Are you about to draft your first SEO campaign of the year? Well, SEO is a dynamic landscape and 2018 has ushered in a new set of SEO features. As you sit to chalk out your optimization strategies for the New Year- make sure your campaign duly complements the latest SEO trends.
So, what will be the top SEO strategies for 2018?
Well, here goes a brief on hottest SEO techniques that will help you to rule the search engines this year and beyond.
Format website content for voice search
As per recent reports from Google, 1 in 5 searches online today is voice-enabled search query. Voice-based search is estimated to rise hand in hand with increased use of digital assistants and smart speakers. Thus, any top SEO company in Austin will advise you to format your website content in tune with this latest trend. Focus will be more on long-tail keywords and conversational phrases in natural language to emulate voice search queries. A good example will be “What are best bars in Austin near me” instead of short traditional keywords like “bars Austin” or “best bars in Austin”.
Optimization for Position 0
SEO goals today are no longer limited to the #1 organic SERP ranking. You also need to pay attention to optimize your content and site for “position 0”. It’s the upper part of SERP that appears before the first organic website link of the page. The Position 0 is dominated by Featured Snippets. These snippets are answers to common queries you make on Google. As they appear on top most part of the search pages, they are the first to attract attention on SERPs. Thus, SEO in 2018 will also mean optimization of content for Featured Snippets so that your audience finds you on top of SERP. Here are tools by which you can optimize your position for Featured Snippets-
- Lists
- Graphs
- Tables
- Top notch Q& A data
Stress on increased user engagement
Google is increasingly stressing on user engagement as a key parameter in deciding the ranking of a site. So, if you are aspiring to scale up your site’s rankings, focus on enhancing the user engagement level of your website. Here are the main factors to keep in mind-
- Super fast page speed- page should load in just 2 seconds
- Mobile responsive website
- Easy navigation throughout the website
- Smartly formatted, high quality and easily legible content
- Content formatted for voice search
- Visual content alongside text content
There is a reason why Google has recently released Google Optimize and Google Optimize 360. These latest tools have simplified A/B testing and also help website owners to enhance user engagement.
Switch to HTTPS
With hacking attacks on a larger roll with each passing year, Google is extremely serious about online data confidentiality this time. Thus, it’s high time you switch your site URL to “HTTPS” from “HTTP”. The “S” in “HTTPS” represents “SSL” or “Secure Sockets Layer”. Website URLs with “HTTPS” assure secured encryption for any data passed through them.