Stay Ahead Of The Curve – Top trends in SEO for 2018
They say the only thing constant is change and nowhere does this feel truer than in the online landscape. So, this month I thought I would share my thoughts on trends and what’s in store when it comes to search marketing in 2018.
User-centric wins
If 2017 was ‘the year of the customer’, 2018 will build on that with SEO in the coming year being all about the user. While much of the focus for search in the past has been of a technical nature, SEO is moving more and more towards user-based ranking factors, with companies and brands scoring more points – and hence better placements – for things like mobile friendliness, page speed, dwell time, instant answers and the like.
Machines replacing man
While it’s still unlikely we’ll be completely replaced, 2018 is going to bring with it a big improvement – and greater adoption – of machine learning. A form of AI, machine learning is basically geared towards constructing algorithms and making predictions based on huge amounts of qualitative and quantitative data.
Most obviously, this will manifest itself in more companies adopting the use of chatbots and other similar applications. However, it will also be in less obvious or noticeable places too – like in digital advertising through the use of programmatic ad buying and placement, and in search results using things like Google’s RankBrain algorithm, which is designed to better understand the meaning behind the words a person types in for search.
Content & The User Will Still Be King
This point isn’t a new trend, as we’ve known the importance of great content for optimising search for some time, however, we’re going to see this and a more extreme customer focus continue to collide. In 2018, we will see content marketing evolve to be more customer-centric via keyword research, dynamic content, and user-centric design.
Increased Mobile And Voice Search
While not entirely new either, the increase in mobile and voice search in 2018 is going to continue and accelerate. Google Home, Amazon Echo and the like will all increase in proliferation and use and, as they do so, the technology around natural language processing will get better and better; each phenomenon working to further feed the other.
Voice search follows the human imperative to simplify, as it makes the way that we interact with our device even easier. And, of course, technology has adapted to suit our desire for convenience – so much so, it is thought that the abilities of ASR (automatic speech recognition) technology will soon surpass our own in terms of accuracy.
Recycled Thought Leadership
And because not all the trends are rosy, 2018 will, sadly, see a lot more online self-promotion. While not inherently a bad thing if it is done well, we’re also going to increasingly see LinkedIn, Facebook and the like filled with so-called ‘experts’ disseminating second-hand information under the guise of their own expertise. Remember, these are only opinions, (like this piece) and do not lead to guaranteed online success!
My advice for handling this one? Write your own original content where possible and, when you can curate other relevant information, do so while crediting sources and by building on, and adding, your own take to the information you’re sharing, so that you truly are demonstrating your unique thought leadership.
