{"id":14564,"date":"2019-11-13T07:20:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T07:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trafficradius.com.au\/?p=2980"},"modified":"2024-03-21T08:06:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T08:06:11","slug":"seo-digital-trends-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/blog\/seo\/seo-digital-trends-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO and Digital Trends in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Digital Trends:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

As we leave the fourth quarter of 2017, it\u2019s time to look forward to the year ahead and think of what\u2019s in store for digital trends and SEO next year. With so many \u201cbest practices<\/a><\/strong>\u201d and numerous ranking factors to consider, it\u2019s sometimes difficult to figure out what\u2019s really important and what isn\u2019t.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We implemented the latest trends in SEO this year, now we must take stock and decide if our activities will still be relevant in SEO 2018. Which digital trends will come into greater prominence next year?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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To answer this question, I\u2019ve put together a list of the most notable trends this year that appear to be gaining momentum for 2018.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Below is a snapshot of the critical SEO trends this year:<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1. Mobile-first Shift<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Google\u2019s unwavering move toward a mobile-only internet was evident this year and will be even more significant in 2018. Nothing new here, if you think about it, this is something Google has been experimenting on for years now.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Google drives 96% of mobile search traffic, and you may have noticed that most of the latest trends in SEO are tied around mobile users, while desktops are becoming a secondary touch point for a lot of users.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Mobile devices help users easily find the content they are looking for, conveniently and as quickly as possible, so it makes more sense to put mobiles first. You must ensure that your website is mobile friendly to stand any chance at ranking.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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2. Predictive and Personalized Search<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Another key trend on a trajectory rise is predictive and personalized search. As predictive search becomes more dominant, tools like Google Now are getting more intelligent and are capable of delivering relevant, personalized results to users.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

3. Local Search<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The importance of local search is also a critical factor when you talk about personalized and relevant search results. As the internet gets more and more crowded, businesses face serious competition unless they make that big shift to local search.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

4. Voice Search<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It became apparent this year that voice search is the next logical step in search. As more people start using the voice search feature of their smart devices and desktop computers, a new type of SEO and website optimization was born.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

5. Visual Content<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Video and visual content was another important key to ranking in 2017. Google recently released huge visual databases for machine learning, and it makes me ask, \u201cwhat is\u00a0Google getting ready for?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Millions of YouTube videos and images were linked and tagged to teach computers to recognize objects, and the only logical explanation is that visuals will become more necessary for content ranking in the next few years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

6. AI and Machine Learning<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

AI, machine, and deep learning have been the main focus for Google in the last few years and we see this trend rapidly developing. Time is one of the greatest obstacles to the adoption of deep learning but Google seems on a fast track with RankBrain \u2014 one of it\u2019s machine learning technology.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Currently, AI systems help process all of Google\u2019s search results and RankBrain, which is part of Google\u2019s overall search \u201calgorithm,\u201d sorts through billions of pages to find the ones it deems most relevant for particular search queries.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Things to take care of in 2018:<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Prepare for a Mobile-first Shift<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In November 2016, Google announced their mobile-first index initiative. This meant that the mobile version of your site will be considered first before the desktop version.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Even though Google\u2019s Mobile-first index isn\u2019t live yet, it\u2019s will be upon us any day now. That\u2019s why I recommend getting ready for it now!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Google has given us plenty of time to create a mobile-friendly version of our websites. But for those who don\u2019t have a mobile version, I expect that you will be ranked based on the usability of your desktop version.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2013 Ensure that your content is consistent across desktops and mobile devices.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2013 Create a responsive design.\u00a0Resize images and get all your page elements to be mobile friendly and get rid of the ones that aren\u2019t.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2013 Use structured data in your mobile version. This will enhance your search listings and increase your CTR (click-through rate).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2013 Consider the user experience and optimize for usability. With mobile-first ranking, usability will be a key metric.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2013 Rethink your link building strategy, especially if you have a separate m. mobile website. It is safer and less work to simply make your website responsive. Amp-lify your pages for mobile speed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2013 Page loading times are a critical factor that Googles\u2019 algorithm uses in ranking the pages of a website.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

AMP works by cutting out irrelevant JavaScript, resizes page elements and handles loading asynchronously. With faster loading pages, you\u2019ll rank better. Check out this open source project by Google that will help you load pages faster on mobile devices.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

AMP isn\u2019t for content management systems (CMS) such as Joomla or WordPress. For these kinds of applications, you will need to use modules and plugins.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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For e-commerce websites, a better and more strategic choice will be the use of Progressive Web Apps (PWA).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Progressive Web Apps are used to create an app-like experience by making use of modern web features. PWA ensures compatibility across platforms, is responsive and should be secured by HTTPS, making it ideal for e-commerce websites.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With mobile-first indexing in full swing, Progressive Web Apps (PWA) and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) will work hand in hand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Prepare for Predictive and Personalized Search<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It is increasingly becoming more difficult to convince Google that you have great content when you really don\u2019t! Googles\u2019 algorithm is shifting towards prediction and personalization, making search results more about relevance and less about keywords.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The algorithm learns which terms are related and uses predictive analysis to deliver what is likely to appear in a given context. Predictive and personalized results may be based on:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n