SEO Ranking Factors in 2018

SEO is changing a lot. It's constantly evolving to accommodate users, provide them with the best user experience and get rid of the people who try to game the system. For that reason, you need to keep up and improve your SEO, using new and updated strategies to make sure that your ideal customers can find you and you don't get left behind. Here are a few valuable tips on what to focus on in SEO this 2018.

First on our list is the importance of ranking and optimization for mobile devices. Mobile users are significantly growing each day that it is not ideal just to ignore them. A recent post from Search Engine Journal talks about why you should focus on optimizing your website for mobile search.

Ranking & Optimization for Mobile Devices

A fact to remember: mobile search is different from the desktop search. Period.

The content of the mobile search can vary from the desktop as well.

That’s why optimizing your website for mobile search is mandatory.

This will positively influence both your conversion rate and rankings, as Google will consider the adaptive website design (one that fits into any screen size) as another positive factor for ranking since April 2015. Via searchenginejournal.com

Mobile-ready websites are essential nowadays and the websites who are optimized for mobile devices surely benefits the most. There are tools you can use to check how optimized and ready your website is for mobile devices.

[caption id="attachment_25678" align="aligncenter" width="227"] Make sure that your website is optimized for mobile devices![/caption]

Next is security. Businesses especially big companies are prone to cyber-attacks that is why you need to realize the importance of security and making sure that your websites and system are protected from such attacks. A new post from The Next Web discusses why security is an important factor when it comes to SEO.

If you think you can ignore security, think again

Big companies, many of which have fallen victim to intense cyber-attacks, have now realized the importance of security and are planning to invest a lot of money into making sure that their systems are protected.

Small businesses will obviously not have nearly as many funds to invest into a very advanced security system but small security measures can go a long way towards protecting websites and their data, including the very personal information that users entrust said websites with. h/t thenextweb.com

With Google making security an most important factor,, you need to invest it. Getting a security breach will likely lead to bad reputation and less traffic.

Lastly, you need to focus on voice search. More and more people are using voice search since there are new smart speakers like the ones on Amazon and Apple. A recent post from Revital Agency shares why voice search is gaining traction this year and will be an important factor in SEO.

Voice Search Will Gain More Traction

Rather than keying in a search query on their computers or mobile devices, users can simply use their voices to get the search results they’re looking for, which will ultimately save them time.

As a result, search queries may differ from what users type into search boxes. For example, with voice search users typically focus on natural-sounding phrases and questions, rather than query language that may be more convoluted. This will affect how businesses evaluate SERPs. As a result, tools such as Rank Tracker are likely to help with optimizing voice search SEO rankings. read more at revitalagency.com

Along with mobile devices comes the popularity of smart speakers and digital assistants where you can use search query using your own voice. That is why you need to focus on this as it can play a prominent role.

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SEO Trends to Look Out in 2018

2018 is right around the corner. With SEO having a changing technological environment and regular Google algorithm updates that greatly affects the search results many are already looking forward to the latest trends in the upcoming year. Here are a few SEO trends that will likely matter and have a big impact this year.

First on our list is to prepare for mobile-first indexing, since the majority of search queries are being done from mobile devices according to Google. A recent post from The Leverage Way talks about why optimizing your website for mobile are crucial and will likely have a big impact for the year 2018.

Prepare for Mobile-First Indexing

Many SEO articles today mention that a “mobile-first index” is coming soon, but what does this mean exactly? To put it simply, an index is just another name for the database used by a search engine, and Google will soon begin to index data (taking it from the site and adding it to Google’s database) from a mobile site instead of the desktop site as it has always done.

We know that most Google searches are now mobile, but Google’s ranking is still focused on the desktop version of the website. Google wants to fix this, and fix it they will. Google’s mobile-first index began live testing last year, in 2016.

An official mobile-first indexing for all websites will happen more quickly than you or I probably expect. 2018 could be the year that a full-fledged mobile-first index goes into effect. If you want to invest in SEO and truly have your efforts pay off, you must begin taking action to ensure the content, user experience, and web design of your site is fully optimized for mobile users. Via theleverageway.com

Mobile optimization is now necessary for all websites. Businesses should improve the user experience and engagement of their website by creating responsive mobile pages.

