Last year was a huge one not only for us but also for the industry as a whole, with a number of significant changes and developments taking place throughout the year. We’ve already got a good feeling about the year ahead, with plenty of great projects already in the pipeline, as well as a range of new additions and changes happening within the industry.
With 2018 set to be another important year, here’s everything we’re looking forward to and what you should keep an eye out for as the year progresses.
Voice Search
The way people are searching for information online is changing, with much more focus being placed on mobile devices and voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Home, it’s not surprising that voice search will continue to grow throughout 2018. This jump means that it’s going to be even more important than ever for SEO professionals to start looking at SEO a little differently.
Voice search makes it easier for people to simply ask their devices a question in order to receive information, a much more natural interaction compared to how we currently interact with search engines. As interaction changes and voice search becomes more conversational, we need to look at how we word content, allowing it to appear more conversational and in turn helping content appear within results.
Mobile First
It’s likely that Google’s mobile-first index will be due out within the next few months or even weeks, meaning that it’s no longer only a competitive advantage to have a mobile-friendly site, but it’s now a necessity. Without a mobile first website, you could see your website drop in rankings, meaning your business could be missing out on a number of key opportunities.
This change is just another way in which Google has decided to reward mobile users, as well as businesses catering for mobile users. And with so many people now opting to use mobile and tablet devices over desktop devices, it’s just significant change that shows how increasingly important is it to be ready for this shift in user behaviour.
Future Of Social Media
Organic reach has been declining rapidly on social media platforms for many years now, with most businesses having to pay to boost posts, as well as delve into pay per click advertising to reach out to target audiences. It’s looking entirely possible that in the coming year social media platforms, particularly Facebook will kill it’s organic feed altogether, prioritising what is shown based on price.
By focusing more on monetising these platforms, it’s further proof that social media platforms are now looking to work alongside businesses to generate a profit, meaning that those unwilling to play ball are likely to miss out. Whilst it may sound negative, it’s likely that this new development with open up a number of opportunities for businesses.
Over the next year, we’re likely to see some major changes in how the industry functions, changing even more to meet the needs of consumers, businesses and marketers. Going into 2018 we have a lot to look forward to from projects, to developments in the sector, through to reaching the milestone of reaching our 20th year and we’ll keep you up to date with everything along the way.
