You’ve probably heard it more than a few times by now – SEO is an ever-evolving, complex science. Search engines are constantly updating their algorithms and improving their ability to bring relevant search results to users. SEO professionals, on their part, are required to constantly update their SEO knowledge and practices to stay relevant in this fast-changing industry. It’s as if search engines and SEO professionals are locked in an eternal game of catch. There’s no room for sluggishness in this game. SEO managers who spend a few months out of touch with the industry come back only to find it quite unrecognizable. Here are some of the trends that are set to transform our SEO practices in 2018.
Rich SERP Features
There was a time when Google’s search results page was a neatly stacked list of page links, each with a brief description of the respective web page. Today, it looks like Arby’s is set to acquire BWW. Take a look at this.
There is so much information here – rich information, and snippets. Then there is contextual information like Points of Interest, Things to Do, and Top Stories. Google has added a whole bunch of SERP features like these and everyone is loving them. There are many more features like knowledge graph, answer box, local pack, featured snippets, knowledge panels, and more used by Google to provide users relevant and highly contextual information.
The advent of these features has shook up the top ranking SERPs out of their complacency. Because search engine users are able to find everything they need on the Google’s search results page itself, most of them don’t even bother to click on the links anymore. Even when they do, they click on the links that is associated with a feature such as knowledge graph. This has reduced the relevance of the remainder of the first page search results.
The year 2018 will witness this trend going full bloom, with Google probably adding more such SERP features or releasing those features across a broader spectrum of search categories. What does this mean for businesses? Be part of the SERP features or else be relegated to insignificance.
Voice Search and Digital Assistants
The years 2016 and 2017 are a major milestone in the SEO industry. Google officially transitioned from desktop-first approach to a mobile-first approach, as mobile search queries overtook the volumes of desktop searches. Website managers are now advised to take a mobile-first approach to web design, content creation, and SEO in general. A bulk of the websites are still grappling with this change.
Do not get caught up by such surprises in the future. A similar kind of industry-wide transformation is set to happen in 2018 and you have the power to prepare yourself before that. This transformation will be brought by voice searches.
Roughly 20% of all search queries are voice searches, and this number is growing at a rapid pace. For website managers, this means that their content should now take consideration of natural language and conversational tones of their users. The focus now shifts to long tail keywords that people use in their daily conversations. This trend is relatively new as the digital assistants are gaining widespread acceptance for the first time. So, there is a lot of potential for growth here, and that means immense first mover advantages to proactive webmasters.
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