Winning SEO Strategies for 2018 – Never Lose Sight of the Basics

02 February 2018 Jack Dawson

Are your 2017 SEO strategies up to date? For success in this increasingly competitive online marketplace, you need to review them and take the necessary steps to refine them so that they are in line with the most current SEO trends. The latest trends are as much about implementing new strategies as they are about improving time-tested strategies. Here are two top trends.

Related keywords

Winning SEO Strategies for 2017 – Never Lose Sight of the Basics

You already know that the days are long gone when you had to repeat a keyword or keyword phrase numerous time on a page. Now you only include the keyword phrase in the title of your site, in the first and last paragraph of your articles or blog posts, in the filename of the header image, in the title text and in the ALT text.

But that’s not all. According to SEO experts, it is advisable to research on other keywords that are related to your main ones and include these related keywords in your content. Effective tools such as Rank Tracker help you find related keyword phrases and how strongly they are related to your primary keywords.

Alternatively, you could use Google AdWords Keyword Planner and obtain estimates centered on your usage of Adwords. Whichever tool you opt to use, just make sure your primary and related keywords are well-researched and current.

Mobile

Speed and user experience on mobile is huge in 2018. If your site uses any of the common content management systems, such as WordPress and Joomla, or eCommerce solutions, such as Shopify, you stand to gain from the numerous options available for improving the mobile responsiveness of your eCommerce site.

Note that functionality is as important as design, so you need to achieve a good balance between your pages’ aesthetics and speed. Simply installing WordPress, setting up a responsive theme and adding several dozen plugins cuts it. For your site to work at its best, you need to work together with your High-End SEO Consultant to plan the design.

Make use of tools such as WebPageTest to determine whether your eCommerce site is operating at optimal speed. Keep in mind that, ideally, Google likes what users like, which is why RankBrain is designed to align Google’s algorithm to what users like. The tools identify what is slowing your site down, e.g., a bad widget, images that need optimizing, missing plugins, etc.
The holy grail of business websites is a visually appealing website design that is supported by every device as it would be a hit with both users and search engine bots. Now getting a mobile-friendly web design is as easy as never before. Check out these responsive website templates to any taste.

In conclusion

As you look to implement the most modern SEO strategies, never lose sight of the basics. You’ll be surprised how much leverage you would enjoy by staying compliant to Google Webmaster Guidelines and using Google Search Console and Google Analytics to monitor your website’s health.
Use top tools to obtain insight into keyword phrases related to your primary keywords and make sure that your website design is highly optimized for mobile responsiveness to ensure that you gain and maintain a lead on your competition.

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