With the rise of usage in mobile devices, a significant amount of search queries are made through voice search according to Google. That is why voice search could be an important factor that you should consider next year. A new post from Search Engine Journal discusses the importance of voice search for SEO in the year 2018.

Voice search

Over 20 percent of queries are via voice search, according to Google, and users are asking more “how to”- questions along with other question-related content. This means brands must have sound content strategies that dominate quick answers.

Voice search is changing the way users are communicating with Google and other search engines to find relevant answers to their questions and it is becoming an integral part of the Google experience. SEMrush and other providers offer tools that show you what traffic is from featured snippets, etc. and it is rumored Google is working on something for voice searches in Google Analytics. h/t searchenginejournal.com

Voice search along with responsive mobile pages are going to be the most influential factors for visibility in 2018.

[caption id="attachment_25644" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Take advantage of visual content![/caption]

Lastly, visual content is king as always. Increasingly many brands are taking advantage of creating visual content because it increases reader engagement and attracts potential customers. A recent post from Inc shares why visual content will become a trend this new year.

Visual content is king

This will produce a greater need to curate content that increases engagement and social shareability. While Google will never admit it, many experts suspect user signals and social signals serve as either a core or indirect influence on organic rank. Consider that Facebook posts with images receive 2.3 times more engagement than those that don't.

Producing a multi-media strategy should be a primary focus to expanding your brand's reach through content marketing in 2018. Read more at inc.com

Visual content is important for SEO since it increases engagement signals, which Google loves to see. So build quality visual content on a regular basis to attract potential customers and improve visitors engagement.

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How To Write SEO-Friendly Content

Content is essential to SEO as it tells visitors and search engines about the quality and intent of your website. Content is an important foundation of an effective digital marketing especially when it is tailored to your SEO strategy. For that reason, it is crucial that you’re able to create effective content that successfully targets your intended audience.

In order to produce SEO-friendly content, you should know how to write effectively, and to that end one of the most important factors you should remember is the title. SEO friendly titles are essential since it is the first thing your audiences will see or read. A recent post from First Found explains the importance of titles:

Write a great title

The title of your post is what grabs readers’ attention, so you need to make sure it’s gripping whilst also being SEO-friendly. An optimised title is vital, as it indicates to the search engines what the page is about.

A top-notch title should include your target keyword, and if possible a ‘power word’ (a word that has been proven to improve the click-through rate). A great tool to use is the headline analyser from CoSchedule, which will tell you what percentage of your headline is made up of power words and give you a score based on how clickable it is.

Also bear in mind the length of your title. Ideally, it should be 55-60 characters so that it’s displayed without breaks in the search engines. Read more at firstfound.co.uk..

Keywords play an important role in the title of your content. Having a good long-tail keyword in your title will help you rank better in search results.

One challenge when it comes to SEO is writing content optimized not only for search engines but also for different audiences. A post from SEO Company Los Angeles details this:

How To Target Your Audience

Once you have determined the purpose of your social media strategy, the next step is to make a detailed analysis of the audience you intend to reach. People use social media platforms to establish personal connections and stay in touch with other people who share similar interests. If you want successful results, start to think about your target as an individual rather than just a massive public.

First of all, it is important to determine the number of segments your strategy will reach in order to meet your business’ needs. How many are there? What tells them apart? These groups should represent a true business opportunity. Make sure you have the key resources needed to reach them and to deliver specific messages created to generate an impact on each particular segment. Via seocompanylosangeles.us...

The content that you’re producing must provide value for your primary audience since they are your main target, but your other audiences should benefit from your content as well.

[caption id="attachment_25613" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Know your target audience![/caption]

Another challenge you will probably face is regularly updating and maintaining your content.. According to Search Engine Land, maintaining and updating your SEO-friendly content is an overlooked aspect:

Regularly update and maintain existing content

While most content marketing strategies focus on crafting new content, a complete content strategy will also account for existing content and pages.

