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5 new trends developing in SEO this year



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5 new trends developing in SEO this year

SEO is constantly changing and although some ranking remains more or less unchanged over the years (like the need for quality backlinks) other constantly change and evolve and what was a positive SEO implementation today, might be a grey area or even considered a black-hat technique tomorrow. 
5 new trends developing in SEO this year
This is why I spend a huge amount of time just getting up to speed with Google updates, search engine trends and the overall evolution of the SEO industry. 

2017 until now was nothing out of the ordinary, we haven't got any big and spectacular Google update and so far no game changer either, but a few SEO trends emerge and I think we should all keep in eye on them in 2018.

Here are 5 new SEO trends that are becoming the way to important to ignore: 

1.Mobile search has become the norm and the primary way to search anything.

When I was "mobile" I'm not really referring to smartphones + tablets, I'm only referring to smartphones! Smartphones had taken over and this is now the most popular way searches are being made and everything is growing faster than expected. 

Google promised us a mobile-first search index in 2018, this is a clear indicator that starting with that Google update everything in SEO will from that point on be mobile orientated. 

Google data shows the following statistics:

  • 92% of young adults in the US own a smartphone
  • 77% of all adults in the US have and use a smartphone
  • 93% of all adults with an income of 75k+ own a smartphone
  • More searches are now being made from smartphones compared with computers
  • 40% of people use the smartphone to make multiple searches each day
  • Industries that saw a 35%+ increase on mobile searches this year: home&garder, auto, apparel, finance, beauty. 

2. Overall website quality becomes more important than content.

We all know that Google cares about the quality its servers to its users. This means Google will always try to find the best result out there and deliver that to users and there is no better indicator of a website being good than other people engaging and liking a specific website.

In other words, the "content is king" saying is becoming kind of false. Content is still important but this had gotten way more complicated with a few new different factors. The simple idea is this: Google cares about positive popular websites and how much traction they get if this checks out  Google will rank you accordingly since it will value your website's quality. 

3. Complete, engaging and in-depth type content will get you good ranks. 

We already know that Google values high-quality content. But what does that even mean in 2017?

Giving the fact that in some niches the top three results in Google are almost 50% bigger than the other 20 following results this tells me that Google is putting a lot of importance on complete content. Keep in mind this is not about long content, you don't need to bore your users to death creating long content, you just need to provide the complete subject, everything the user may ever need on one page so that no additional searches should be done on that specific issues. 

4. Local search is becoming more important.

Because everyone with a smartphone is dependent on Google for providing relevant information, it only makes sense for the importance of local search to grow. Why? Because people tend to search to fix everyday problems and this often involved local results. 

Over 70% of all food and beverage are now made from mobile and such searches increased by 40% last year. 

Searches that include "near me" had become the norm, this is present in most languages. 

So depending on your niche, we may want to focus on local search as well as develop your whole marketing strategy around local search! 

5. Basic SEO is dead. 

Yeah, we heard me right! The traditional way of doing SEO is gone. It used to be very simple to implement SEO practices, all the websites got the same kind treatment and nobody disputed the rules. Now we are starting to witness a clear shift from the traditional SEO practices. It may act like a foundation but what you build on top needs to be custom adapted to the niche and website you are doing SEO for. 

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anwebservices
I don't think it's something new, specially for this year. This mentioned tips are already in use for years, specially optimizing websites for mobile phones, unique constant contents etc... I thought here is explained something very new, but however, this tips may be very valuable for new starters to make sure they doing it right from begining



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vinaya
Some of the new trends you have mentioned here are completely new for me. For instance, Google started giving more emphasis on site design than on the content quality. I also did not know that local search is becoming more important. I have a couple of blogs and websites. I am trying to market my blogs and wensites to the audience in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia because traffic from these country converts. Now, I will have to focus on local SEO.
You say Basic SEO is dead. Can you eleborate more on this



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Cristian
Depends on what kind of content you are offering in your blogs. Yes, it is true that local search is becoming more critical, but it is in direct coloration with local business and local needs.
If you can offer such local solution then yes, it is a good idea to focus on local based SEO, if not and your blogs are on a more general note, than keep doing what you're doing.

Yes, I said basic SEO is dead because in the past SEO experts used to apply the same techniques to every client they had, no matter the niche. I believe that kind of SEO is dead and buried, sure it worked in the past but now every website is different, and every niche is different, you need to apply various solutions and develop custom SEO campaigns for each site individually.



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Corzhens
Search with the search engines is now the standard when it comes to obtaining traffic and it is becoming popular with the SEO methods. But I wonder why the emphasis more on the design than the content. I thought that content is king and even search engines are after the contents. What do they mean by the design, if it is good enough or of high quality then we might not need to upload contents anymore. Am I right on my assumption?



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DarthHazard
Local searches are probably one of the most important new trends for a lot of businesses. If you are a small local business then you can benefit quite a lot from these increases in local searches because it can help increase your sales and revenue which can mean a lot for your business. The fact that Google has now improved Google MyBusiness means it is a lot easier for local businesses to get on the first page of results as well.



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Authord
Well, local searches have improved and are still improving rapidly, every SEO expert and business owner should be focusing and keying into the tap stream of local searches, it is important.
And the basic SEO, is something that changed long time ago, although it still has little effect, but it can't be taken into consideration right know, the specs are high and it only takes the advanced crooners, to key into it.



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overcast
I think mobile AMP seems to be the biggest trend I have noticed. But a lot of business pages are quitting from the AMP. The reason being lot of sales are lost. Also the ad monetization is something that needs to be fixed as well. Another thing is that SEO needs to be fixed as well. Another thing that I have noticed that the Google business listings are getting more popular these days. So that's another improvement going on lately.



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cmoneyspinner
Number 1, Mobile Search, I have had hammered into my head. But Number 4, Local Search, I've just recently heard advice about. Between a mobile-friendly site and a site that will show up via local searches, these two tips should really change the game.



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ColdFlameChris
I'm getting more and more hook on this SEO thing. I'm starting to learn more about SEO so I can profit from it. I'm grateful for this forum that they share lots of information so every newbie will have a stepping stone to their success. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. Have a nice day! 5 new trends developing in SEO this year



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jpyy
I have never understood mobile search. The screen is too small, lol. Nonetheless, I can't argue with the majority on this one. If it's what they like - then the web developer has to swim or sink.



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Everett
When mobile responsive templates first came out, this is when the search engines decided that perhaps mobile is going to be far superior in terms of search than regular ol' computers. Now, fast forward a couple of years and it appears that this is very true. My generation mostly use smartphones, and if you don't I'm sure you have a 'smart' device such as tablet or even an iPod to broswse the internet.

However, what I have noticed is junk content websites that are getting ranked. What I mean about junk is those websites that are often 'sponsored' click-bait articles. Why are these websites ranking so high in the search? I simply do not know, but good for them! The sites are fairly mobile responsive, and offer an app but still, how are they ranking so high being click-bait, and only existing just for views (basically just to earn advertising income)..



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TimothyAlex
T think saying overall website quality will become more important than content is a bit of a stretch. At the end of everything, Google's goal is to provide relevant and authoritative search results to their users. I can't see them ranking higher lesser quality content because of a better quality website design, with the exception of a complete trash design.



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Corzhens
Pardon me but I don’t think it is logical to say that the overall website quality is more important than the contents. In any discussion that I come across, there’s always the idea that content is king so maybe there is something wrong in that prediction about the overall website quality. I understand that it means about the design, navigation and everything else including the content. But then again, I still go for the quality of the contents especially the newer contents.



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