SEO has come a long way since its first introduction in the market. With the year 2018 being round the corner, experts of the field are working tooth and nail towards anticipating the fundamentals of the system. Is it going to be the same? Or is SEO going to undergo new changes in the coming year? Most professionals of the field believe understanding SEO and experimenting with newer dimensions of the area is the only thing that can help companies excel in the field and also surpass competitors. Here you can follow 48 Experts Share Their Top SEO Predictions for 2018 There are no shortcuts to fame and success. Only hard work and diligence can help achieve and also sustain such in the long run. This is absolutely applicable when one talks about SEO. With numerous new algorithms introduced by Google in the past couple of years, it is no longer possible to engage in Black Hat SEO activities or witty tactics and enjoy market dominance for long. The rules of Google have been made stricter and more streamlined to accommodate only genuine and reliable websites in the search engine result page rankings. With the Search Engines getting smarter and much more alert in terms of SEO plans, many companies, having failed to succeed with shortcuts in SEO, opt for paid advertisements online that help then garner higher sales and popularity. The main purpose is to choose the fastest possible approach that can help the company earn big bucks online. The specialists of the field of online marketing predict that SEO in the coming year can perhaps help companies earn higher sales figures and leave the competitors far behind in the race of commercial accomplishment. The SEO story Since the inception of SEO, people have been aware about the system of page ranking. In fact, page ranking is one of the major reasons for which people opt for good SEO strategies. Google too came up with its Page Rank algorithm, one of the first of its kind. The Google search engine was based solely upon this algorithm which decided the ranking of a particular web page based on the number of links attributed to the page. Higher links meant higher relevancy and automatically deserved a higher rank on the search engine result page. The scenario has somewhat changed now. SEO is no longer dependent upon mere links. But it must be remembered that though the strategies of SEO has changed, the main guidelines of SEO remain the same even today. The three major categories that act as the pillars of SEO are,
- Authority: this refers to the quality and quantity of links to a website. Tools like MozBar and SEMRush help analyze the Authority of a website. The Domain Score and Domain Authority also signify the amount of authority a particular domain has.
- Content: the ranking of any website depends greatly on the content. This is expected to remain the same in year 2018 as well. The content needs to be fresh, engaging, relevant and well written. The importance of content is likely to increase with time and with time needs to get more interactive in nature.
- Indexed Age: Indexed age means the date when the search engine discovered the website. The older is the indexed age, the more authentic and trustworthy is the website considered to be.
SEO Rules for 2018 There are certain rules that one needs to follow in order to succeed in the competitive markets. With rivalry expected to increase and reach higher levels in the years to come, companies need to follow certain rules in order to keep themselves ahead of their peers. Some vital rules for SEO in 2018 are,
- Improved speed
Increased website speed will result in higher visibility. One can make use of tools like the Google Page Speed Insight, Pingdom, Varvy and others to access and improve the speed of web pages. Making web pages and images optimized and compressed is also essential for online success.
- Utilizing CDN
One needs to make use of Content Deliver Networks for swift delivery of the web content to the users. Tools like the Amazon Cloudfront or Cloudflare can help in making the content quickly accessible to the online audiences.
- Build valuable content
There is no shortcut when it comes to content. The higher the quality of the websites content, the more will be the number or recurring visitors to the web page and thus better will be the SEO results. Well written pieces will engage the readers for long and will also compel them to share the content online. Some tips for developing good content include,
- Include at least 2000 words long content
- Make the content easy to read
- Create a healthy profile for internal and outbound links
- Keep the write-up fresh, unique and innovative
- Include high quality photographs
- Multi channel optimization
Ever since 2016, it has been observed that more number of people use mobile phones to search for information. This has brought the focus on multi channel optimization. This trend is likely to increase in year 2018. The website needs to be assessable to all viewers no matter which device he or she may be using. For such, one needs to focus on making the website usable in all mobile formats and platform versions.
- Improve customer experience
Websites need to be made more engaging and interesting for the audiences. For such, one needs to pay attention to creating high quality content and also making the website interactive in nature. For such, one may include related audios, videos and appropriate podcasting. The design needs to be appealing. A crucial point to remember is the ease of usage of the website. Some other key factors that one should keep in mind in order to match the demands of SEO in 2018 include,
- Opt for better quality links rather than just quantity of links
- Limit the number of advertisements
- Avoid illegal or inappropriate activities
- Use social media appropriately to further the popularity of the website and its content
- Take the help of influencers to reach out to larger audiences online
Though SEO has come a long way as an industry of its own, this is not the ultimatum. It is expected to reach wider horizons in the coming year. Though it is not very easy to predict what will happen next in terms of SEO, it is still expected to become far more proactive in year 2018. SEO is likely to not just help customers grow and prosper in the market but also open up new avenues for both professionals and businessmen alike.
