So far, 2018 has been a very interesting year for 2018. For some websites it has been the year of success. But others are yet to master the best SEO tactics to take their business to the next level. Search engines particularly Google have been updating their ranking algorithm to offer quality and relevant content to the users. As a result, the ranking factors keep changing with new ones arising and old one becoming less effective or obsolete. Irrespective of the many changes, the main SEO goal remains; to increase qualified traffic to your site.
What are Effective SEO Tactics?
In digital marketing, an effective SEO strategy is a combination of tasks and actions that boosts the overall online presence and visibility for your brand. It involves making your site more accessible and user-friendly as well as practices that optimize the website for organic search. SEO strategies may be different depending on your objectives or type of websites. You may decide to focus on the content, your brand or the SEO technical elements. Even with many other digital marketing options available. Investing your time and money in an effective SEO plan has been rewarding for many businesses.
Why is SEO Important for your Business?
- SEO is a power digital marketing tool for any business or organization as it targets audience who are already interested in your product, services or information.
- According to Internet Live Statistics, there are more than 4 billion searches on Google everyday. 90 percent of these searchers click on organic results on the SERP. For this reason, successful SEO places your site on a better position to be spotted by clients who are looking for what you provide.
- Over the years, businesses and organizations have benefited from SEO by strengthening their brand or increasing sales and yours too can be a beneficiary.
Top 2018 SEO Tactics:
1. Voice Search Optimization:
In 2018, people have been using voice search on computers, mobile devices, cars and smart speakers. Like the Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Voice search also known as conversational search is simply a technology where a computer or any other device receives and responds to human spoken questions. Today, conversational search accounts for a significant portion of total searches. Iit is expected to rise to 50% of all internet searches before 2020. This has been enabled by tools such as Siri, Cortana and Google assistant among other voice activation/recognition systems. Through which users can query the search engine without having to type a word. With users shifting from traditional search to voice search it is important for webmasters to optimize their sites to take advantage of the new technology.
Optimize your Website:
There are several ways of optimizing your website to rank high for voice such:
- Focus on answering questions – Most of the voice searches are in form of questions such us who, where, how, why and what. Answering these questions is a great SEO tactics that helps you to aim for ‘position zero’ ranking. To achieve this you need to answer common questions that your audience could be seek answers to.
- Create reader-friendly content: You should organize your content with use of numbering, bullet points, subtitles and highlights. To help the search engine understand the content on your pages. This also makes it easy for your readers to scan through the information on your content. Giving them a reason to read through.
- Work on your local SEO. Users are looking for products and services near them so it is important to optimize your site for your location or region. This involves keeping your Google My Business Page up to date. Building online reviews for your business and use of structured data mark-up.
2. Use Long-tail Keywords:
Long-tail keywords results to a higher conversion rate since they are more specific to the search query. They tend to address the intent of the searcher and are less competitive. You need to do a keyword research to identify the best long-tail phrases to target for the best results. In this case you can use keyword analysis tools such as Semrush or Keyword to get accurate data on keyword performance. SerpBook will also help you identify the keywords that your competitors rank for and suggest target keywords that are unique and with high search volume. Use of long-tail keywords is also a good technique to optimize your content for voice search.
3. Optimize for Mobile:
With the number of mobile owners increasing year by year, and the convenience that comes with mobile devices, most of the typed and voice search comes for mobile devices. As a result mobile-friendly site is very critical for your SEO success. This year, Google shifted to a mobile first index meaning your website must be optimized for mobile to achieve your SEO objectives. The most effective actions to take is to use a responsive design on your site. To enhance user experience using simple navigation features or build an AMP website to increase your site loading speed and performance.
4. Use of Visual Content:
Users tend to interact more with visual content such as video clips and images than with textual content. Which makes visual content an important element of your SEO strategy. You need to research on what your audience is looking for and create interesting videos that address their needs. You may need to invest in quality video creation equipment. And to hire an expert to get the best from this tactic. Google shows videos in their search result page hence it is important to make the visual content SEO-friendly to rank high on Google. Video content are more engaging and interesting for users to watch and share with their friends which creates quality links from social media networks.
5. Have a Link Building Plan:
Link building is an off-page SEO tactics which involves attracting inbound links from other sites to your website. The more your site receives clicks from authoritative pages, the higher it will rank on SERP. This involves sharing your links with other businesses, guest blogging, and posts on social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ with links which the readers can click to land on your website.
6. Track and Evaluate Your SEO Progress:
SEO can be complex and involving and it is always important to assess your success with a certain strategy to ensure you are on the right track or to make the necessary changes. SEO tracking allows you to see how your site ranks on different search engines for different keywords. You can also use SEO software to analyze your competitors’ SEO campaigns. And to generate keyword suggestions to improve your SEO. You can read more features and uses of advanced SEO rank tracker on keyword.com. If you are an SEO expert, you can use the tool to generate customized reports to update your client on the progress.
Final Word:
It is important to keep in mind that SEO keeps changing and that one tactic may work on one site and not on the other. You need to understand your type of site. And the objectives you want to achieve to select the best techniques for your requirements. You also need to keep tabs with emerging SEO trends and news and make the right adjustment on your SEO plan to achieve the best results.
About The Author
