5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SEO IN 2018 A Quick and Easy-To-Follow SEO E-Book

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2 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SEO IN 2018 A Quick and Easy-To-Follow SEO E-Book It is no secret: those of us involved in the world of SEO know how far-reaching and complex the everchanging industry can be. With over 200 ranking factors [1] and the constant algorithm updates by Google, staying up to date with SEO trends is more vital than ever. You can say it is even mandatory. Let me fill you in on another secret: creating the best user experience for users is here to stay, and more important than ever. In 2018, Google is placing higher importance on not only lengthy content but highquality content as well. This fits in with creating the best user experience, tying in with the best SEO practices. As user behavior and technology advances, so too will trends in SEO practices. Let s look at a few practices to look out for in the new year: Mobile-First Indexing In December of 2017, we in the SEO world witnessed a dramatic shift from desktop to mobile mobile being the preferable way for surfing the web. Because of this shift, Google rolled out its mobile-first index update reflecting roughly 60% of searches [2]. What does this mean? Simply put, the latest algorithm will focus on your sites content in the mobile view for ranking it in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Mobile-first indexing isn t new, however. In 2016, it was first mentioned on the Google Webmaster Central Blog [3]. The focus was to share recommend practices for creating a better user experience in the mobile view. While not new, it remains a vast historical change in the way websites are indexed. A mobile responsive website has become a mandatory part of every SEO s and Developer s mission, respectively. Never forget to create a structured markup for both the desktop and mobile version as these are imperative for proper indexing. Once these are completed, running a simple Fetch and Render in your Google Search Console is highly recommended. Voice Search Is on The Rise What have we all noticed in our smart-phones the last two to three years? Virtual Assistants! VA s such as Cortana, Siri, Alexa, etc... created a bridge between the user and the content they re searching for. In May of 2016, Google s CEO Sundar Pichai announced during his Google I/O keynote event that 20% percent of mobile queries are voice searches [4]. This presents a unique challenge for SEO experts. For clarity, it s forecasted this number will grow exponentially for the new year; optimizing for Google Voice Search will also become mandatory. One key element that remains relevant for SEO experts today is a searchers intent. This has been heavily emphasized through SEO masters such as Rand Fishkin, Neil Patel, and others.

3 How does a searchers intent fit with voice search queries? Each search query fits into four intent categories: 1. Knowledge Query a. Seeking educational content b. Precise answers 2. Location Based Queries a. Near Me b. Addresses 3. Guide-Based Queries a. How-To s 4. Commerce-Based Queries a. Purchase opportunities b. Online shops or markets Create a well-structured FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page while optimizing for voice searches so accurate information may be easily indexed for its users. Using relevant long-tail keywords optimize your content for conversational language. Why? Typically, voice searches are longer than traditional text-based searches. Link Building Is Here to Stay In July 2016, a study conducted by Stone Temple [5] concluded link building is here to stay. A quality backlink profile tells Google your site is an authoritative source for positive, relevant information. Your site creates value for its users, increasing your overall rankings. A side strategy to your current link building efforts is link earning. Link earning simply emphasizes user experience as a ranking factor. Link earning focuses on producing quality, engaging content that answers a user s questions. If it s engaging, the user is more likely to organically link to your content. This is the most strategic and natural method for link-building efforts. Naturally earning links from reputable and authoritative domains is the most expedient strategy for better rankings. If you find links pointing to your website that are spammy or non-trusted sites, be sure to disavow those bad links. High Quality Content Is More Important Than Ever. Even Keywords? ABSOLUTELY! Creating great content with both users and search engines in mind is an effective and smart SEO technique for stronger rankings. It goes without saying creating unique and original content helps to stand out in the sea of mediocre content. This content must educate while providing a solid answer the user s search intent. This technique is wonderful for increasing organic traffic to your site. Creating high-quality content doesn t stop at answering a user s search intent. What about those keywords? More specifically, long-tail keywords? Proper use of long-tail keywords helps Googlebot s crawl and index your website more efficiently. Using tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SpyFu, SEMRush, Moz Keyword Explorer, and more are but a small sample of great sites for mapping out relevant keywords and phrases for optimizing your content.

