The yearly SEO roundup – 2018
It’s almost December already, and that means we are going to look at the world of SEO over the past year, what’s changed and what’s improved?
- The first one has to be the focus on Rank Brain, this is one of Google’s latest additions to improving their search and has to do with evaluating the quality of the content displayed in searches. When you are searching for something on Google you will open one page, read the article then if you aren’t satisfied with that answer you will go to the next article and so on. If you stay on the first page you choose for few minutes that mean that you like the article. If you stay on the page but you start bouncing from article to article that means you are still looking for the right information. Google will give a boost to the first option because he has a proof that that particular article gave useful information for the readers.
- Keywords aren’t in the first place anymore. They are still important and they should be through the entire article, but Google has made a step up in this department. You can’t just have a good quality SEO article, now you have to have a good quality and relevant website to get an additional boost.
- Making an exact filled article is not enough. Fill the article with LSI keywords as well. LSI stands for Latent Semantic Indexing and it is actually connected to your main keyword. If you are focusing on for example main keyword baby cradle; the LSI keywords are everything connected to it; like a baby swing, best baby swing, best baby cradle…With those keywords, you are spreading your article in more categories which is a great thing.
- Smartphones are so popular that most of the searches done in the Google are made on mobile phones. Due to that, the mobile version of your site will have an impact on Google. If you have a website which is adjusted to mobile screens you will get more points in Google’s eyes that the website with similar content but with only a desktop version.
- Include a Youtube Channel in your website. There are 60% more people on Youtube now than in 2017 and that number will continue to grow. Youtube is the perfect place for people to gain information and people are starting to use it every day more and more. If you make a good quality video about your topic you will open the doors to the completely new audience.
- Don’t forget about the voice search. Every smartphone offers the voice search option and people are using it in numerous situations. Due to that, voice search is growing and you can infiltrate your website on that field as well. It is a great thing because most sites haven’t done it yet.
- Before you start optimizing your website for the Voice Search and making a YouTube Channel, keep in mind that you need to think about the content of your page. Your main focus still needs to be original and quality content because that is how you build the site. Other parts are finishing touches which will drive people to you and not your opponent. The original content is important because people will stumble upon the similar article and they won’t read it because they know it all. That is a factor which can cost you many readers.
- Don’t make boring articles. People are visual creatures and the moment they open your site which is made entirely from the text, they will feel bored and they will press the back button. Fill your article with relevant pictures, videos, and even infographics because that is how you get someone’s attention.
- If you write about a topic which doesn’t have much to offer visually don’t hesitate. You can always catch someone’s attention with H2 and H3 tags. Make compelling titles and separate the article in small paragraphs. Emphasise important sentences by underlining them or bolding them and make graphs. Graphs are an excellent mode for demonstrating data you used in the article.
- The last and in my opinion, the most important part is: have patience. Building a website is a process that can last for months and if you really want your project to work, prepare to work for a long period of time, without giving up. Building website and links will take months, but jumping up in Google’s eyes will happen only if you show consistency.