What's on your agenda for both you and your customers in 2018?
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 9:49 am
Looking back at 2017, what were the most important SEO factors that made a real impact for you and your clients?
Ensuring needs are interpreted and met cross-device in organic search campaigns. Mobile devices are lighter but the needs are often the same, so we need to find ways to deliver much more concise information that is mobile-first and before the way users search on mobile.
2. What's on your agenda for both you and your customers in 2018?
Mobile first, mobile second, mobile third, mobile fourth. Cross-device optimization will be the top agenda item for all customers.
3. What is Google's biggest challenge in 2018?
Semantics are still not where many SEOs believe they are. There are still many problems understanding the nuances.
This is evident in the large number of queries that Google Home can’t handle in voice search. My Google Home definitely spends a lot of time telling me that it doesn’t understand my queries or can’t help.
Of course, it will improve over time georgia mobile phone numbers database but we shouldn’t convince ourselves that search engines magically understand all of linguistics. We still need to optimize for them and make things clear.
Paddy Moogan
Co-Founder at Aira
1. Looking back at 2017, what were the most important SEO factors that made a real impact for you and your clients?
I don't think these are new factors by any means, but we've seen a lot of success with content-driven link building and Digital PR lately. Links still seem to be a very strong signal and I think they will be for a while, and our clients who are consistently pulling links are doing very well in search.
One thing we’ve definitely noticed though is that clients with fundamental issues with their website (technical/on-page etc.) don’t seem to be getting as much out of links as they should. This is of course hard to measure as there are many factors involved but in our experience link building needs to be supported by a strong foundation to be as effective as possible.
2. What's on your agenda for both you and your customers in 2018?
We are focusing more than ever on helping our clients bring together the entire customer journey from awareness to conversion. For example, we have some clients where we focus on sending them traffic and they take over in the sales phase and we will work with them more closely to help them with that phase and provide them with the platform/data to filter leads and convert them further.
We’ll also be investing more in content designed to help answer customer questions at the top of the sales funnel and on the customer’s website. We’ve done a good job with awareness content through digital PR so far, we want to expand that a bit more into on-site content.
3. What advice would you give to someone starting a career in digital marketing in 2018?
It’s an exciting time to enter the world of digital marketing because no one really knows what the future holds, which makes it both scary and exciting at the same time. For example, we’re seeing Google increasingly eat into organic results and there’s no sign of that stopping, so what does that mean for organic search? Another example is paid search, which is becoming increasingly competitive and expensive, so what does that mean for small businesses trying to compete?
No one knows the answers, but the one thing I can say to anyone new to the industry right now is that they need a solid skillset across all areas of digital, but especially the measurement/analytics side of things. I think anyone who has a strong understanding of how to measure their work will be in a stronger position to identify opportunities and justify their work to clients or bosses.
Omi Sido
Senior Technical SEO, omnisido.com
1. Looking back at 2017, what were the most important SEO factors that made a real impact for you and your clients?
The short answer to this question is technical SEO.
But to be more specific, 2017 was all about my clients and me switching to HTTPS and AMP. HTTPS was a must, but AMP is where we saw all the gains. Many of my clients who switched to AMP saw an increase in monthly unique visitors and better click-through rates on the SERPs.
If you’re wondering why, there’s a very simple explanation. Google loves AMP, and despite them saying that AMP isn’t a ranking factor, somehow AMP pages still perform better in the SERPs than non-AMP pages. I saw this with the Daily Mail in 2016, and I’ve seen the same effect with other clients in 2017.
Note : When implementing AMP, be very careful not to remove existing elements of your page for non-SEO related reasons. Yes, it’s all about faster loading pages, but page speed alone does not mean better user experience.
2. What's on your agenda for both you and your customers in 2018?
The year 2018 will be all about machine learning in SEO. You may call it RankBrain or just a machine learning algorithm, but there is no doubt that machine learning is changing SEO faster than you think.
For starters, Google announced last year that RankBrain is the third most important ranking factor. SEOs around the world say that this sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. When you look at the way RankBrain behaves, it’s pretty clear that this algorithm is all about ‘INTEREST’.
This machine learning algorithm (RankBrain) evaluates how users interact with search results in the SERPs and then ranks them accordingly. So it all comes down to click-through rate (CTR) and time on page. Master these two and I think 2018 will be good for your SEO (and Digital Marketing) efforts.
3. Will we see another ' SEO is dead ' trend in 2018?
Absolutely (smile). Google’s move to a so-called mobile-first index, the increasing use of voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, and the triumph of machine learning algorithms will bring significant changes to the technological side of search marketing in 2018 and beyond.
Classic ‘keyword, backlink focused SEO’ is not dead yet, but it will be gone very soon. We need to start optimizing our websites for ranking (to be more relevant) in a slightly different way.
