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#5 Top SEO Trends That Will Dominate in 2018 Around 60% searches now come from mobile phones and Google is planning to make search index mobile first in the near future

By Lalit Sharma

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The SEO industry is moving at a lightning-fast speed. The old ways of search engine optimization (SEO) have become antiquated, and the SEO experts are scrambling each year to discover new SEO trends to get the top ranking on Google.

Are you ready to dominate search results in 2018? If not, the help is here.

In today's post, I'm going to discuss the top SEO trends that you should watch in 2018 to outrank your competitors in search results.

Without further ado, let's dive in:

1- Mobile SEO

A mobile is the first thing people see when they go to bed in the evening and get up in the morning. This simply means we are addicted to mobile phones. And you will be surprised to know that around 60% searches now come from mobile phones. What's more, Google is planning to make search index mobile first in the near future.

We can easily predict that 2018 will witness a strong focus on mobile SEO and it will be one of the most important SEO trends.

Here are a few mobile SEO tips to get ready for 2018:

  • Use structured data
  • Have a mobile friendly website with no pop-ups and flash
  • Never block CSS, images, or JavaScript and leverage browser caching
  • Reduce redirects and minify code

Follow these tips in 2018 to leverage the power of Mobile SEO.

2- Voice Search Optimization

Voice search is going to be a big thing in 2018. Google says that 20% of mobile queries are voice searches as reported by an articlepublished on Search Engine Journal. And according to the Internet Trends Reports 2016, the momentum for voice search is increasing day by day.

This makes a point that a strong thrust will be on voice search optimization in 2018. How can you optimize your website for voice search?

Focusing on mobile and increasing site speed, optimization local listing, emphasizing semantics, including question phrases in your content, and optimizing content for the natural tone of searchers are a few ways to get the top ranking in voice search.

3- Google's Featured Snippets

Have you noticed recently that Google is showing featured snippets and answers in search results? According to a study, it was found that around 30% Google search results have featured snippets. And these featured snippets steal lots of traffic.

As Google's Featured Snippets and answers directly serve the searchers' queries, I believe that Google will focus more on them in 2018.

Here are a few ways to write content that stands a chance to get featured:

  • Your content should have questions that your target audience is asking
  • Your website should have question and answer pages
  • Create high-quality snipp-able content that generates huge engagement

4- User-experience

Long gone are the days when SEO used to evolve only around stuffing keywords and building backlinks. Now, the onus has been shifted on user experience. Search Engines are giving importance to user-experience these days. And this SEO trend will be continued in 2018 as well. If you want to rock in 2018 as an SEO expert, start focusing on user experience.

Making your website mobile friendly, improving site speed, having easy-to-follow navigation on your site, and having a visually appealing color theme are a few surefire ways to boost user-experience of your website.

5- Content Marketing & Social Media

Content marketing & social media have become indispensable tools for marketers and SEO experts. By combining content marketing and social media with SEO, brands can get more qualified leads.

In the year 2018, SEO experts will more aggressively integrate content marketing and social media into their SEO efforts to boost the ROI of their marketing budgets. Why shouldn't they?

Content marketing generates high-quality links and social media amplifies the reach of content you create, increasing the success rate of your SEO campaigns.

What are you waiting for?Be prepared to fuel your SEO campaigns with content marketing and social media.

The SEO industry is evolving at a rapid pace. If you want to maximize the ROI of your SEO campaigns, you should keep abreast of the latest SEO trends. Mobile SEO, voice search optimization, content marketing & social media, Google's Featured Snippets, and user-experience will influence the success of your SEO campaigns in 2018.

Lalit Sharma

Founder and CEO, Ranking By SEO

Lalit Sharma is the founder and CEO of Ranking by SEO, a leading SEO company in India.
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