As you identify potential link opportunities and content gaps, don’t forget to take stock of your existing content. Sometimes it can be easier (and more effective) to update existing content rather than create something from scratch.

In fact, many of the methods for improving content listed above can be applied to your own pages.

Adding extra content types can be particularly effective for upgrading existing content. For example, adding a video to a long-form how-to post adds extra value and linkability, and can even capture bonus traffic and attention via YouTube — as I demonstrated in this post. See more at searchengineland.com...

Some of us have only limited time. Thus problems arise when you don’t have time to regularly post new content. In this case, updating older posts gives you something productive to do in the meantime.

 

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Non-SEO Tools for SEO

The majority of people use tools for their SEO. Using SEO tools has been a staple for most people in the industry. Though for today, we will explore and discuss some tools that are not meant for SEO but can still have a big impact if used for for the same goal.

First on our list is not only used by SEO professionals but also by small and large business alike. It is the scheduling system. A recent post from Search Engine Journal explains the sheer convenience of scheduling:

Scheduling System

I cannot stress enough how helpful a scheduling system can be for businesses large and small and arguably more useful for SEO pros than most.

How many times have you found yourself called out of the blue by a client or prospect, interrupted from a task (maybe even working on their project but probably anyone else but theirs if Murphy has his say) and then spent 15 minutes (if you’re lucky) on the phone with them having to listen to you hum and haw trying to frantically dig into an analytic they’re referring to or question their posing only to have to tell them you’ll look into it further and get back to them.

At first, I thought clients might resist using a scheduling system. But they don’t. Read more on searchenginejournal.com...

There are a few reasons why scheduling system is important for businesses and SEO professionals. The most important of all is because it increases productivity. When you’re an industry professional, you’ll encounter plenty of tasks and responsibilities that take up too much of your time and effort. Through a scheduling system, you’ll have a better way of managing, planning and organize all your plans and work.

Next on our list is a website that lets you browse thousands of archived web pages saved over time. Way Back Machine was not intended for SEO, but professionals use it for search engine optimization. Advanced Web Ranking discusses this tool:

Way Back Machine

Having the right SEO tools is vital to starting an SEO campaign. Let’s face it, a lot of these tools are very expensive. If you just started a company and have a limited budget.

WayBackMachine is a free tool you can use to browse hundreds of billions of archived web pages saved over time. This is a tool anyone can use to view what a website looked like in the past. For SEO Specialists, it’s a very helpful tool to improve SEO. Via advancedwebranking.com...

The major uses of the Way Back Machine include tracking website modifications that resulted in traffic changes, and link research. It can help improve your SEO and it has a lot to offer as an SEO tool.

Lastly, we have proxies. Though proxies, to begin with, are not related or intended at all to SEO, you can still use them for a few reasons. A post from Report Garden explores why proxies are important for SEO.

Proxy for SEO is important

It may seem difficult to understand why proxy is related to SEO but actually, it isn’t. You or your company may need to hide or change an IP by a private proxy. There are some reasons why a company wants to do this.

Many practices are needed to be started and maintained if anyone wants to be successful in SEO. One of them is finding a reliable proxy for SEO. With SEO campaign, private proxies are getting more and more popular. You put your business at risk without a private connection.  See more at reportgarden.com...

Nowadays, many people are using private proxies for a few reasons like web scrapping or tracking your data. Using private connection can help avoid putting your business at risk and be successful in the search engine arena..

[caption id="attachment_25609" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Proxy's are important for SEO too.[/caption]

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Local SEO Mistakes You Need To Avoid

Local SEO is significant for local businesses that want to be successful these days. It's important for a small business to make sure that it have an online presence as much as possible to help you stay relevant and spread awareness to attract potential buyers and customers in order for you to accomplish your goals and be successful. Here's a few tips that can help you avoid common local SEO mistakes:

When it comes to local SEO content is the king. You might think that having much low-quality content is enough for your SEO but it is not. It is necessary that your content is made well and have great quality. A post from Bryan Digital warns

Having Low-Quality Content

Your website forms the foundation for your entire local SEO strategy. If your website is thin on the content side, or you have low-quality content, then you won’t be doing your rankings any favors.