I see the future of SEO as a combination of user experience optimization, meticulously tailoring content to user intent, and using more natural speech patterns for voice search. We may even see a new branch of SEO called VSO – voice search optimization.
As long as people try to find products and services through search engines, there will always be a need for SEO.
Having said that SEOs/Digital Marketers need to understand that SEO is changing rapidly, we must keep up with the times and improve our skills to always be one step ahead of the game.
Lukasz Zelezny
Head of Organics, Zelezny.uk
1. Looking back at 2017, what were the most important SEO factors that made a real impact for you and your clients?
Intrusive Interstitial Penalty and Fred (hehe, I always found that name funny) have created a relatively big shake-up in SERPs in Europe and the US. SEO Consultants and in-house SEO teams are looking for ways to deliver not only high-quality content but also high-quality user experience.
Optimization of page speed and daily analysis to understand what Googlebot likes and dislikes is not an option, it is a must. Especially crawlers like DeepCrawl and Botify are becoming more sophisticated these days.
2. What's on your agenda for both you and your customers in 2018?
Keep calm and carry on
Focus on quality, added value and UX first
Then focus on page speed optimization and log analysis
Keywords and links are important, but without following the first few steps I mentioned above, the whole SEO game will be useless.
3. What do you want to learn more about in 2018?
I want to know more about why Danny Sullivan joined Google. Does this mean Google wants to communicate better with the SEO industry?
Alexandra Tachalova
Digital Marketing Consultant, alextachalova.com
1. Looking back at 2017, what were the most important SEO factors that made a real impact for you and your clients?
In general, I’ve noticed that businesses are starting to realize that SEO is a very strategic process that requires a lot of analytical work. In addition to using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, they’re also starting to look at SEMrush, Ahrefs, and SimilarWeb.
Sometimes it’s better to offer less content, but you still need to make sure it will rank on Google. Also, more people are looking to take advantage of digital PR to get links instead of investing in SEO link building strategies.
2.
While SEO has yet to generate a steady stream of traffic, we are all looking for new traffic sources that can bring our clients results in the short term. For example, social media used to be a low-hanging fruit as an additional traffic source, but those days are coming to an end. Facebook has already reduced the organic reach of group and page posts, Google+ is now dead, and Twitter and LinkedIn are struggling to make money, which means they are reducing the potential reach and clicks you can generate.
As a result, I see smaller sites and communities becoming more and more popular when trying to gain new users because that's where people really engage with the content.
Ensuring needs are interpreted and met cross-device in organic search campaigns. Mobile devices are lighter but the needs are often the same, so we need to find ways to deliver much more concise information that is mobile-first and before the way users search on mobile.
2. What's on your agenda for both you and your customers in 2018?
Mobile first, mobile second, mobile third, mobile fourth. Cross-device optimization will be the top agenda item for all customers.
3. What is Google's biggest challenge in 2018?
Semantics are still not where many SEOs believe they are. There are still many problems understanding the nuances.
This is evident in the large number of queries that Google Home can’t handle in voice search. My Google Home definitely spends a lot of time telling me that it doesn’t understand my queries or can’t help.
Of course, it will improve over time georgia mobile phone numbers database but we shouldn’t convince ourselves that search engines magically understand all of linguistics. We still need to optimize for them and make things clear.
Paddy Moogan
Co-Founder at Aira
1. Looking back at 2017, what were the most important SEO factors that made a real impact for you and your clients?
I don't think these are new factors by any means, but we've seen a lot of success with content-driven link building and Digital PR lately. Links still seem to be a very strong signal and I think they will be for a while, and our clients who are consistently pulling links are doing very well in search.
One thing we’ve definitely noticed though is that clients with fundamental issues with their website (technical/on-page etc.) don’t seem to be getting as much out of links as they should. This is of course hard to measure as there are many factors involved but in our experience link building needs to be supported by a strong foundation to be as effective as possible.
2. What's on your agenda for both you and your customers in 2018?
We are focusing more than ever on helping our clients bring together the entire customer journey from awareness to conversion. For example, we have some clients where we focus on sending them traffic and they take over in the sales phase and we will work with them more closely to help them with that phase and provide them with the platform/data to filter leads and convert them further.
We’ll also be investing more in content designed to help answer customer questions at the top of the sales funnel and on the customer’s website. We’ve done a good job with awareness content through digital PR so far, we want to expand that a bit more into on-site content.
3. What advice would you give to someone starting a career in digital marketing in 2018?
It’s an exciting time to enter the world of digital marketing because no one really knows what the future holds, which makes it both scary and exciting at the same time. For example, we’re seeing Google increasingly eat into organic results and there’s no sign of that stopping, so what does that mean for organic search? Another example is paid search, which is becoming increasingly competitive and expensive, so what does that mean for small businesses trying to compete?
