With 2017 nearing its end, one thing has become certain: search engine optimization and content marketing need to go hand-in-hand in order to survive and excel in the online ecosystem. Whether it was for Google’s RankBrain algorithm filtering high-quality content or Latent Semantic Indexing for content relevance, the year brought SEO experts and content marketers together, who drafted successful marketing strategies as a team. Well, the same is expected to happen in 2018 but on a much grandiose scale.
Although many lists for SEO and content marketing trends would do their rounds like every year, a new list of trends, focusing on the interdependence of content and SEO, would grasp the fancy of most marketers. It would encompass the trends in SEO and content that would help the marketers improve ranking and drive traffic on search engines in the coming year. And here’s the first among them. So, without wasting any more time, let’s discuss the 5 trends of content and SEO marketers shouldn’t miss to follow in 2018.
- Increased Content Relevance For Latent Semantic Indexing
Owing to Google’s intense efforts towards offering results that best match the search intent, there will be a steep inclination towards creating relevant and valuable content. The pertinence of the content on any website would be assessed as an important factor for ranking the site on search engines in 2018. Google’s Latent Semantic Indexing is one such way to scan websites with relevant content with related terms.
In order to get indexed by Google algorithms through Latent Semantic Indexing, marketers would join with content creators to increase the relevance of content. The content created in 2018 would be well-connected and to-the-point with significant information. Adding LSI keywords would also become a popular activity of content writers to increase the relevance of the content in relation to the focus keyword used. Comprehensive and highly relevant content creation for Google’s Latent Semantic Indexing would be a leading SEO and content trend marketers shouldn’t miss to follow in 2018.
- Voice Search Will Manipulate Content Curation
For those who are still skeptical about the relevance of voice search, the reports by ComScore would make you believe in its SEO potential. It suggests that 50% of all the searches would be voice searches by the end of 2020. Surprising, isn’t it?
In order to leverage the power of voice search for the Internet of Things, marketers will focus more attention on creating content that’s curated around voice search keywords. A new approach to keyword research would be adopted by the marketers in 2018 to gain a competitive edge in voice search by 2020. Voice search queries are conversational in nature and so should the keywords be. Content curation would revolve around conversational, sentence-like keywords to be indexed by voice engines. Curating content to sync with the voice search by users would be a leading SEO and content trend marketers shouldn’t miss to follow in 2018.
- Linkable Content Creation For Backlinking
Link building and backlinking are the most important Google ranking factor and lie at the core of search engine optimization. Recent studies have proved that interest of content marketers in link building would continue to grow in 2018.
In order to make the most of backlinking and link building, marketers would encourage content creators to churn out more linkable content. Original researches would be performed to get more backlinks as mentions for the statistics, survey reports, and other insights. Visual assets like videos, infographics, charts, and graphs are more linkable than plain simple text; marketers would focus more on adding visual content. In fact, top SEO companies in India have already started offering services for creating linkable content. All in all, creating content that is more likely to get linked to other would be a leading SEO and content trend marketers shouldn’t miss to follow in 2018.
- Machine Learning To Drive Content Personalization
Not just Google’s RankBrain, but other tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook etc., are also betting on machine learning to comprehend the user intent, behavior, interactions, and interest. Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence will be on the rise in 2018 and pave way for content personalization.
In order to provide a more personalized user-experience and rank higher on search engines, marketers will invest more time in analyzing the big data to offer personalized content to each individual user. Marketers would focus more attention on delivering content that is specific to user intent to boost the brand visibility. It will allow the marketers to monitor the user behavior and their journey to deliver more personalized content. Personalizing content using machine learning and Artificial Intelligence would be a leading SEO and content trend marketers shouldn’t miss to follow in 2018.
- Content Optimization For Local Mobile Search
A study by ThinkwithGoogle revealed that around one-third of mobile searches are location-related. In fact, in 2017, 51% marketers felt that optimizing content for local mobile searches was among the top priorities to rank higher. And the trend is growing stronger in 2018.
In order to gain more visibility on search engines for the local searches ranked by Google, marketers would focus more on optimizing content for local searches. Content that matches the intent of the local search would get more visibility and rank higher on search engines. Moreover, the content should also be optimized for the mobile searches that will take on the internet ecosphere in the coming year. Optimizing the content for speed, mobile devices, and location-based search would be a leading SEO and content trend marketers shouldn’t miss to follow in 2018.
These were the top 5 content and SEO trends that marketers shouldn’t miss to follow in 2018. A read through these trends would warm you up for the coming year. Do incorporate them into your marketing strategy to gain a competitive edge and see a striking improvement in your ranking. You can also follow the five simple ways to make the content SEO-friendly for getting a step ahead in the ranking race.
All the best for your marketing and a Happy New Year in advance!
Author Bio
Anurag Gupta is a budding entrepreneur with stakes in WeblinkIndia.net an acclaimed Web Designing & Development Company, headquartered in India. He also happens to be a keen writer, sharing insights, tips, and tutorials on subjects related to the ever evolving landscape of Web Designing and Development.
