To stay on the top of the game in marketing, you have to deal with several trends that keep your hands full. From having your finger on Public Relations that impact branding to the use of social media tools for customer engagement and monitoring the trends in content marketing, marketers have to deal with various aspects. However, you should not miss the sight of SEO, as it could turn very costly regarding missed marketing opportunities. SEO is evolving every day, and you have to follow its trail to identify the major trends that you could use to your advantage. In this article, we will focus on six major SEO trends that have the potential of becoming the cornerstones of online marketing in 2018.
The format of searching is set to change
When we talk about searches, the image that flashes in our minds is that of people typing some words in the search box of search engines. From the inception of SEO, this has been the accepted mode of searching on the internet. However, it is now set to change with voice searches gradually gaining popularity. You can now directly speak to search engines to register your search with the help of Google Home or Alexa. While the concept is exciting to all, it opens up new gateways for marketers for a better understanding of the intention of consumers for searching. Voice searches help to know exactly what consumers expect from the search results.
The number of searches has also gone up, as there are more options for searching, observe the experts at Kotton Grammer San Diego SEO Company. It is now the task of the marketers to find the ways and means of influencing the search results arising from various formats and platforms. It has thus become imperative to read the minds of the audience to understand their status and standing and deliver them what they need.
Do not expect high conversions from more opportunities
Think carefully whether marketers should be excited about the immense increase in searches. While it is true that more opportunities would come their way, as searches would increase, the rate of conversion would not be commensurate with the rate of increase of searches. More searches would not translate into proportionate conversions because there might not be the right buying intentions behind most of the searches.
Since people now have more options to access information due to the introduction of voice searches, most of them might be eager to gather knowledge. The minds of users would become more inquisitive, and they would be asking more questions to search engines. Take, for instance, queries related to knowing some cooking recipes do not have any commercial implication for marketers. The task of the marketers has become more difficult as they have to sort out search queries to identify those with purchase intent and pursue it closely for optimizing accordingly.
Thwarting the competition from paid searches
There is a constant struggle between paid advertisements related to PPC marketing and organic searches related to SEO. The struggle is going to intensify in the days to come because the paid advertising industry is still very strong. Organic SEO is about earning the top slots in search results but what about the ads that appear above the topmost ranked search result. The ads are so prominent, and its placement is so strategic that it remains a question whether searchers would ignore it in favor of organic listings.
Marketers have to create strategies to ward off competition from PPC marketing and boost their organic efforts to make it more effective. The payback from creating a long-term SEO strategy that revolves around organic ranking is much more than the instant success of PPC advertising. A well-planned strategy with a focus on organic searches would pay back rich dividends in the long run, provided you are ready to have the patience for it.
Create search strategies with long-term goals
Marketers who build their strategies around searches often tend to pursue short-term gains, as they want results very fast. Most likely, they want to gain some confidence first before investing in long-term strategies. There is no harm to have short-term strategies, but you cannot ignore the long-term plan for creating a foundation for your business and brand by adopting content marketing strategy. SEO does bring in revenue but is not a true transactional tool. If you look at it from a technical, perspective, it is more of an authority boosting and brand building tool. While short-term goals might act as incentives for marketers, it does not promise anything for the future. Whereas, long-term strategies could create a steady flow of incoming sales calls even in future. Having the bigger picture in mind ensures long-term sustenance and marketing benefits.
Content has become even more important
Not very long ago, search engines were largely responsible for driving traffic to websites. Things have now started to change with Google displaying content on the search result page. As a result, Google is no more directing users away from the page to explore other sites. It does away with the need for users to hunt for information on other sites, as they are now able to view the content displayed on the SERP along with the search results. Against this backdrop, content marketing acquires some special importance, as content should not only be engaging but truly educational and valuable and not just created for driving traffic to websites.
The fundamentals do not change
The fundamentals of content creation will remain unchanged despite the changes in formats and the methods of optimizing content. The biggest changes will happen in the methods of searching as voice searches would take over the typed searches and new devices like mobiles, and virtual assistants would add more options to desktop and laptop users.
SEO would still build brands, attract the audience, engage them, and generate leads, conversions, and sales. Therefore, catching up with the trends would help to create and implement strategies that provide the desired results.
