The end of the year is yet to come and this calls for a new beginning. With just a couple of weeks left this 2017, we’re all curious to what search engine optimization could look like this upcoming year. More importantly, we are also looking forward to dominating search engines for the year 2018.
The year 2017 has brought us several SEO trends like mobile optimization and link building. There’s no doubt that the year 2018 has still a lot of competitions to give to the entrepreneurs in terms of ranking. To get you geared up for next year’s SEO trends, here are some critical tips that can help you future-proof your rankings.
1. Think mobile first.
Mobile optimization will not go away anytime soon. A mobile-friendly website sits still on your SEO priorities this 2018. Since there is over 55 percent web traffic that comes from mobile devices, you have to think mobile first.
Google stated that Mobile-first indexing is going to be the new norm. Web traffic from mobile sites will continue to increase and this shows that ranking signals will possibly come from the mobile version of your site. In this case, improving your mobile SEO should be a priority. Start by taking a mobile-friendly test and eliminate unplayable content and annoying pop-ups.
2. Pay attention to Featured Snippets.
Featured snippets or Answer Boxes will be more crucial this coming year. Featured Snippets has been introduced by Google to their SERPs to serve users by providing short and rich answers to their queries. There are different types of featured snippets and it helps Google to generate answers real-time through text, images, and lists.
Moreover, featured snippets are actually an impressive method of SEO since they occupy the “position zero” on SERP. To make content that competes for featured snippets, you should start by searching featured snippet formats in your niche. Here are other tips on how you could build more traffic through Google’s featured snippets.
3. Maximize the use of Voice search and virtual assistants.
Voice search and virtual assistants have been highly appreciated in the year 2017. According to Google, 55% of teens and 40% of adults have used voice search daily. Plus, a 2017 study by VoiceLabs acquired that voice-first devices are continuously circulating. Virtual assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Cortana in everyone’s mobile phones have also given people a fluid conversation. They have been able to respond to user’s queries efficiently suggesting that voice search optimization could actually be very beneficial to business websites.
4. Machine learning and semantic search.
Machine learning and semantic search are actually related to each other. In a way, these tools help search engines make “educated guesses”. Search engines are able to yield the nearest possible results that users want to discover. These trends are both integral to many search engine ranking algorithms.
Welcome 2018 with a bang and garner the best search engine optimization results from the abovementioned tips. Come off strong and aim for a content that will yield a better web traffic. If you have questions, feel free to drop comments in our comment box.