4 Pro Tip: If you have older content, use these tools to reoptimize them in accordance to the most up to date keyword trends. What about the length of the content? In November 2017, Rand Fishkin provided a report on one of the more recent algorithm updates concerning a sites content. It has been discovered 81% of businesses consider their blog to be an important assent to their overall business. Why? The longer the content, the better. When you write a 1,500-word blog post, you re at an advantage above those who still write only words. Google has considered high-quality but lengthy relevant content to be of a more important ranking factor than a short, non-relevant post or page. Quality, length, and keyword-focused blog posts and pages tend to receive 70% more of the clicks on the first page, increasing your organic search traffic. Adding eye-catching visuals is not a bad way to go on these posts and pages as well. Pro Tip: It s about User-Experience. Give them a reason to stick around. Do this and your bounce-rate (time the user stays on a page before bouncing ) overall decreases. Featured Snippets? Google Loves Them! What are Featured Snippets? A featured snippet is a summary of an answer to a user's query, which is displayed on top of Google search results. It's extracted from a webpage, and includes the page's title and URL. Rob Bucci of Search Engine Watch. Depending on the query, there are three types of Featured Snippets: 1. Paragraph a. Paragraph Snippets make up for 81.95% 2. List a. List Snippets (bulleted and numbered) make up for 10.77% 3. Table a. Table Snippets make up for 7.28% Why are Featured Snippets important for SERP? Featured Snippets is proof from Google your site and its content are an effective, relevant, and authoritative source on the searcher s query. What s more is while it appears above organic search results, it tells others you beat your competition, including a site that may be ranking in the #1 or #2 spot. Being in a Featured Snippets comes with an increase in organic traffic usually making up for a 20-30% increase. Earning a featured snippet is the same as analyzing keyword opportunities. What is the user searching for? What queries does your content answer that others do not? Ask yourself these questions while keeping user experience in mind. Remember that FAQ page we talked about? Create a complete page devoted to answering a specific question and find a way to incorporate FAQ into that content.

5 By the Numbers [6] Rob Bucci, CEO of STAT, analyzed one-million queries in The results are some of the most interesting stats to consider: 1. Out of the one million queries that STAT analyzed, 9.28% of them contained snippets 2. More than 70% of the featured snippets didn t come from the very first organic result Figure 1 - Image provided by Search Engine Watch / Rob Bucci of STAT SEO and Marketing Experts such as Bill Slawski, Marcus Miller, and Eric Enge believe Featured Snippets will become a focus for If a Featured Snippet appears in the search results, it is more likely users will click on that link as opposed to the organic results below it. Why? Because it immediately addresses the searchers query. Let s Save Some Money

6 Have you ever noticed the People Also Ask box? If you can optimize your rich snippets for these boxes as well, the searcher is still more likely to click on that link as opposed to the organic search results below the box. These instantly grab the attention of the user. Pro Tip: Optimize these boxes as it generates more traffic, saves money on PPC (Pay-per-Click) Marketing, and increases SERP visibility. Conclusion Take a holistic approach in 2018 and use only white-hat SEO techniques. Everything you do as a webmaster will define how Google perceives your site and its content and it s the last thing you want to do to get on their bad side. Never forget the basics of SEO. Thank you for taking the time to read this short e-book and my wish is for you to share it with all your friends and colleagues. Share it with your family members, even. We are all in this SEO game together and it is our duty to support each other and build each other s success. Jacob Thomas Four Peaks SEO Fourpeaksseo.com [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

What Is Voice SEO and Why Should My Site Be Optimized For Voice Search?

What Is Voice SEO and Why Should My Site Be Optimized For Voice Search? Voice search is a speech recognition technology that allows users to search by saying terms aloud rather than typing them into a