SEO Trends in 2018

As SEO continues being sophisticated, most businesses are now using a combination of the proven strategies as well as new techniques in order to find themselves in front of the SERPs. Just like we have witnessed most developments in the search landscape for the last years, the new, as well as the upcoming  SEO trends, will likely be much exciting.

Changes in the searching industry, for instance, mobile search, voice search as well as social search have changed the manner in which people are discovering content online. The introduction of messaging apps, as well as personal assistants at the same time, has brought new challenges that SEO experts are required to conquer in 2018. However, the list is endless. Have a look at this infographic in order to know more about the top trends that you should watch out for. This is going to make you updated and competitive in the digital marketing from 2018 & beyond.

1. The rising of the digital assistants

The unexpected rise of the digital assistants for the past years has diverted the manner in which people do their search online. To be precise, a research by Statista discovered that the people who use digital assistants had been anticipated to rise to 1.8 billion as we get to 2021. Equipped with the voice recognition technology, the digital assistants are being utilized in various ways, like conducting the online searches. Reports by Google reveal that one out of five searches originates from the voice queries.

In order to adapt to the new technology, the SEO experts are required to comprehend how voice searches are different from the text searches. They should also learn how to use the long-tail keywords as well as the natural language used by those people who make use of the digital assistant. That aside, the technology also comes with some merits. Since the digital assistants are integrated on daily devices like TVs & media streamers, SEO experts have a perfect chance to get accurate data that can be used to enhance their strategy.

2. Alternating with SERP features

In the last years, Google rolled out some new features in the Results Pages of its Search Engine in an attempt to improve their user experience. Ranging from the rich snippets & paid results to the carousels, knowledge panels & local pack, the SERP features are making it a bit challenging for the SEO experts to catch a searcher’s attention as well as the clicks nowadays.

According to a research carried out by the Stone Temple Consulting, about thirty percent of the Google search queries demonstrate some featured snippets. However, rather than sticking to the old SERP, SEO should come up with approaches that will leverage the new features for their benefit.

With this regard, companies should keep an eye on their rankings in these features to identify the function that is carrying away traffic from them. Using the correct data, companies will analyze the opportunities offered by the SERP features.

3. Mobile-first index

This is among the most awaited events in the search landscape this year. Though the ranking factors, as well as the keyword queries which are going to be weighted, remains unknown, Google is intending to roll out its mobile-first index such that it is not going to hurt the sites that are non-mobile-friendly, as Gary Illyes puts it.

Though it has not been implemented, most websites are already feeling its effect. In a research carried out by BrightEdge study, different results were produced by mobile & desktop searches for similar keywords on similar search engines by almost 80%.

Companies that wish to pace up with the Mobile-first index are in a position to exploit the existing platforms to make their site load up faster. This is an important factor which most SEO professionals believe that it is going to take an important priority in the anticipated index.

4. Need for speed

Site’s speed has been an important factor not only for SEO but also when ensuring good user experience too. In fact, research carried out by Google shows that the internet users anticipate sites to load in 3 to 4 seconds. When the sites take longer, users are likely going to get pissed off. With human attention span getting shorter, we expect that site’s speed is going to be a crucial ranking factor from 2018.

In case you wish to improve the loading time for your page, you can make use of a tool known as PageSpeedInsights by Google. This tool provides this rating for your mobile as well as desktop speed. It also provides tips on what to do in order to have faster loading times for your pages.

5. Development in the visual search

The visual search is among the most undervalued aspects of SEO. This might, however, change from 2018 as the search technology improves. As a matter of fact, tech experts like Bing, Google, as well as Pinterest have already made a step to develop stronger visual search engines that might change the manner in which people search.

These steps act as a response to the rising internet landscape which is visual content-dominated. In a period of one year (2015-2016), the utilization of visual content by marketers in articles publication rose by 130%.

With the increasing demand for the visual content, it just makes sense when SEO experts understand how the users are consuming visual content and the manner in which these new developments might affect how people search. This similarly implies that brands are required to focus more on optimizing visual content just for SEO motives.

6. 'Link-less’ backlinks

You will notice that links have always been an important aspect of SEO from the time when Google came up with PageRank in the year 1996. Times are however changing where link-less mentions might soon be an off-page sign of similar weight as per the Search Engine Land. As of now, the search engines have actually evolved with the ability to connect mentions to brands & products. This is used as a sign to determine a site's quality as well as authority.

To be precise, Bing of now is using the unlinked mentions to rank. This step made by the second most known search engine throughout the globe has made most SEO professionals believe that even Google might make a similar move too.

These are among the trends which are going to drive strategy thereby making a difference between losing & winning in the SEO arena from 2018 and beyond. Take into account all the SEO trends when making your strategy in 2018. By doing so, you stand higher chances of being ranked on the first page of the SERPs from now onward.