SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process that helps your website to gain better visibility and a higher ranking in the search engine results. Understanding the working of the search engine and then incorporating in your web content is what will make your website and its content searchable and popular. But this is easier said than done.
With the internet scene changing at a steady pace and Google making frequent updates, SEO has become quite unpredictable. Recently, Google has made some massive changes in its algorithms. Thus, experts are predicting some consequential changes in the SEO trends this year.
In case, you are a web designer or a person managing a website, it is important to be well-versed with the SEO trends that can be expected in 2018. Not sure where to look for these? Well, fret not! Here is a list of all the possible changes and trends that you can expect in the SEO scene this year.
1. Digital Assistants and Voice Search
The advent of voice search technology has come forth as a chance to transform the way one processes information and communicates with devices. Also, with digital assistants coming into vogue, the search queries are also up for a change. If the Google report is to be believed, every 1 out of 5 searches is made using voice search.
Now this can affect the SEO strategy for a website. With voice search becoming more prevalent, the need to inculcate natural language and long tail keywords into ones content becomes all crucial. Experts believe that as the accuracy of digital assistants improve, more and more people will start using voice search. Also with voice search and digital assistants moving out of the confines of mobile phones and being incorporated in smart homes and organizations, there is an enhanced need to improve the SEO and content.
2. Machine Learning and AI
Machine learning and artificial intelligence have already changed the manner in which search engines display their results. Also, by understanding the working of machine learning, users can actually find more relevant results. With voice search and digital assistants paving the way to better user experience with AI, SEO strategies will also have to change, in order to keep pace with the trends. As far as artificial intelligence and machine learning is concerned, there are bound to be more innovations and development in 2018 which is sure to pave way to more advanced SEO trends.
3. Mobile First Index
Gone are the days when companies first came up with a fabulous website and then added a mobile version, just in case. 2018 is going to be the year of the mobiles and smartphones and companies too are likely to go the mobile way. Since searching on mobiles is all about context, it is essential that companies offer results of all types of questions. Thus mobile optimization should be on the cards for all web designing projects.
Additionally, with search engines making a big deal out of speed of the site, it is important to check the speed of the site on Accelerated Mobile pages as this can make all the difference.
4. Visual Search
This is another innovation that can enhance the user experience. With the internet inclining towards the visual content, it is time to put visual search option to test. In fact, some of the renowned companies like Google, Bing and Pinterest are busy developing visual search engines that will help them cash in on this upcoming trend. So, in 2018, your SEO strategy should take into consideration as to how users are likely to use the visual content to search for relevant information. Also, you would have to understand the working of visual search engines that go beyond the written text to give results.
5. Featured Snippets and Quick Answers
Featured snippets have become quite popular as these are helping companies to gain the highest rank in SERP. It has been seen that when a search engine is looking for relevant websites, it is likely to push a website with featured snippets to the top. Thus, lists, graphs and tables are now in the race. Additionally, Q&A content too is favored by the search engines.
Professional Seo Experts recommend these snippets and Q&A in the content. However, they also urge the organizations and web designers to optimize these in relation to voice search as this too is trending. It is believed that combining these can actually work wonders for the search engine ranking of a website. This means the developers will have to consider using more natural language, make changes to the queries and use long keywords.
The year 2018 seems to be an interesting year as far as SEO trends are concerned. Though the traditional SEO techniques are not going anywhere but these new trends are sure to alter the time-tested process of search engine optimization. However, it should be remembered that gaining the highest spot in search engine results should not be the prime focus when it comes to SEO. Rather, with the evolution of search engines and social media, there are a number of ways in which you can increase the traffic to your website.
