SEO is always in a state of flux. Google and Bing are always finding ways to provide users with better results. Great if you’re searching, but no so much so if you are trying to rank a site in a position where people will find it. The factors that help rankings change and you need to keep up with what’s new. So, here are 5 factors in flux for 2018 that you and your business need to keep abreast of.
User Experience
In 2018, user experience is going to play a larger role in SEO. Google has been clear that they are going to be focusing on the user and that sites should look at making their UX smoother for the visitor. A good user experience will also increase the chance of visitors engaging with the site. This is one of the best ways for search engines to determine which pages are the most useful to their users and result in them being favored over others.
The first step to improving user experience is to monitor the speed of the website. You should then look at the readability and navigation system to determine what needs to be done to make the experience as smooth as possible. A closer look at the browsing habits of your typical user can also be helpful. If you have visits that come from search which only last 30 seconds, your content of user experience may be hurting your conversions. It needs to be looked at.
When looking at user experience, you also have to keep in mind that more people are consuming content on mobile devices. This means that the user experience will need to be smooth on all devices.
SEO is heading to more personalized and relevant experiences and your UX will be the key to maintaining search traffic. In the future, it will not be enough to see a rise in traffic that is not converting. A good user experience will turn any traffic you get into conversions and create a loyal audience.
It Is All About Video
The next big thing is going to be videos on your website. Video has already been a prominent part of the market since 2016 and it is going to stay this way for the foreseeable future. If you skim through any of the top blogs and websites, you will notice that they have videos posted everywhere.
The primary reason for this is the simple fact that many people do not have the time to read through textual information. If these people want to know about a service or company, they will prefer to switch to YouTube and find a video about them. This is why you should have a captivating video that will keep them on your website which will help your organic traffic as well.
Understand The Age Of The Mobile
Google has often indicated that the age of the mobile is here. First, there was Amp and now there are mobile-friendly websites which the search engines give priority to when it comes to mobile search results. If you have not already taken note of this, you need to if you want your SEO to work in the future.
The age of the mobile does not mean that you should simply make your website mobile compatible. You need to take other steps in terms of design and user experience which will help. Design your site to load faster and better while turning off auto-play for videos. You should also use medium resolution images, focus on having content display first and be careful when it comes to pop-ups. SEO Guru Matthew Woodward has a range of different pieces and videos on his site around YouTube marketing.
Redirecting Your Page
A redirect is a great way to send search engines and users to a different URL from the one that they have requested. 301 redirects are a permanent way of directing up to 99% of link juice to the redirected page. A 301 redirect is an HTTP status code which is used for these permanent redirects and in most cases will be the best method to redirect your visitors and the search engines.
This is due to the fact that Google has announced that redirects of this nature will not result in any page rank loses. Of course, it is important that you remember to only use 3xx type redirections if you want to benefit from this. However, before you look at any redirects, you have to consider that they could harm your SEO strategy as they impact how pages pass topical relevance by anchor text. Moz has some good content on redirection.
AI And Machine Learning
Search results are already being impacted by machine learning and artificial intelligence and you need to consider this. Machine learning is also able to change the way that searches take place and help users find contextualized results. This means that more personalized experiences are being targeted, particularly with the rise in digital and voice search assistance.
Google RankBrain which is the deep learning algorithm will also affect the search landscape. It is important to note that optimizing for RankBrain can be an intimidating prospect for people because there does not seem to be a set way to optimize for it.
These five factors are important going forward and you should take notice of them to get traffic on board.