No one knows the answers, but the one thing I can say to anyone new to the industry right now is that they need a solid skillset across all areas of digital, but especially the measurement/analytics side of things. I think anyone who has a strong understanding of how to measure their work will be in a stronger position to identify opportunities and justify their work to clients or bosses.
Omi Sido
Senior Technical SEO, omnisido.com
1. Looking back at 2017, what were the most important SEO factors that made a real impact for you and your clients?
The short answer to this question is technical SEO.
But to be more specific, 2017 was all about my clients and me switching to HTTPS and AMP. HTTPS was a must, but AMP is where we saw all the gains. Many of my clients who switched to AMP saw an increase in monthly unique visitors and better click-through rates on the SERPs.
If you’re wondering why, there’s a very simple explanation. Google loves AMP, and despite them saying that AMP isn’t a ranking factor, somehow AMP pages still perform better in the SERPs than non-AMP pages. I saw this with the Daily Mail in 2016, and I’ve seen the same effect with other clients in 2017.
Note : When implementing AMP, be very careful not to remove existing elements of your page for non-SEO related reasons. Yes, it’s all about faster loading pages, but page speed alone does not mean better user experience.
2. What's on your agenda for both you and your customers in 2018?
The year 2018 will be all about machine learning in SEO. You may call it RankBrain or just a machine learning algorithm, but there is no doubt that machine learning is changing SEO faster than you think.
For starters, Google announced last year that RankBrain is the third most important ranking factor. SEOs around the world say that this sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. When you look at the way RankBrain behaves, it’s pretty clear that this algorithm is all about ‘INTEREST’.
This machine learning algorithm (RankBrain) evaluates how users interact with search results in the SERPs and then ranks them accordingly. So it all comes down to click-through rate (CTR) and time on page. Master these two and I think 2018 will be good for your SEO (and Digital Marketing) efforts.
3. Will we see another ' SEO is dead ' trend in 2018?
Absolutely (smile). Google’s move to a so-called mobile-first index, the increasing use of voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, and the triumph of machine learning algorithms will bring significant changes to the technological side of search marketing in 2018 and beyond.
Classic ‘keyword, backlink focused SEO’ is not dead yet, but it will be gone very soon. We need to start optimizing our websites for ranking (to be more relevant) in a slightly different way.
I see the future of SEO as a combination of user experience optimization, meticulously tailoring content to user intent, and using more natural speech patterns for voice search. We may even see a new branch of SEO called VSO – voice search optimization.
As long as people try to find products and services through search engines, there will always be a need for SEO.
Having said that SEOs/Digital Marketers need to understand that SEO is changing rapidly, we must keep up with the times and improve our skills to always be one step ahead of the game.
Lukasz Zelezny
Head of Organics, Zelezny.uk
1. Looking back at 2017, what were the most important SEO factors that made a real impact for you and your clients?
Intrusive Interstitial Penalty and Fred (hehe, I always found that name funny) have created a relatively big shake-up in SERPs in Europe and the US. SEO Consultants and in-house SEO teams are looking for ways to deliver not only high-quality content but also high-quality user experience.
Optimization of page speed and daily analysis to understand what Googlebot likes and dislikes is not an option, it is a must. Especially crawlers like DeepCrawl and Botify are becoming more sophisticated these days.
2. What's on your agenda for both you and your customers in 2018?
Keep calm and carry on
Focus on quality, added value and UX first
Then focus on page speed optimization and log analysis
Keywords and links are important, but without following the first few steps I mentioned above, the whole SEO game will be useless.
3. What do you want to learn more about in 2018?
I want to know more about why Danny Sullivan joined Google. Does this mean Google wants to communicate better with the SEO industry?
Alexandra Tachalova
Digital Marketing Consultant, alextachalova.com
1. Looking back at 2017, what were the most important SEO factors that made a real impact for you and your clients?
In general, I’ve noticed that businesses are starting to realize that SEO is a very strategic process that requires a lot of analytical work. In addition to using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, they’re also starting to look at SEMrush, Ahrefs, and SimilarWeb.
Sometimes it’s better to offer less content, but you still need to make sure it will rank on Google. Also, more people are looking to take advantage of digital PR to get links instead of investing in SEO link building strategies.
2.
While SEO has yet to generate a steady stream of traffic, we are all looking for new traffic sources that can bring our clients results in the short term. For example, social media used to be a low-hanging fruit as an additional traffic source, but those days are coming to an end. Facebook has already reduced the organic reach of group and page posts, Google+ is now dead, and Twitter and LinkedIn are struggling to make money, which means they are reducing the potential reach and clicks you can generate.
As a result, I see smaller sites and communities becoming more and more popular when trying to gain new users because that's where people really engage with the content.