Dave’s 2018 SEO Predictions
2017 was a big year in SEO and 2018 has already got off to a big start. In January alone Google made some big announcements, introduced some new features and updated some of their tools.
Google is leading us in the mobile direction because that is where the users are going. Companies are going to get left behind this year and it will cost them.
Here is what I am predicting will be the biggest developments in SEO in 2018;
Voice Search
In 2017 voice search already accounted for 25% of all searches conducted on Google. Experts are predicting that number to be 50% by 2020. There was a sales boom in Google Home speakers at the end of 2017 and with Amazon’s recent release of their Echo speakers and Apple getting ready to release their HomePod platforms into Australia I think that 50% mark will be easily hit maybe even earlier then 2020.
The thing with voice search is just how easy it is.
I have introduced voice search to many of my family members. Surprisingly my older family members have taken to voice search like a duck to water, the thing they like about it the most is they don’t have to type on the screen.
So how will voice search impact SEO?
The SEO landscape is changing fast. Organic reach is getting harder to obtain and voice search is making it just that much harder again. In most cases when you voice search a question Google will read out to you the featured answer. In most cases the searcher is satisfied with the answer and that is the end of the query.
The SEO landscape will go from battling to be on page 1 but the challenge to also be the featured answer or the newly introduced featured video.
Who? What? Where? When? Why? And How?
Voice searches tend to be longer tailed searches, for example a user on a desktop is more likely to type in ‘voice search’ as their search term to find out more about it. On a voice search though the user without realising they have changed their behaviour will ask “what is voice search?”.
Voice search feels more conversational and that is why the behaviour changes.
To start optimising your content for voice search you need to start thinking about what questions your perspective customers are going to ask and how best you can answer them.
Getting a featured answer is going to be the big battle.
Local SEO will be just as Important as SEO
With more and more people moving to mobiles as their primary devices, location-based search results are becoming the new normal.
You may be ranking number 1 organically for a search term on a desktop but when someone does the same search on mobile you have to contend with what has become known as the Google ‘Snack Pack’ where they show you 3 businesses with a map based on your location. Your number 1 position is now not only below the ads but also below the map.
We see a lot of business’s that still haven’t even bothered to claim their Google Map location and they have no idea what Google MyBusiness is.
Claiming your spot on the map and your MyBusiness page is a step in the right direction, but you need to make sure your webpages are location optimised. Adding Schema Markup to your pages will further help Google with your location and business information.
If Google doesn’t know where you are, what services and products you offer and when you are open it can’t let searches know.
I believe Local SEO is going to become very important this year and I will be focusing a lot of attention on it in 2018.
Google will move to the Mobile First Index
I know… Google has already said they are moving to the mobile first index this year.
So how can I call that a prediction?
A lot of people were predicting the move to the mobile index was going to happen in very early January, but it never happened.
From what I have read there are some extremely large websites that are in no way shape or form ready to move to a mobile index. There is one American based large business website that the SEO community has found that currently has 70,000+ indexed pages on Google. If Google was to move to the mobile first index that same company will only have 5 pages indexed.
We have seen similar issues here in Australia with car maker Holden who are still using an m. subdomain for their mobile website. Holden have 3190 pages indexed currently. On the mobile first index that would be reduced to 58 pages.
There are a huge number of websites that are not ready for this move.
Google has already started crawling websites with the mobile index bot, you can check to see if it is crawling your website by looking at your server log files.
The rumours currently are that Google is holding the move off so that they can come up with some sort of fix so that these large companies aren’t hurt so bad. It’s not like Google hasn’t been telling people that this was going to happen.
I’m predicting that we will see the introduction of the mobile index around the middle of the year.
If your website has mobile issues you need to act immediately.
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads? What do Facebook Ads have to do with SEO?
As I said above, organic reach is dropping, and the competition is only increasing. So how do we start generating more leads and conversions?
Like it or not, I think you will have to start including Facebook Ads into your lead generation and marketing plans.
Facebook Ads right now have 2 things going for them over other platforms like Google AdWords;
Their price point is still cheap enough where it won’t cost you an arm and leg to run an ad and the ability you have to put your ad in front of the eyes you need your ad to be seen by.
Worldwide on average people do less then 2 searches a day on Google and the average time spent on the search page is less then 1 minute. On average world-wide people spend 40 minutes per day on Facebook. That alone gives you a better chance for your ad to be seen.
Another positive for Facebook Ads are the numbers, according to data collected by socialmedianews.com.au nearly 16 million Australians are using Facebook, that is over 60% of all Australians on the platform.
The one problem with Facebook Ads though is that most people we have worked with haven’t run their ads to a target audience in the past and are now negative towards it as it got them no results. Facebook also offers you a “boost this post” options and I think a lot of people have wasted a lot of money on boosts which they got no return on the money they spent.
In 2018 I am predicting that there will be huge growth in Facebook Ad agencies. The hard thing for business’s will be deciding on whether they will try to run their own ads internally or if they will hire an external agency.
What ever your decision, you need to focus on testing and measuring your results. You will not create the perfect ad on your first go.
How will SEO Dave go?
2018 is going to be a very exciting and interesting year in SEO and I am looking forward to what is to come. I will update this blog during the year to see how accurate my SEO predictions are going to be.
What do you think about my predictions? Head over to DNA Web's Facebook page and continue the conversation.
Written by Dave Stansfield - 6 February 2018