SEO Ranking Factors 2018

Date:
05/12/2018
By:
Paul Baguley
Category:
SEO

As of 2018, there are many factors that contribute to a website, blog or web page's ranking in the search engine results page (SERP) delivered by a search engine. If a company or business seeks a higher ranking in SERPs, web designers and SEO experts must take into account the following aspects of attaining a higher SEO rank in 2018.

Publish High-Quality Content

Content is, by far, the most important factor of ranking higher in SERPs in 2018. A website's content determines whether that site is not good or worthwhile, according to search engine web crawlers. Relevant content of a certain quality standard will ensure a website's rank in the results pages of popular search engines, like Google and Bing. Why? Because the user experience is literally made of various pieces of content. If that content is worth reading and consuming visitors' time and attention, Google's algorithm and search engine crawlers should also be satisfied.

Your Mobile-Friendly Site

Today, most of the internet is being explored and surfed on mobile devices, like smartphones, tablets and laptop computers. In order to keep up with trends in SEO, experts and web designers must optimise their site and all associated SEO to co-exist with mobile devices. Sites and blogs that do not accommodate for mobile users will be left by the wayside as the future rolls on.

Secure Website (HTTPS)

With the advent of security breaches, information stealing, and fraudulent internet personalities, secure websites are a top priority for most internet users. When a website makes efforts to ensure that every user is visiting a secure website, safe from any threats to their sensitive information, they will become more respected by online communities.

User Experience

User experience is almost as important as content when it comes to ranking higher in search engine results pages. Whatever a user sees, interacts with or reads on a website is included in the user experience. A better user experience means that a user is more likely to share your site with the rest of the world.

Page Speed

People are becoming increasingly impatient, while their attention spans dwindle. Pages of a website must load up quickly and rapidly deliver content and experience to users in order to keep them on your site. Making sure time to first byte (TTFB) is below a second and have your javascript and CSS minified. Another important is images that can affect page speed so make sure these are optimised too.

On-Page Optimisation

All content on a website page must be optimised for search engines to find and rank. This means that keywords and backlinks must be in place, and all content must be unique and of high quality. Google is looking for content to be well written and that the user is engaged and interaction with the contenrt. The most important of the on-page optimisation is getting your metadata correct and headings.

Earn Relevant & Authoritative Backlinks

Perhaps the hardest part of building a successful website or blog is earning relevant and authoritative backlinks. This is much like establishing an online community, with your website as the centrepiece. Achieving backlinks to your website will improve authority and trust with search engines and will also encourage referral traffic.

Summary

These are some of the main factors to achieve good SEO results in 2018. Here at ISD, we will be keeping a close eye on the new strategies and factors that a search engine is looking for in 2019 If you are searching for an agency to help you build up your rankings then come and say hi to us.