[Hot] Ignore SEO Trends: 2018
SEO's central principles are timeless. To succeed online, a website must offer a superior user experience and high-quality, relevant content. SEO is also about identifying trends. Search evolves with the algorithms, which change frequently. And ever so often, new technologies, like Google's RankBrain, change search in a fundamental way.
However, the SEO community often inflates the importance of trends. In fact, the word "trend" is one of the most abused and misused in SEO.
"Trend" means "a general direction in which something is developing or changing." Many SEO writers use "trend" to define a "developing or changing" aspect of search without noting the transitory nature of the word. "Trend" denotes a lack of permanency. A trend is fashionable.
What matters for an online business, however, are the game-changers, like RankBrain--not the fashionable changes, but permanent shifts in search.
Read: "Why You Should Ignore SEO 'Trend' Articles"
Ignore SEO Trends: 2018
When we wrote about "SEO trends" last year we noted that a simple Google search for "SEO trends 2017" yielded an "embarrassment of click-bait," some innocuous, some over-the-top.
2018 is no different. A Google search for "SEO trends 2018" offers a variety of articles, some speaking about "game-changing and dominant" trends, some more humbly, about "important" trends.
Some articles are better than others. Despite the name, Search Engine Land's "game-changing and dominant trends" (linked above) offers intriguing, astute observations about how core SEO principles are evolving.
Some other articles, however, are mere click-bait--and perfect examples of why you should ignore SEO "trends."
In his article about "important" trends for example, Dainius Runkevicius, "the founder of a newsletter for content marketing professionals," offers five "macro level" trends because he doesn't want to "burden you with technicalities." Unfortunately, his macro-level view is riddled with errors--it's essentially "fake news," another trend we'd be happy to ignore forever.
In any case, Runkevicius could use a little more education in SEO technicalities.
First, he rightly notes "the rise of voice search," yet he cites a Search Engine Land article from May, 2016 (more than a year and a half ago), which reported the following tidbit from Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai: "20 percent of queries on its mobile app and on Android devices are voice searches."
Nevermind Runkevicius uses this stat about mobile queries to talk about home assistants. More to the point: much has changed since then. Search Engine Land's recent trend article, for example, offers a more comprehensive view of the evolving landscape:
"Google reports that 55 percent of teens and 40 percent of adults use voice search daily; and, according to Google’s Behshad Behzadi, the ratio of voice search is growing faster than type search."
Runkevicius' reporting is misguided, but the point is good: Voice search is, as Search Engine Land notes, "the real deal."
But most people who've followed SEO have understood this simple fact since at least 2014, when Google introduced the Hummingbird algorithm. This is not an "important" trend, but a durable SEO fact, which has marked a definitive shift to long tail keywords.
Elsewhere in his article, Runkevicius describes Google's shift to a mobile-based index "as one of the biggest algorithmic changes in Google’s history that might turn page rankings upside down." This is not true--at least according to Google. As Search Engine Land reported last year:
"Both Gary Illyes and Paul Haahr from Google said this should not change the overall rankings. In fact, they want there to be minimal change in rankings around this change. Of course, it is too early to tell, they said — but their goal is not to have this indexing change impact the current rankings too much."
To be fair, the mobile-based index may change rankings--although we don't know for sure. We can only begin to adapt, as many good SEOs have since Google announced the change over a year ago.
Read: "Big News: Google's Primary Index Will Now Be Mobile-Based"
Again, this is not a trend. It is a durable shift that has been in the works for over a year; even then, SEOs have been preparing for mobile-based search for years--as early as 2014, at least, when we wrote "Mobile SEO: What You Need to Know."
We could go on, picking apart Runkevicius' article, but hopefully we've made our point (again): SEO is not about trends. It's about level-headed marketing campaign that recognizes SEO's central premises as well as the major shifts (not trends) that change search in a fundamental way.
So for 2018 we offer the same advice: Ignore SEO trends!
Ignore Trends: Embrace Timeless Organic SEO with Stepman's SEO
If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites with timeless and durable SEO strategies, contact our sponsor, Stepman's SEO: 215-900-9398.