Think about it this way. Google is trying to provide their visitors with the most valuable and useful information. So, if your site is full of thin content that doesn’t do much to help your visitors, then you won’t rank as highly.

Consider filling your website with very valuable information that’s both relevant to your visitors, your business, and your local area. Via bryantdigital.com...

Creating low-quality content can be relevant as well, however, making valuable content can help you more. You want to create content that is interesting enough for the readers. People are more likely to consume engaging content thus increasing awareness to your business and helps in getting the trust of your customers.

Your NAP information is essential to your local SEO. If your business information is not updated and inaccurate, your rank on local search results might get affected. Here's what an article from 21 Handshake has to say about inconsistent NAP info:

Leaving Local Information Un-Updated

This happens when website and social media management grows too messy: Something about your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) changes, and you update some of your contact information. But other NAP sections on your website, social profiles, etc. do not get updated. As a result, two different NAPs exist online, confusing people trying to find out where your business is while also lowering your page ranking. Not good! When the NAP needs to be updated, update it everywhere. Read more at blog.21handshake.com...

NAP information is one of the factors in ranking high in local search results. That is why it is necessary to update your NAP information everywhere and make it publicly available on your website. Your NAP information should be accurate and consistent at all times.

[caption id="attachment_25603" align="aligncenter" width="259"] NAP information should always be up to date![/caption]

Lastly, one of the common mistakes to avoid is not getting local reviews. Some businesses might underestimate the importance of local reviews, but Google has made them strong ranking factors. A post from Slidell Chamber goes more into depth:

Local Reviews

One mistake businesses make is underestimating the importance of reviews, especially from your existing customers. Remind them to leave a review after you’ve provided the required service or product. You can also ask people and businesses you’ve dealt and who are familiar with your business to write genuine reviews too. This is crucial because good reviews can boost your local SEO standing considerably. See more at slidellchamber.com...

Though it takes time and effort to get positive reviews, they will give you an advantage over your competitors. Having many high-quality reviews will be better for your local SEO.

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How To Build An Effective SEO Strategy

In SEO, it is important that you are ready with solid techniques and strategies that you’ll be implementing to help you achieve your goals and objectives. Your SEO strategy acts as a guide that will help you focus on what things you should prioritize and what techniques you need to apply.

So what's necessary for an effective SEO strategy? Every plan is different but there are still consistent important factors that you should need to include. A post from Search Engine Journal shows that understanding the company you're working for is essential to success:

An Understanding of the Company

While every SEO strategy is – and should be – different, there’s an underlying strategy to developing strategies.

Whether you’re an in-house or outsourced SEO, you need to have a solid understanding of the company in order to make any SEO strategy successful. You need to know what strengths you can leverage in order to get the most SEO value, what tactics will work best for the brand identity, and what is standing in your way. Via searchenginejournal.com

Being able to understand the goals and needs of a company is essential. You should be able to discern the strengths and weakness of the company so that you can focus and prioritize on the things you have advantages and disadvantages from.

There might be a few SEO techniques and strategies that are outdated, such as using a keyword in your domain name, and keyword stuffing in general. But there are also some SEO strategies that are still relevant on an almost evergreen basis. A recent article from Nimble talks about content and how it's an SEO mainstay:

Content Remains King

Content was, is, and will be king. That means that it’s the essence of everything that’s going on. Every website needs some form of content in order to create a connection with their buyers or to simply inform what the business is about.
If a few years back content was being manipulated by most of the smartass marketers who found glitches in Google’s system, today things look pretty different. Websites that rank well will always have unique and valuable content.
You’ll need to create something that actually helps the reader with a problem or need. Start off by developing your content marketing strategy, continue with the creation of the content, go on with the distribution, and finally end up by promoting your work. See more at nimble.com

Content will always be the most important when it comes to SEO. For that reason, you should be creating quality content regularly. Your content should be rich in keywords, informative and engaging to your audience that will also attract new visitors.

