2018 SEO Trends to Know About

Improving your SEO strategy will help rank your business high in internet searches. 

However, it’s not always easy. Google’s search engine optimization (SEO) algorithm is always changing. Staying on top of current SEO best practices will help improve your SEO rankings and lead generation efforts. 

Below, we discuss some of the 2018 SEO trends. Learn more about what’s working in today’s SEO world and what’s old news.

1. Slow and steady does not win the race

While this has been our radars for a while now, it is official. In July 2018, Google made a “Speed Update” to their ranking factors for mobile searches. This adversely affects pages that have slow user experiences and low-quality content.

However, Google still prioritizes relevant, useful content over slow loading speeds. So, make sure your pages have content people are looking for.

2. Talking is the new typing

Have you noticed a lot more people are talking into their phones asking it questions rather than typing them in? This doesn’t stop at phones, more and more people are using digital personal assistant devices like Alexa, Siri and Google Home as well.

Voice-activated searches means people search the internet differently. According to Forbes, people are more likely to text short, to-the-point searches but when they use voice-activated technology, they’re more likely to ask full, complete questions. 

To ensure your website ranks high regardless of the way the search is being performed, include complete verbal search phrases in the structured data of your site's meta content. 

3. User experience > everything else

User experience remains at the top of the list of important SEO ranking factors. Although this isn’t entirely a new trend this year, it’s important enough to reiterate.

Google has provided marketers with user-centric performance metrics so we may test and learn how to improve our sites. When a user gets to your site they’re looking for visual feedback to make sure everything is loading as it should. They ask themselves these questions:

• Is it loading quickly?

• Is it useful?

• Is it easy to navigate?

• Is it delightful?

If any of these answers are no, the user is likely to quickly leave your site.

Our digital strategy starts with targeted SEO research and elegant, functional web design—and follows through with data-driven email marketing, digital ads, social media and more. Let’s get digital.