Introduction
Gone with the old, in with the new.
Search engine optimization strategies and SEO best practices that were once effective last year may not be useful today.
As with the advancement in technology, search engines are continuously improving the quality of search results.
SEO strategies that once were on top of the game may not apply to the current search engines.
Changes in search algorithms and in people’s search habits and the preferences of mobile over desktop are changing the world of SEO.
What should you do to stay ahead of the competition or at the top of the Google page, more specifically?
Keep reading if you wanna know which are the coolest SEO trends and the best SEO practices to focus on this 2018!
11 SEO Trends 2018: Predictions and Best Practices
Ready for these predictions of SEO and the best SEO practices?
Check the latest SEO trends and coolest SEO predictions right now!
1. Increased Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Features
With the latest developments in search engines, being on top of the SERP may not be enough to get your web page to be discovered and to actually increase your traffic.
When you access a SERP, it is cluttered with features like news blocks, featured snippets, reviews, videos, AdWords and image packs, just to name a few.
It would be no surprise if your web page was to get lost in this jumble of page features.
Evolving SERP features should be reason enough to rank and monitor your webpage this 2018.
Tools like SEMrush or Rank Tracker are a great way for you to stay on top of the many page features.
You will be able to track your ranking and get possible keywords that will help you increase your page traffic.
2. More Conversational Search Keywords
Voice search.
It’s one of the latest trends in SEO.
In fact, voice search is growing exponentially and is actually changing the way people search on the internet.
Just ask Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana, Google Now, or Alexa.
The facts?
20% of all web searches are voice searches.
More facts?
Voice searches in Google increased up to 35 times since 2008.
Knowing this, you know you’ve gotta optimize your content for voice search.
How can you use voice search to your web page traffic’s advantage?
Voice search in Google tends to choose the text inside a Featured Snippet.
In order to successfully take advantage of voice search, your content must be on the first page, and it will help if your content is in the Featured Snippet.
A lot.
Most importantly, in order to optimize voice search, you should include a more conversational keyword.
This truly is one of the SEO keywords best practices!
A type search such as “apple definition” becomes “What is an apple?” or “define apple” in voice search.
Include a question and answer in the content – the type of thing Google’s algorithm for voice search is looking for.
Keywords matter.
Making sure that you pick the right keyword is and always will be one of the top on page SEO best practices!
3. Mobile-First Indexing
With more and more people using their mobile as their primary access to the internet, Google has started rolling out mobile-first indexing.
Mobile-first indexing means Google will give priority to websites that are mobile-friendly and which are well-displayed on mobile devices.
This means following mobile SEO best practices isn’t really a fad:
It’s a requirement and one of the homepage SEO best practices around!
Google will monitor your website as a mobile user, just like it did with your desktop as a desktop user.
If Google sees that your site isn’t mobile-friendly and doesn’t do well with the mobile user experience, it will stop displaying it on mobile.
With the ever-increasing internet access via mobile, optimizing your website to be more mobile-friendly is a must-do for you to go for as soon as possible.
Google mobile SEO best practices and get ready to study everything you can do to make sure you’re up to speed!
Ready for some more new trends in SEO?
Keep reading!
4. Link Building
It’s 2018, but link building isn’t showing any signs of failing your website.
It’s probably the best SEO practice of all time!
Link building is a tried and tested method of SEO which means you should take some SEO links best practices into account for 2018.
Without it, you may not be able to crack the first page of the search results.
In fact, Google revealed that their top 3 ranking factors are content, links, and RankBrain.
Listed below are some methods for you to get backlinks:
- Article submission to related sites
- Site submission to search engines
- Blog commenting
- Guest posting
- Infographic and image submission
Another thing to bear in mind to be successful with link building is providing quality content and to follow some wicked SEO copywriting best practices.
Link building goes hand in hand with quality content.
If people like your content, they’ll naturally want to link to your website.
Trust me:
Awesome content that’s both insightful and remarkably complete really is one of the blog SEO best practices of 2018!
5. RankBrain
RankBrain is a part of Google’s algorithm which uses the machine learning capability of AI to determine the most relevant results to search engine queries.
It ranks search results based on how users interact with them.
It’s one of the most important changes in SEO of the last year.
The two most essential components that you must learn to win over RankBrain are Dwell Time and Click-Through Rate (CTR).
- Dwell Time refers to how long a user stays on your page. Dwell Time is a huge indicator for Google on how relevant your content is. The longer your visitor stays, the better. Therefore, it is crucial for you to provide the best content possible so as to engage the user as much as you can
- Click-Through Rate refers to how often people click through your website from Google. In order to get a better CTR, optimize your page title tags and meta description tags so as to galvanize people to click your web page
6. User Experience
The importance of user experience for SEO is here to stay this 2018 and it truly is one of those SEO changes you must take into account.
