10 Strategies for the Best SEO in 2018

Last year, many SEO experts looked at the upcoming changes to Google’s method of ranking websites.
 
The most notable trends were:

• Mobile-First Indexing

• Semantic Search

• Voice Search & Virtual Assistants

• Featured Snippets

• Machine Learning

 
Let’s explore what each trend means as well as 10 ways to boost your SEO strategy.
 
Responsive Sites Aren’t Mobile-First
 
Mobile-First Indexing is Google’s answer to one of the biggest substantial swings in recent consumer behavior.
 
In 2018, 57% of all traffic is from mobile devices. Ranking will now focus on mobile sites not desktop sites. It’s not enough to have a smartphone and tablet friendly responsive site. It’s now essential to be mobile-first for better ranking.

Semantic Search
 
Semantic search arrived with Google’s Hummingbird algorithm. At its heart, semantic search presents user desired appropriate answers based on the user’s unique queries.
 
How does it work?
 

1. The whole search entry is considered, not just the keywords.

2. The user, their search patterns, history and other variables are key details.

3. Factors like the device type, time of day, and location are significant.

 
 
Speak up - Voice Search & Virtual Assistants
 
Voice search is the fastest growing method of searching the web. 55% of teens and 40% of adults use voice search via smartphone virtual assistants like Siri or Bixby, according to Google.
 
Voice-first search enabled devices like Alexa, Amazon Echo, and Google Home grew from 8 million in 2016 to 33 million in 2017. Voice searches and virtual assistants are here to stay. Optimize for voice search by understanding how and why it is used.
 
Featured Snippets Answer the Question
 
Specifically, featured snippets answer a searcher’s direct question. A real-time generated answer via lists, images, or even video is Google’s goal.
 
Providing the best answers to a search can put a webpage in the coveted position zero.
 
Humans vs. Machines
 
Search engine machine learning tries to provide the best possible search results to vague queries.
 
Google’s RankBrain system examines user patterns in order to do this. As Google’s third most important ranking signal, it’s critical to understand what machine learning is, even though optimizing explicitly for it is difficult.
 
A Winning 2018 SEO Strategy
 
Here are 10 strategies to up your 2018 SEO game:
 

1. Audit your mobile site to identify and fix problematic site elements, broken links, and redirects.

2. Compress images that are uncompressed for a faster user experience.

3. Use structured data markup to help search engines understand and choose your content.

4. Identify natural language queries that highlight user intent.

5. If you’re a local business, claim your Google My Business listing.

6. Find mentions of your brand and your products by using social media listening tools to find useful search queries and keyphrases.

7. Create relevant content to answer your users’ questions.

8. Use long-tail keywords, at least three words, to optimize for semantic searches.

9. Deliver a concise definition to a query as near to the top of the page as possible.

10. Resource rich, in-depth content that understands how users search performs best.