[caption id="attachment_25594" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Content is King![/caption]

If you want to get more traffic for your website, you should know and understand your audience. A recent article from Webenza elaborates:

Know And Recognize Your Audience

Keep in mind, a strategy is a plan that consists of some steps, dependencies and some consideration for future all through. For building up an SEO strategy, you must have to consider things that you need to scrutinise thoroughly.

It’s very important to specify the audience that you are targeting, then understand what they are actually searching for. According to your product requirement, set up some keywords and then jot down the detailed data of search volumes, clicks and impressions. Finalise the keywords as per your targeted location. This will give you a direction to understand your audience and lead to next step of recognition. Read more at webenza.com

Knowing what your audience wants and what they need is one of the keys to success in SEO. You should be able to target audiences and attract the right visitors to your website. That is why you should optimize your website that will cater to the needs of the audience that you want.

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Why SEO Is Important For Your Business

Today, it is important to have an online presence, an aspect that highly impacts the success of your business. One of the keys to having a great online presence is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a great way to promote your business online, especially for new and small businesses. Here are some reasons why SEO is important for your business and how it can help you grow your business:

User experience, also known as UX, is about how your audience will perceive your website that can lead to traffic and convert visitors to consumers which are typically the goal of a business. It has become a part of SEO and one of the main factors for ranking. For that reason, UX is relevant to SEO and they influence each other. A post from SEO Hacker explains how SEO improves the user experience for your website:

User Experience

Being SEOs, we need to be mindful of our overall strategy, and not just focus on things such as link building, content creation, etc. We must understand that each and every website that we handle should be focused on improving the quality of its user’s experience.

At the same time, we should also be able to adapt to new tech that Google introduces. Some of these tech are:

• Putting importance to a mobile responsive design for the mobile-first index
• The introduction of AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
• The launch of PWA (Progressive Web Apps)

Read full article here...

When it comes to having an online presence, you need to have a website where your consumers will have a great experience. Through the need for SEO, you can optimize your website in order to improve the user experience.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="414"] SEO improves User Experience!(UX)[/caption]

Understanding your audience is necessary when it comes to business. That is why SEO is important in order to gain insight into your audience and any valuable information that you could use to target your customer’s needs. A post from Dpom talks more about this and why SEO is important for small businesses.

Optimal insight into your audience

If your website is properly optimised, it will naturally increase your credibility, usability and search engine visibility which will all increase the amount of traffic to your website. Once you’ve got a higher number of visitors, Google Analytics can track and use valuable information about your visitors to help you. They can find out what browser they use, what technology, their location, what key words they have searched for etc. All this information will help you recognise your target market if you haven’t already locked them in and shape any future advertising and marketing strategies. The better you know your customers, the better service and products you can provide and the better the returns.

Content will always be king. But if we use it in addition to other marketing tools, SEO can provide traffic, visibility, credibility and allow you to gain valuable insight into customer behaviour. It is possible for your small business to make it onto the first page of Google or Bing! Read full list here...

As long as you know your audience and what they want then you can provide them with a better service. With SEO, you’ll be able to know your audience and cater to their needs. SEO can help provide traffic, credibility, usability, and visibility to your website.

Having long term profits are the desired goal of any business. This is one reason why SEO is important for a business when it comes to long term success. A post from Search Engine Journal discusses why SEO offers long term success.

SEO Offers Long-Term Success

SEOs understand the difficulty and the joy of ranking number 1 for any query.

Ranking high for any keyword with known search volume will generate consistent traffic for as long as it can retain that position.

Actually ranking for these keywords is hard, however. It requires a lot of work.

That’s why it’s important to focus on long-tail keywords. You can find opportunities others have missed to deliver a steady stream of traffic to your clients for a longer period of time while dealing with less competition. Read full article here...

SEO can help your business to succeed for a long term. You can have constant traffic on your website as long as you retain your position in the rankings. Though it could be very demanding, a little help goes a long a way in helping you get up there.

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