SEO Keys for 2018

Each year, we hear the same gloom and doom from many who will predict how digital marketing is dead, that Google and other search engines will kill your organic traffic if you keep doing the same things. You’re making critical mistakes, and you need to make changes now.

However, within the first few months of the year, these cries of doom and gloom are silenced, and we learn the truth: the basics of marketing are still the same, but the game changes, not as Google changes the rules, but as users respond differently, adopt new technology, and change the way they interact with marketing, advertising, and businesses.

The doomsday predictors are not entirely wrong. Some parts of SEO and marketing are dead: there have been changes and we need to adapt. Here’s a quick look at the reality of SEO keys for 2018.

SEO is Not Dead

As stated in the introduction, SEO is not dead. In fact, it never will be. It is, however, evolving and changing. Users are doing more searches on mobile with more specific keywords. Search terms are not getting shorter, rather they are getting longer (more on that in a moment).

Your domain name still needs to be relevant to what you do, your content needs to answer the right questions and appeal to your core base, and your landing pages need the same elements they have always needed.

The key is in the definition of SEO: optimizing your site to reach the right customers at the right time in internet search engines. Search engine optimization will always be a concern. What you are ranking for, and how you are ranking will change, and probably often.

Voice Search Matters

More voice-first devices like Alexa and Google Home are being shipped each year. It is estimated that 24.5 million will be shipped this year, before the sure to be popular Apple Home Pod launches early next year.

What this means is that ranking for voice search matters more than it ever has. Searchers are looking for local information, fun and entertainment, and general questions with similar regularity. They are now asking devices questions in a very conversational format.

This is why searches are getting longer. The more searchers get used to searching verbally and conversationally, the more they apply the same principles to typed searches. This means overall users are typing long tail searches unless they are looking for a specific type of business.

For example, one voice search might be “What restaurant has the best burgers in Boise, Idaho?”

A typed search for the same thing might read “best burgers in Boise, Idaho.” The only thing that is omitted is the first part of the question. The keywords to target both are essentially the same. You need to have geo-related keywords along with those relevant to your place of business.

This is a simple example of a local search, but an alternative might be “How do I temporarily turn off location services on a Samsung Note 8?” While it seems logical that the best answer might come from Samsung or a Samsung forum, often a tech site with the best answer can rank even above the manufacturer’s website in voice search.

This emerging search matters in your SEO strategy in 2018 and beyond.

Keywords are Still Relevant

As we saw in the example above, keywords matter, and they matter a lot. The difference is that for a few years now, keyword stuffed posts that are irrelevant don’t matter. The smarter Google and other search engines get, the more they implement machine learning and artificial intelligence, the less relevant such trash posts are.

The other aspect of this is that Google ranks pages individually as well as the overall website, so a bunch of obscure, keyword stuffed posts that have no real interest for users are not going to help your overall site ranking: in fact, they probably will hurt rankings overall.

The reason is the user. Links and keywords alike must not look natural, they must be natural. They must also be relevant, and something a user is satisfied with when they read it or even click through a link. Google knows this, and the search engine wants you to pay attention to both.

Keywords are still a vital part of SEO, as they tell Google what your site and pages are about, but their role is different.

Content is King, the User is the Queen

The point of SEO has always been, or at least was always supposed to be, about the user. It has never been about pleasing search engines, but that is what it evolved into for a while with black hat ranking techniques that most often never resulted in conversions for the company employing them.

Then we moved into the realm of the “content is king” mantra, which is true, but there is an additional factor. Content is created for the user, not for the search engines, and so content that creates a great user experience is king.

This means whether that content is a part of optimization for voice search, or another part of the sales funnel including landing pages, it must be created with the user in mind first of all. The methods, whether answering questions or creating videos and long form blog posts may differ, but the end goal, making a difference to the user, is the same.

SEO is far from dead, and using these key points will help you understand and keep it’s relevance in 2018.