A good user experience is all about quality content and a user-friendly website.
Your content must be of a high-quality and have a whole lotta relevance.
This really is one of the SEO content writing best practices around.
Moreover, the content you choose to create should also connect with the visitors of your website.
Consider updating your web content and scrapping those pieces which aren’t that relevant and seem to be bringing your project down.
An organized website will also make for a good user experience.
Make sure that your site is user-friendly and that visitors can easily navigate the menus.
It’s crucial to ensure that visitors can jump from one topic to another with ease.
User experience satisfaction will be reflected in the bounce rate of your webpage.
Bounce rate is the number of website visitors who navigate and “bounce” away after viewing only one page.
A high bounce rate could indicate that your site doesn’t have quality content or at least has content which fails to engage and entice the users.
This means that a low bounce rate is one of the SEO content best practices for 2018!
Aim at lowering the bounce rate while increasing the dwell time of your website with an excellent user experience.
Remember to follow these tips because these are some of the international SEO best practices everyone should become acquainted with!
7. Visual Search
Humans are naturally attracted to images, which is the reason why visual search is of such an astonishing importance to the world of internet.
Visual search is changing the world of search and a good SEO strategy to consider this 2018 is to actually think about the way people consume visual content.
As more companies acknowledge the importance of visual search, competition increases and brands should focus on optimizing their visual content for SEO purposes.
8. Site Speed
Site speed is of the essence in search engines and SEO, whether it’s in desktop or mobile.
And it is one of the ranking factors used by Google.
A study explored what actually happens when your site speed is low, and there’s a delay in people’s access to your web page.
The findings include the following:
- An increase in site speed from 8 to 2-second results in a 74% conversion rate
- A page that loads for 6 seconds will suffer a 40% loss in conversion
Having an unresponsive website will negatively impact your traffic and page views, sales, and brand image.
By now, you should know how crucial site speed is to your SEO and your website as a whole.
9. Video
Video has been growing exponentially over the years.
According to Cisco, by 2021, 80% of all online traffic will be generated by online video.
This 2018, why not take advantage of video to create more traffic to your web page?
The best way to do this is either by tapping into YouTube or by embedding video content to your website.
YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine, and it’s growing fast.
You can create traffic to your web page by creating and optimizing content specifically for YouTube.
You can always embed video into your text-based content.
Video content can give you an advantage since Google has started to blend video results into Google Image search, thereby increasing your chances of being discovered.
Videos on your blog can also increase your Dwell-Time, making them a must-have for SEO this year.
Take advantage of some video SEO best practices and get going!
Videos are the future and you can’t afford to lag behind!
Have a blog?
Then use this as one of those incredibly useful SEO blogging best practices!
10. Featured Quick Answers or Snippets
Featured snippets!
Another holy grail!
Another one of the best practices for SEO this year!
With voice search going mainstream, featured snippets or “position zero” in the SERPs is becoming a fundamental aspect of the game.
Snippets are what will be read aloud if a voice query results in a SERP with featured quick answers.
How can you grab that coveted position zero?
By creating a more conversational question and by providing the answer in your content.
That helps!
Another tip about this specific SEO best practice?
To have a numbered or bullet point list of the key points of your content.
This formatting can give you a higher chance of grabbing that featured snippet!
11. Personalized SERP
Another crucial ranking factor for search engines is the user’s information, such as their browsing history and location, used to provide more personalized search results.
Google, YouTube, and other search engines have been using customized SERPs for many years.
A personalized SERP implies higher traffic once you dominate a user’s search result.
Starting in 2018, you should make sure your traffic data is accurate.
You should also start monitoring your page’s ranking in incognito mode to get unbiased results.
Conclusion
Loved this SEO best practices checklist?
Awesome!
Incorporating SEO into your marketing strategy is now crucial to the success of your website and business.
And SEO is an ever-changing industry.
Search engine algorithms, the search engine results page, and the user’s search behavior changes and evolves every single day.
Keeping up with these changes is essential to update your SEO campaigns and stay on top of your competitors in 2018!
Stay ahead of the game, follow content SEO best practices, and make 2018 the year of SEO!
See Also:
- Google AdWords Overview: Everything You Need to Know
- How to Write SEO-Friendly Content in 2018 (A Step by Step Guide)
- 10 SEO First Steps for New Webmasters
- SEO Case Study: How an Affiliate Page Is Dominating Google
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Understand why you shouldn't buy backlinks for your SEO efforts with none other than Nathan Gotch, a true SEO master who knows everything about the game!