The way people search for things on the internet has undergone a sea change over the years. On the other side of the table, Google and other search engines also continue to refine the criteria for the rankings given to a particular page in a specific search. Every stakeholder needs to stay on top of these fast-paced changes to be able to make the best use of them. Let us try to foretell a few significant trends that we will see in the world of SEO in 2018 and beyond.
Crowded Search Results Page
The challenge for web pages so far was only to feature on the first page of any search result, and also to stay on that page for as long as possible. Each search results page used to be a list of (usually) ten websites or links, and there were several such pages. However, now each search results page also contains several other things vying for the viewer’s attention such as advertisements, information snippets, video links, tweets and so many more things which would easily dwarf the actual search results. So, now only the ranking does not matter, but also the ranking on each of these additional elements.
Personalized Search Results Page
Search results are going to be much more personalized to provide users what they are looking for. So a visitor who runs a particular search will also have his previous browsing history affect the search results page. Therefore, websites that the user has already visited may again feature in subsequent searches. So instead of a particular topic or a search string, the site or its SEO expert will also need to focus on the visitor/user.
Voice will Become Imperative
Any SEO team looking to optimize a website will necessarily have to take into account strategies to optimize results even for voice searches. Two developments have increased the importance of voice searches. First, people are no longer as shy about speaking to their phones in public as they were earlier. Second, the recognizing accuracy of voice recognition software has improved vastly, making more accurate searches possible. From 2018 onwards, SEO teams would need to keep in mind that the way a person would speak a question would be different from the way he would type his search, even if he were asking about the same thing.
Responsiveness is Key
This one has been gathering steam for the last four to five years. However, 2018 seems to be the year when the scales could finally tip over, making mobile phones almost the only way people would browse the internet. A website will, therefore, need to be primarily designed for ease of use and reading on mobile devices, and also would need to take into account the different types of devices that mobile manufacturers are coming up with every month.
Speed 2.0
One more trend that will follow the increased move towards mobile use is the speed with which a page loads. The page speed is a fundamental factor that determines user satisfaction. Visitors quickly move on to a different site if the page takes too long to load on their mobile. Slow loading websites not only suffer high bounce rate, but they also fall behind in search engine results. Google prefers fast loading websites that do not make the users wait.
Think Local
More and more listings by Google will pertain to the location of the person doing the search. For example, if a person searches for eterpro in Nashville TN, the search would also throw up other results in the locality, which might also take cues from earlier searches made by the same visitor.
Security Front and Centre
Because so much of search efforts lay out personal preferences, locations and other data about a visitor in the domain of search engines, it is imperative that a secure website is created, and this factor is also expected to influence website rankings in 2018. Not only for search engines, but the secure flag on a website will increase and improve visitor confidence in the site, which will result in more transactions being carried out there.
All of the above trends have been making their importance felt over the last few years, and 2018 is expected to see their significance grow beyond recognition. Unless a webpage keeps abreast of these trends and adapts itself accordingly, there is a high chance of slipping in the rankings quickly and finding it difficult to climb back up.