Happy New Year! Welcome to 2018.
It's that time of year when we all look forward to the new year and see where we want to be in the future, setting goals and planning the year ahead accordingly.
For most people some, if not all of their efforts, will be focussed on their website and online presence. Whether it be generating more leads via the website or selling more through your eCommerce store, the web is an ever growing factor in business goals.
Here is a brief look at what we think will be important to focus on in 2018 when it comes to SEO and online marketing.
Mobile
Yet again mobile makes an appearance in the list but with Google annoucing and launching mobile-first indexing its going to remain a vital part of SEO for a long time to come.
The move to mobile-first indexing basically means that Google will start considering the mobile version of your website as the "real" version. With around 60% of searched being performed on mobile devices its clear that this trend is only going to grow.
It doesn't mean your large screen website can be scrapped but it's worth investing some time bringing your mobile version up to scratch if it isn't already. Things like a fast loading times, clean and easy to use layout and good navigation will be key here.
Voice search
We'd like to bet that you probably know someone who got an Amazon Alexa or Google Home device over the festive period, either as a gift or in the sales. These devices along with other voice controlled platforms like Siri, Cortana and a whole range of others, are being used more and more to aid users with searching.
Is voice search the "next big thing"? Well it won't be huge for every business sector, however 40% of adults perform at least one voice search per day and over 20% of mobile searches are voice (source) so it is an important factor. Check out our article on voice search for more details.
These searches usually take a more conversational tone where a user asks a question and the device answers. With a standard searches you get pages of results, with voice search the device usually answers with just one result.
Is your site optimised to handle and answer these more question related searches? If you can answer a users question then you are better placed in that persons mind to be someone to do business with.
Video and image content
A picture speaks a thousand words and in the world of web content that is a very useful thing to take advantage of.
Lets face it, if you are trying to convey lots of stats and information would you rather be presented with huge blocks of text or a nice infographic image? The same goes for videos. Don't list pages of instructions on how something works or why people should use your business, show them in a video.
This however doesn't mean that written content can be dropped altogether. Search engines still can't grab information from images and videos so written content is still king but it might be worth thinking about how images and video can compliment the text on your website. The images also help when people share your page on social media. Having a nice image or graphic will grab the eye far better than text alone.
Content
The one thing that will forever be on the list is content.
Good, well written, up to date content will always be the top draw for both search engines and users alike.
Whether it be a blog with the latest news, product descriptions or just your About Us page, it all needs to be well written and aimed at your target audience.
Keep content up to date and adding content to your website is key, regularly posting blog or news articles for example shows the search engines that your site is an up to date resource, posting to social media will attract new and returning customers and increase your brand reach.
In summary
There are at the moment very few new and innovative things on the SEO horizon for 2018 but now is a great time to take a look at your site and ask yourself if it is performing to its limit. You'd be amazed at how easy it is to create a blog for your business and to keep it updated regularly.
Take a look at your site from the perspective of a new customer, ask friends and family who are less familiar with your site and see if they can find your website through search engines and then find out more about your products or services.
If they struggle then its probably time to re-evaluate and build a site that will support and boost your business for this year.
Published: 3rd Jan 2018