As the year wraps up, many of us reflect on our experiences in 2017 while looking forward to see what may be in store in the year to come. 2017 has been an interesting year, to say the least, and nobody truly knows what the future holds. As far as SEO is concerned, we’ve seen some significant changes over the past 12 months, several of which will continue to develop in the coming year. Given current trends in the search marketing world, these are my SEO predictions for 2018:
Voice search will continue to rise in prominence
Hey Alexa, what will change in SEO in 2018? Hey Siri, how will voice search change the game for SEO?
As voice recognition technology advances, it will become more and more entwined in our daily lives. From searching Google for the latest news to asking Siri for the weather, the world is transitioning from hunt-and-pecking their keyboard, to simply asking their devices a question. ComScore predicts that by 2020, 50% of searches will be conducted by voice search – and I’m willing to bet that much of that growth will take place in 2018.
Google will increase its efforts to stamp out fake news and inaccurate sources from its search results
After the dramatic and controversial 2016 election, where fake news, planted stories, manipulation by bots, and other factors played an oversized role in the political commentary, Google and other web giants have already taken significant steps to counter the problem of “fake news”. Having recently partnered with the International Fact-Checking Network, a nonpartisan watchdog group, it appears that Google is just getting started in this battle.
Featured Snippets will take up more precious real estate in the search results
Many web users nowadays expect to get their answer within mere seconds of completing a search. Featured snippets, generally displayed directly above the regular search results, provide just that: a quick, no-click answer. Unfortunately for webmasters, that likely means lower click-through rates, particularly for those who are not optimized for rich snippets.
Sites not optimized for a quality mobile user experience will plummet in the rankings
Do you ever sit back and marvel at just how bad some websites look in mobile? Clunky designs, non-optimized themes and cluttered layouts make the mobile experience unpleasant at best. If my predictions proves correct, we’ll be seeing less and less of these non-optimized sites. Search engines have already taken steps to punish non mobile-friendly websites, and that’s a trend that will almost certainly continue as mobile internet use continues to grow.
Content and links will still be the foundation of ranking well
While a lot will likely change in 2018, don’t expect a colossal shift in the basic fundamentals of search engine optimization. Bottom line, the foundation of ranking in the SERPs will continue to be the quality of your content and the quality of your backlinks. Google is not going to reinvent the wheel anytime soon, so ultimately, content and link building efforts should still be at the forefront of your overall strategy.
Eric Brantner is an internet marketer with more than a decade of experience building high-traffic websites. He’s recently launched EducatedDriver.org, a website that covers all things related to driving and driver safety.
