How good were the SEO campaigns that you used in 2017? Did the campaigns work as well as you expected? Worse? Search engine optimization, or SEO, continually changes every single day. A practically fool-proof method that you used to get on top of Google’s first page for your keyword will become extinct before you know it. SEO tactics that once ruled the day have now dotted the SEO graveyard.
Sometimes the Google algorithm changes drastically within a couple of months. The technology that SEO professionals use also changes. These tools let us stay on top of the many changes in the world of SEO.
The year 2017 has brought about some of the following trends:
• HTTPS
• Google AMP (accelerated mobile pages)
• Backlinks
• Danger of overusing 301 redirects
• The formatting of rich snippets
If you had a lot of success with your SEO campaigns in 2017, you might want to continue in that vein. But if you want to start all over again on a new foot, search for these SEO trends in 2018:
1. Rich Snippets Will Need to Get Structured
Both regular and rich snippets have a URL, a clickable title, and its meta description. However, rich snippets come with more condensed titles that have “|” instead of the dash (-), images, and a review. The structures of the data determine how Google and the other search engines display your information.
Search results with correctly formatted rich snippets not only receive more clicks. They also have a bigger click-through rate, which can result in a higher amount of sales.
2. The Many Features of Search Engine Results Pages
All SEO professionals want to get a lot of traffic to their client’s website. Increased traffic could come from getting to the top spot of Google’s first page for your keyword. You should not only want to achieve this goal but to maintain it as long as possible.
But with the latest changes in the SEO industry, getting this coveted #1 spot may no longer be enough to get you all the traffic that you need for your business.
Search engine results pages, or SERPs, no longer have just ten organic results and a couple of paid ads. These days, SERPs can come with some of the following features:
o Ads
o Images
o Links
o Videos
o Social media
o Widgets
o Article listings
With all of these features on one SERP, a #1 result can get lost in all of the jumble of media.
You will still need to worry about keywords. Now you will also have to consider a lot more elements in addition to your keywords. If you think you might need help with this part of your SEO campaign, contact the staff at Internet Marketing Team. If you decide to work with them, they can show you how to take your SEO strategy well beyond keywords and give you a campaign that is well-suited for the 21st century.
3. The Speed of Your Web Pages
No one likes a slow website. If your website has a slow loading speed, the traffic to your site will slow down eventually. These days, users expect all websites to load as quickly as they can ask a question. Google recommends that your website should take no longer than 3 seconds to load. Google’s emphasis on speed doesn’t come as a shocker to most people in the know. However, in 2018, expect speed to become even more important.
4. The Rising Importance of Mobile
More and more people use their mobile phones to browse the web. In this day and age, more people use their phones to browse the Internet than use their desktops and laptops for the same purpose.
Google now expects all webmasters to make their websites mobile-friendly. Now mobile friendliness operates as a factor for search rankings. Making websites mobile friendly is not a new development. But as voice search becomes a lot more popular, you will have to put more thought into making your website mobile friendly in 2018.
5. Linkless Backlinks Are Coming
A link from an authoritative source could give your website a jump in the search engine rankings. However, Google’s search robots have slowly begun to take away this power that backlinks could give websites. In 2018, one link from a famous website won’t act as the one thing that will save your website from oblivion.
Google and other search engines can now associate talk of institutions, people, brands, and organizations without anyone needing to link to the corresponding website. Don’t get too freaked out as links will still carry some weight in 2018. However, the text around the hyperlink will still act as important information for the search engines.
Search engine optimization changes so much on what seems like a daily basis. This year, Google will augment the user’s experience by looking at the mentions of brands, organizations, and people who are getting the attention of searchers, continue to emphasize making all websites mobile friendly, and formatting rich snippets correctly. In 2018, Google also wants to make sure that all the websites that you load on your mobile phone load as fast as you ask your question.
Staying on top of every SEO update is an uphill battle. If you have a new business or your business doesn’t have an Internet marketing professional on your staff, then you should call in the SEO professionals: Internet Marketing Team | The SEO Company that Brings You Real Results.
Call in for a consultation and a member of their team can help you determine the size and scope of your SEO campaign, your budget, and your strategy.
