Google Ranking tips for 2018

Every business wants to dominate Google search results. That’s why business owners are always looking for working strategies to up their SEO games. So, what should you expect in the Google Ranking world in 2018? Let’s find out.

RankBrain and User Experience Signals

RankBrain simply refers to machine learning structure used by Google to sort search results. It is what Google uses to rank the search results accordingly. Google keeps refining its algorithm, so RankBrain is a very imperative ranking factor in 2018.

So, how do you optimize RankBrain? If you search ‘’how to treat alcohol addiction’’ in Google search engine, many search results are displayed. Now, you will realize that one of the search results is very enticing and you will immediately click on that link. Since the link contains an informative article about the topic, you will spend time reading it. The RankBrain will take note of that and give that search result a higher google ranking.

You can as well search the same topic in Google but this time pick a different search result. If the content in the link is poor, you won't spend time reading it. Instead, you will go back to your previous search result and read the content there once more. The RankBrain takes note of this as well.

If many people click on that link to read the content, the link will be given higher Google ranking. That is to say that RankBrain focuses on dwell time (the time spent on the page) and click-through rate (the number of the people who have viewed or clicked that result).

• Dwell Time – This is the amount of time a user spends on the page. The pages having longer dwell time are usually rank the best.
• Click Through Rate (CTR) – Google also rank pages based on the CTR. Therefore, pages that are clicked or visited by many people are ranked highly.

Adding Links and Content Is Imperative

In general, SEO is about links and contents. What that means is that it would be impossible to get links if the content is terrible. Again, it means Google won’t give the page higher rankings. Links and contents are the most imperative ranking factors. In 2018, links and contents remain the groundwork of SEO.

Informative and In-depth Content

Google usually evaluate pages to determine the keywords used and how the keywords are used. That is to say that Google also focuses much on the page’s content. But it is important to note that Google does not only dwell on the content but Google ranking is also about the context.

The keywords need to appear in:

• H1 tags
• URLs
• Description tags
• Title tags
• Image ALT texts.

Google’s aim is to ensure that the users find the best results. Sometimes, a keyword-stuffed article or content isn’t the best. Instead, Google will check if the page has covered the topic comprehensively. That is why pages having in-depth content are recognize best by Google ranking brain. So, how do you ensure that the contents of the page are in-depth?

• The content is supposed to cover everything about the topic. Longer contents are the best. It has been proven that pages having longer contents, for instance, long blog posts or ultimate guides outranked those having short contents.
• After writing your long but informative content, you shouldn’t forget to include the LSI keywords. These are the phrases that are related to the page’s topic. For instance, if the topic is about Alcohol addition, some of the LSI keywords you may use are rehab centers, inpatient & outpatient services, detoxification, alcohol withdrawal just to mention a few. These are the keywords the Google will check to determine if the topic is covered well.

Finding LSI keywords is very simple.

• Use LSI Graph – All you have to do is type the target keyword and many LSK keywords will be displayed.
• Use ol’ Google – If you search the target keyword on the Google, you will see search results related to the keyword at the bottom of the Google page. The LSI keywords are the ones in bold.
• Use Google Keyword Planner- You can also get LSI keyword ideas using Google Keyword Planner. By clicking ‘Get Ideas’ option after searching the target keyword, you will get several ideas.

Prepare for Mobile-first Index

Did you know that Google is soon switching to mobile first index? In layman terms, Google Ranking results will soon start consider a mobile version of sites and not their real versions. The reason being that many people browse online using their mobile devices. In fact, it has been predicted that more people will be browsing online using their mobile devices in the future. So, how do you ensure you are ready for the mobile-first index?

• Firstly, the content on your web pages should be accessed by mobile users just like the desktop or computer users. You should make sure that there is no content hidden to mobile users. For instance, mobile users should access the menus, buttons and expandable sections of the web page.
• Secondly, you need to switch to responsive designs especially if the page is of m. version.
• Thirdly, ensure that the site works well on mobile. There are some websites that work on tablets and phones but it takes ages to access the content. Just as mentioned, RankBrain monitors how users access the site and if the site takes a long time to load or there are problems when opening the site, users will automatically keep off the site. The Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool will help you check if the page is mobile-friendly. The tool will even give recommendations on how to keep the page mobile friendly.

Use Videos

One way of increasing the amount of online traffic on the page is uploading videos. A huge percentage of people prefer video content. Now, if you haven’t been putting videos on your site, then you are missing something big.

Youtube is one of the largest search engines. Many people spend most of their time watching videos on YouTube and this number is growing fast. Now, you definitely want to increase the traffic on your page by developing and optimizing contents for YouTube. If you can post SEO-optimized videos, you will get a really good amount of traffic.

Did you know that Google is blending YouTube results into the image searches? So, you should be ready for many YouTube videos especially in search results this year.

Of course visitors to your site would want to watch more videos. So, you should consider embedding videos into the blog posts. Actually, this is one of the ways of boosting dwell time on the site.

Voice Search

The demand for voice search is increasing very fast. The following are some of the eyebrow-raising facts you should know.

• About 20 percent of searches on mobile devices are voice searches.
• The voice searches have multiplied tremendously since 2008 
• About 40 percent of Google users perform voice searches daily.

That’s is why you should start optimizing the content on the site for voice searches. So, how do you do that?

• Firstly, the content is supposed to be on first pages of the site.
• Secondly, the content should appear on featured snippets
• Thirdly, add questions and answers to the content. This is because many voice searches are usually question-based.

Other Useful SEO Tips

The demand for visual content is growing really fast. Statistics show that many marketers are opting for visual marketing to reach more audience. The demand for visual content is expected to rise in future as well. You can develop embeddable images and include them in the content. Embeddable images can help in generating top quality backlinks to the page. 

Posting unique data is also a great tip. Journalists and bloggers always look for unique data and if you can provide them with that, they will be more than ready to share the links to your page. The page will rack more backlinks from different domains in a short time if you publish unique data frequently.

Another useful tip is putting comments section on the site. What most people don’t know is that blog comments can actually give a site higher ranking. Blog comments show that the site is active and that’s exactly what Google wants to see in 2018.

If you want to build several links in 2018, then you should definitely go on podcasts. It can simply be described as guest posting. And the added bonus is that the popularity of podcasting is spreading like wildfire. Millions of people listen to a podcast and this number is expected to rise in 2018.

If you feel overwhelmed by this information, know that we, TRAFFICDOM SEO Experts, are here to help you. You can give us a call or fill our discovery form and we will get back to you with Free Video Analysis of your website and your online presence.