8 Easy Ways You Can Turn SEO Strategy 2018 Into Success

Do you know what type of SEO you need in 2018?!
A new year is ahead of us to make new SEO resolutions and to match with what search engines ask for.
In the recent few years, there have been some amazing changes in the world of SEO.
For some time, people thought that SEO was dead.
But, I can confidently say that SEO in 2018 is more evolved than ever.
Earlier, it was all about searching a focus keyword, creating content and marketing it. And of course, building links in the process.
But now, new technologies, such as voice search and Google RankBrain, have become a part of the digital world.
On the other hand, you can see the shift in the SERPs with Google’s mobile-first indexing and new organic snippet length.
So, how to rank with SEO in 2018?
If you want to obtain SEO rank in 2018, your approach has to have much more than just a few keywords or links.
Here are all the DIY SEO upgrades you need to start carrying out this year.

1. Forget about single keyword ranking
   Google has always been improving the keyword ranking factors with new algorithm updates. But the biggest change came with RankBrain.
   Though Google announced RankBrain application in 2015, it took some time for website owners to understand its actual work.
   The machine learning process allows RankBrain to match similar queries by understanding the search intent or the context of the query.
   This directly impacts the way you approach keyword optimization on your website. As RankBrain is able to match different types of queries, it becomes difficult to gain ranks with “one keyword, one-page” approach.
   So, your website SEO ranking now depends on your ability find relevant keywords and semantically use them on your web pages.
   What to do:
    Decide one target keyword for your web page or blog content.
    Create a list of topics you want to cover under that target keyword.
    Find keywords, long tail phrases and LSIs related to those topics.
    Keep the density of the focus keyword maximum.
    Sprinkle the variations of keywords in the content to empower the focus keyword.
   Here is an example:

Improve SEO with:
 How to revise content SEO strategy for RankBrain
 The art of finding and using long tail keywords
 Top 7 free spots to make keyword research effortless

1. Learn to understand user intent
   An Article is SEO land presents some important facts about keywords.

It shows that Google has better technologies to understand the context of the words. However, that doesn’t mean that you should stop using keywords in the titles or links. Just evolve your SEO in 2018 to become more aligned with the user intent.
What to do:
 Go to the SERPs you are trying to rank for.
 Analyze the types of content available on that SERP.
 Choose the dominating content type to improve search engine ranking chances.
You can find some or all the following content types on a SERP, depending on the query:
 Products
 Informational
 Services
The dominating content type tells you what users find relevant to that query. Include this DIY SEO step in your search engine optimization strategies. You will find positive changes in your rankings and CTR.
Improve your user intent strategy:
What To Do With User Intent In A Keyword And Content Strategy

1. Redefine your content strategy
   If you create a ton of blogs every month, you need to take a break.
   This is one of the best SEO tips I can give you this year.
   Why?!
   Because, to gain SEO rank in 2018, you need to redefine your content strategy.
   Content quality is a do-it-yourself SEO factor that blog creators need to achieve. But there are several other associated factors that you need to think about.
   The top ranking content these days provide-
   Comprehensiveness
   Relevance and,
   High readability.
   And to achieve all three factors you need to have a long length.
   So, instead of writing a ton of content, try combining relevant concepts together to create comprehensive content.
   What to do:
    Make a list of relevant concepts according to the keywords and user intent.
    Decide a longer length (1500 or above) to cover all the concepts.
    Create small paragraphs and format the content using subheadings.
   Further reading on content quality:
    How to empower SEO with continuous unique content
    How to manage the written content quality on your site
2. Make your metadata click-worthy
   The metadata on your web page has a great correlation with the Google website ranking you achieve. Even if they don’t play a direct role, you need engaging metadata to drive other factors such as high CTR, low bounce rate, and others.
   The metadata SEO includes three major parts:
    The title
    The URL and,
    The meta description
   The metadata is all about helping out the users to understand the page. Google also believes in that. That’s why the search engine has recently announced an official increase in meta description length.
   So, your Google search optimization tactic should make metadata click-worthy.
   What to do:
    Create an engaging title with target keywords in it.
    Make small and customized URLs with crisp words.
    Bring SEO and promotional traits together in the meta description.
   Learn more:
    How to use Google’s longer snippets for SEO advantage
3. Cultivate on-page SEO habits for mobile-first
   Google announced mobile-first indexing at the end of 2016. However, the change wasn’t implemented straight away. Google tried and tested the method in the year 2017. And now, the mobile-first approach is almost confirmed in 2018.
   Google is going to look at your mobile optimization before looking at the desktop version. So, now you need to think how to improve self SEO for mobile indexing in order to rank.
   What to do:
    Test the mobile-friendly level of your site.
    Shift to the HTTPS to get a ranking boost.
    Make your images mobile friendly by compressing them.
    Make your paragraphs as short as possible for better readability on mobile.
   Cultivating this on-page search engine optimization habit is important for you. Not just to maintain high SEO rank in 2018, but to make your site mobile-first ready for the future too.
   Learn more:
    Clear all your doubts about Google mobile first strategy
4. Develop a natural writing style for voice search
   Voice search is another aspect that you need to care about while doing SEO in 2018.
   According to Google, both adults and teens are using voice search features on their mobile phones. The user percentages are very high and can’t be neglected.
   People find voice search convenient when they are busy doing some other tasks. But this should increase your concerns as a site owner.
   Why?!
   People use a natural language while searching through voice search features.
   And when you combine voice search with RankBrain, it completely shatters the traditional keyword usage in the content. Now, you need a more natural style of writing and phrases in your content to actually rank.
   So, how to do SEO yourself for voice search?!
   In one sentence, upgrade your writing style.
   What to do:
    Analyze social media to grab the tone and phrases people use to ask queries in your niche.
    Start using more long-tail keywords in your content.
    Write titles and subheadings in the form of questions.
    Include your business website in local business listings.
5. Implement video SEO
   If you have been neglecting the importance of video content, change that this year. You need video SEO to boost your rankings in 2018.
   With Facebook, YouTube and Twitter offering high-quality video content promotion opportunities, you don’t want to get left behind, right?!
   A perfect example of video content SEO would be the Whiteboard Friday series offered by Rand Fishkin on Moz blog. He creates videos and includes a word-to-word content copy along with the video. And that allows Google to easily understand the content and rank it.
   So, let’s talk about how to improve SEO ranking of your site with video content.
   What to do:
    Find keyword phrases in the video content category of Google for your topic.
    Write a word-to-word content copy of the video you create.
    Optimize the copy with keywords.
    Also, add keywords to the metadata SEO of that video.
    Promote your videos on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
6. Find influencers for promotion and backlinks
   Backlinks are also one of Google top SEO ranking factors. But you already know that right?!
   What you need to know is that only genuine links will help you get a quality SEO rank in 2018. You cannot rely on buying links.
   Plus, there is a whole set of factors you need to care about, to ensure the quality of links you obtain. Hence, your DIY SEO approach should be to connect with industry influencers. This might sound like a time taking process, but you can do it faster with quality content and marketing tactics.
   What to do:
    Promote your content through social media, email and blog comment to interact with influencers.
    Divide your link building SEO into multiple goals such as traffic, rank, and authority.
    Gain links from relevant and authoritative platforms to obtain your link goals.
   Are you ready to rank with an upgraded SEO in 2018?!
   Hopefully, this post has answered your queries about how to rank in 2018. These are all DIY SEO steps that you can take on your own. Hence, this guide should help your website or blog to improve SEO and get high rankings this year.