Stepman's SEO combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns.
However, the SEO community often inflates the importance of trends. In fact, the word "trend" is one of the most abused and misused in SEO.
"Trend" means "a general direction in which something is developing or changing." Many SEO writers use "trend" to define a "developing or changing" aspect of search without noting the transitory nature of the word. "Trend" denotes a lack of permanency. A trend is fashionable.
What matters for an online business, however, are the game-changers, like RankBrain--not the fashionable changes, but permanent shifts in search.
Read: "Why You Should Ignore SEO 'Trend' Articles"
 |
| 1980s fashion: Like clothing, SEO "trends" come and go. Organic SEO focuses on timeless principles. [Photo Source] |
When we wrote about "SEO trends" last year we noted that a simple Google search for "SEO trends 2017" yielded an "embarrassment of click-bait," some innocuous, some over-the-top.
2018 is no different. A Google search for "SEO trends 2018" offers a variety of articles, some speaking about "game-changing and dominant" trends, some more humbly, about "important" trends.
Some articles are better than others. Despite the name, Search Engine Land's "game-changing and dominant trends" (linked above) offers intriguing, astute observations about how core SEO principles are evolving.
Some other articles, however, are mere click-bait--and perfect examples of why you should ignore SEO "trends."
In his article about "important" trends for example, Dainius Runkevicius, "the founder of a newsletter for content marketing professionals," offers five "macro level" trends because he doesn't want to "burden you with technicalities." Unfortunately, his macro-level view is riddled with errors--it's essentially "fake news," another trend we'd be happy to ignore forever.
In any case, Runkevicius could use a little more education in SEO technicalities.
First, he rightly notes "the rise of voice search," yet he cites a Search Engine Land article from May, 2016 (more than a year and a half ago), which reported the following tidbit from Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai: "20 percent of queries on its mobile app and on Android devices are voice searches."
Nevermind Runkevicius uses this stat about mobile queries to talk about home assistants. More to the point: much has changed since then. Search Engine Land's recent trend article, for example, offers a more comprehensive view of the evolving landscape:
"Google reports that 55 percent of teens and 40 percent of adults use voice search daily; and, according to Google’s Behshad Behzadi, the ratio of voice search is growing faster than type search."
Runkevicius' reporting is misguided, but the point is good: Voice search is, as Search Engine Land notes, "the real deal."
But most people who've followed SEO have understood this simple fact since at least 2014, when Google introduced the Hummingbird algorithm. This is not an "important" trend, but a durable SEO fact, which has marked a definitive shift to long tail keywords.
Elsewhere in his article, Runkevicius describes Google's shift to a mobile-based index "as one of the biggest algorithmic changes in Google’s history that might turn page rankings upside down." This is not true--at least according to Google. As Search Engine Land reported last year:
"Both Gary Illyes and Paul Haahr from Google said this should not change the overall rankings. In fact, they want there to be minimal change in rankings around this change. Of course, it is too early to tell, they said — but their goal is not to have this indexing change impact the current rankings too much."
To be fair, the mobile-based index may change rankings--although we don't know for sure. We can only begin to adapt, as many good SEOs have since Google announced the change over a year ago.
Read: "Big News: Google's Primary Index Will Now Be Mobile-Based"
Again, this is not a trend. It is a durable shift that has been in the works for over a year; even then, SEOs have been preparing for mobile-based search for years--as early as 2014, at least, when we wrote "Mobile SEO: What You Need to Know."
We could go on, picking apart Runkevicius' article, but hopefully we've made our point (again): SEO is not about trends. It's about level-headed marketing campaign that recognizes SEO's central premises as well as the major shifts (not trends) that change search in a fundamental way.
So for 2018 we offer the same advice: Ignore SEO trends!
Ignore Trends: Embrace Timeless Organic SEO with Stepman's SEO
If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites with timeless and durable SEO strategies, contact our sponsor, Stepman's SEO: 215-900-9398.
Stepman's SEO combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns.