By now, you must be aware of the importance of SEO for a business website. The competition is too high, and the online space is overcrowded with countless sites, all vying for the limelight. Now, in this overly competitive landscape, what can ensure that your website receives the attention it deserves? It is SEO! If your site is built on WordPress, you have a bit of the hard work already done for you since the CMS has some robust SEO plugins that can put you ahead of your competitors on search engine results pages (SERPs)
However, even on a supremely user-friendly platform like WordPress, you have to take matters into your own hands. Let’s face it, the platform gives you the necessary tools to ace SEO, but how you utilize them determines how successful your website is in the online arena. Therefore, to succeed in your effort to improve website ranking, you must create the most effective strategies that will get you in the good books of search engines.
It is essential to be aware of the trends and implement them
The world of SEO is in constant flux. It always changing, the tools are continually evolving, and the techniques are eternally altering. It is necessary to keep track of all the changes and their probable impact on a site to make the most of them. Besides, based on the updates that are regularly rolled out by Google, SEO techniques undergo significant changes. It is vital to stay on top of these updates and apply them as and when required.
It begs the question, what is new in 2018? Where is WordPress SEO heading this year, and based on which trends? What are the driving forces behind these trends and how can you leverage them to boost your online ranking? These questions might make 2018 seem like a challenging year for WordPress SEO, but that is hardly true. The holds much promise with exciting opportunities in store.
Let’s take a look at the most significant SEO changes that 2018 will see and how you can prepare your website for them:
1. Go for advanced SERP features
Previously, Google’s search result pages only listed sites along with PPC ads. Now, there is a lot more happening including knowledge graphs over carousels, featured snippets, answer boxes and much more. What is even more interesting is that these advanced SERP features enable websites to appear even before the one that is ranked number one. Yes, you can rank well on Google without getting in the number game too. There are tools that you can use to leverage these SEO features. Thus, these ranks have been nicknamed as ‘position 0’. You need to consider these factors before investing in PBN and third-party article submission. Use of tables, graphs, writing question and answer (Q&A) content, implementing snippets and structured data are crucial for a website’s SEO success.
2. You cannot avoid RankBrain any longer
Google is smart – can you deny that? No! Then you must adapt to the tools and systems that Google puts forth to provide its users with the best results. That is why optimizing for RankBrain has become necessary. It is one of the many ways in which Artificial Intelligenceis steadily transforming the Internet. For increasing the click-through rate, focus on improving your SEO titles, URLs, and meta descriptions. Research on ways to keep visitors on your site for longer and implement them.
3. Take voice search seriously
A wide range of virtual assistants like Siri, Cortana, Google Voice Search, Viv, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home have been encouraging consumers to search using their voices. Voice search is continuously on the rise, and businesses need to optimize for this type of search and mobile-based queries. To do so, you need to improve the readability of your content and make sure that it sounds good and can be easily understood when read aloud. If you are using Yoast SEO, this should be already on your priority list. Also, use longer keywords, especially in a natural language (how people usually ask questions while talking). The more conversational your content is, the better shot you have at improving your SERP ranking.
As said earlier, exciting things are in store for WordPress SEO in 2018. While the points mentioned above might not seem groundbreaking when considered separately, together though, they have the power to improve your SERP ranking considerably. If you are serious about the SEO of your website and have been holding a steady ranking, you have an advantage. However, if that is not the case, now might be a good time to start considering new techniques and strategies. Whatever you do, remember that SEO is not magic and does not yield results in a day. Be diligent, and be patient. The results will reflect in your ranking soon!
About The Author
Derek Iwasiuk
Derek Iwasiuk is an SEO expert with years of experience in working with brands and helping them strengthen their online presence. He has written many blogs and articles on topics like mobile-friendly websites, PBN, voice search, user behavior and more.
