Daring SEO Strategies You Must Try This 2018

With SEO experiencing another big year in 2017, this 2018 looks to improve on those results. For our team at SEO Hacker, we have been able to help some of our biggest clients experience their highest search rankings, and even helped make their sites more accessible and user-friendly than ever. Their presence and visibility on the internet, which includes search engines and social media platforms, has greatly increased under our watch.

These milestones cannot be done without using some of the most effective SEO strategies and practices available. Speaking of SEO strategies, it pays to be daring and risk-taking every once in a while. In fact, some of our achievements used some unique strategies that can be risky should they not be properly applied. With that in mind, here are some daring SEO strategies that you must try this 2018.

Optimize Voice Search

Voice search has accounted for a good amount of total searches during the past year. In fact, voice searches have accounted for around 20% of all kinds of internet searches in 2016, and that number could be just higher during the late parts of 2017. With voice activation and recognition systems being utilized more, it is best to take advantage of this new technology as early as possible.

How to apply: A majority of voice search inquiries are questions, which means that your keywords must be long-tail and have to be actual sentences, as opposed to keywords that consist of phrases and a combination of related words. Voice-based search terms work better when your content can be seen in Google’s Featured Snippet. When it comes to your content, make sure that the question inquiry and the answers would be at the same page, as Google tends to favor those sites more, and ensures that users would be getting instant results.

Utilize More Long-Tail Keywords

On the subject of long-tail keywords, these have been known to generate less traffic compared to shorter keywords. Despite the less traffic, these long-tail keywords tend to have a better conversion rate. This is due to these keywords being more specific searches, along with the fact that there is less competition compared to simpler keywords. With a lot of users opting to go for long-tail keywords, it is best to optimize your keywords to fit their needs.

How to apply: Like every keyword, it is best to do some keyword research using tools like AHRefs or Semrush, which offers you some of the most accurate data with regards to keyword performance. For the example below, I typed in “SEO strategies” on Semrush, and I quickly found some long-tail keywords that can be utilized.

As you can see, long-tail keywords may not be as competitive, but tend to have good search volume, along with having a cheap cost per click. Combine this with a sound link building strategy, and you would be able to help your website rank higher on search results pages.

Think Mobile

The number of people using mobile devices has increased in number over the past few years. With Google moving to a mobile-first search index soon, and the fact that a majority of Google searches are done through mobile, your mobile page would soon become your main page. This means that your website must be optimized for mobile as soon as possible.

How to apply: The first thing that you should do to your website is to apply responsive design into your website. This improves the user experience through better navigation, which means users will stay in your website longer. This can be done by changing your website’s code to comply with the adjustment from mobile to desktop. You can also create your own AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) website as well, as this helps improve performance and loading speed. Google created a guide on how to create your AMP website, which you can access here.

Get to Position 0

Of course, the most coveted position on a Google search page is Position 0. This is where users get most of their information from, and google always makes sure that they would get their answers as quickly as possible. Having a website on the first page of Google gives you a head start on this, all you need to do is some optimization to get you there.

How to apply: Users want instant answers to their questions, which is why providing answers to some who, what where, etc. questions would get you to the top. This will also help you get voice results as well, which is a definite plus. Along with this, it is also recommended that you use schema markup on your site, along with shortening your URL into something more readable.

Create More Video Content

Nowadays, it is much more common to see internet users access more video content compared to blogs and images. This means that video content has  now become more important than ever, with other users having the tendency to search on Youtube before even going to Google. When it comes to the amount of searches, Youtube is already the second largest search engine, and your website would surely benefit with having some video content.

How to apply: Do some research on what the users prefer to watch, and see how you can create videos that they can connect with. Video creation and production is a different thing in of itself, and requires some good video and sound equipment to pull off. It is also important to make your videos SEO-friendly, as Google shows Youtube videos in their search results. For a more comprehensive guide to Youtube SEO, you can look at our guide here.

Key Takeaway

SEO in 2018 is bound to be another year of new trends, strategies, and updates that would once again shake things up. It is best to come prepared with some effective and strong strategies, and these daring strategies would surely be worth all the effort to get your rankings up.