You want your website to have the best SEO. But what website factors affect your Google ranking? Here are 3 surprising facts.
One of the key things to any company's success is search engine optimization.
SEO is the best way to organically drive people to your website. You'll get richer leads and see your digital numbers skyrocket.
So what are some of the factors that go into getting your site to the top of a results page? Check out these three SEO trends that will affect your Google ranking in 2018.
Speed
Website loading speed is one of the most classic Google ranking factors.
Google knows people are impatient, so they expect websites to load in less than three seconds. Any slower and you'll struggle to make the front page.
Desktop sites have traditionally been the main target of the speed signal. For the most part, mobile sites were given more leeway. But that's starting to change.
Beginning in July 2018, Google will roll out its new speed update, which will introduce speed as a ranking signal for mobile sites.
The July update will only affect the slowest mobile sites on the web, so most sites will be safe for now. But with more than half of web traffic now coming from mobile devices, expect the push for mobile speed to continue to gain strength in the coming years.
Security
Why get in the car and go to the store when you can order from home?
Online shopping continues to explode. Consumers spent $453.46 billion online in 2017, a 16% growth from the previous year.
Unfortunately, with the added convenience comes added risk -- Especially in the form of hackers, looking to steal your personal information.
With more information shared online, website security also grows in importance.
HTTPS/SSL - the secure version of the HTTP protocol - has been a confirmed ranking signal since 2014. Most front-page results you'll see will use HTTPS.
If you don't prioritize website security, your Google ranking is going to take a hit.
Pure SEO isn't the only reason you need to use HTTPS. The Google Chrome browser now presents a security warning to visitors when they're on an unsecured website. Even if someone clicks on your site, they might bounce or avoid shopping there once they see the warning.
Voice Search
Thanks to the recent market influx of virtual assistants, people are able to search online without actually typing a single letter.
Voice search is trending up. It's predicted that 50% of all searches will be done by voice by 2020.
When people talk to Siri or Alexa, they tend to speak as if they were talking to another person. They're asking actual questions, rather than just a word or phrase as they might do if they were typing.
The virtual assistants want to respond with a brief, yet informative answer. Most results that get voiced by these devices come from featured snippets.
Although snippets have been a desirable target for SEO for years, they're even more important thanks to the growing prevalence of voice search.
So how do you earn a featured snippet? You need to craft a webpage to answer specific questions in a succinct, thorough way, no more than a paragraph long. One of the best ways to do this is through an FAQ-style post.
Voice search is one of the prime examples of how developing technology can change how we view SEO.
Learn More About Google Ranking
SEO is an ever-changing field, and it's important to stay updated on the latest trends.
For more insight into ranking on Google or other marketing tips, check out our blog.