Using outdated SEO tactics can have a huge impact on your business. To save your business from getting penalized, here are some of the top SEO trends to watch out in 2018:

1. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Today, 90% of the online traffic is driven through mobile platforms. With Google Light and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), pages now load faster (up to 4x times) on mobiles, compared to other devices/ platforms. This affects the bounce rate as well as the session duration per user, thus, affecting your website ranking in the SERPs. Having a fast loading and a mobile friendly website is rather amongst the top indispensable SEO trends to follow in 2018.

 

2. Voice Search Optimization

Most of us are now depending upon Apple’s or Android’s Voice Search feature to give commands and seek instant information. Voice Search is going to be an upcoming SEO trend to watch out in 2018. Recent studies show that, about 55% of the world has now started using voice search every day. The trick for SEO strategists would be to now to incorporate such keywords that we speak generally, rather than what we write. For example, instead of using ‘Melbourne Australia restaurants’, we would need to key in ‘Where’s the best place to eat in Melbourne Australia?’

 

3. Getting Personalized

Search engines, like Google, are increasingly stressing upon personalized experience. If a person keys in a particular search query, then your search engine will first try to showcase local results, which particularly target your specified set of keywords.

So, what’s the catch? Small and local businesses are going to be preferred more than anything else if you customize your website for a personalized and a local user experience. If you do it right then, when someone asks for local results, chances are that your website would be ranked at the top for people who have similar queries.

4. In- Depth ‘Context’

Gone are those days when Google used to analyse and hunt out for websites where a particular keyword would be used several times on the website. In 2018, Search Engines are going to 100% look out for in- depth content that actually aims to give out useful information to viewers. Google will now do an in- depth analysis of your title tag, URL, Image ALT Text, Description Tag, H1 Tag and everything else projected on your page. So, the much smarter Google is now going to focus on ‘context’ instead of ‘content’.

 

5. Embedded Videos

Believe it or not, you got to be trending on YouTube to get your business go viral! According to a research, Google Searches takes over a 55% leap when you embed your textual content with a relevant video. When you post SEO optimized content with YouTube videos, you are sure to get a higher rank on the search results. If creating videos is costing you higher, you may alternatively stress upon better images, direct customer interactions, social media platforms, eBooks and more.

 

By fully optimizing your website with some of these key SEO trends, your website can be an instant hit in the upcoming year and help you acquire new targeted customers and let your business reach new heights.