from South Texas College majoring in Marketing and Creative Writing. She used her knowledge to make a difference in the realm of business copywriting and invested heavily in traveling and language learning. At present, Erica is fluent in French and Spanish, studying Chinese and working her way to being a multilingual copywriter. She keeps track of the latest trends in IT and technologies, blogs about efficient strategies in education and business coaching, holds educational webinars.
