5 SEO Tasks for The Coming Year
August 24, 2018
Summer isn’t over yet, but businesses everywhere are already vamping up for 2019. Understanding projections for the new year makes it easier to create and implement achievable goals. In the ecommerce industry, one of the ways you can prepare for 2019 is by anticipating coming SEO and internet trends. This is one of the many jobs your optimization company can assist you with. Unsure what else your team should be doing to wrap up 2018 and get your website ready for the big changes on the tech horizon? Here are 5 tasks to stay abreast of in the coming months.
- 1. Keyword Research: Keywords can be specific to your business, industry, and even your location, but within those parameters there are trends to consider. Which keywords are popular? What words are being typed most frequently in your area and within your business niche? When consumers make search engine queries there are inevitably words or phrases which wind up becoming repetitive. For example, one popular search phrase which never seems to go out of style is, “best chicken in Mississippi”, or “best hairdresser in Cincinnati”. People are always looking for the best whatever they need in wherever they live, so you know this is a possible keyword structure you should include as naturally as possible.
Your SEO team should be performing regular research to watch for monthly and even weekly keyword trends, and this will be an especially important task in the coming year. Many changes seem to occur across the internet as the year switches over following the holiday season, and gearing up for these changes with some well-structured keyword research will help your SEO experts predict upcoming trends and beat competitors to the punch.
- 2. Performance Reports: It isn’t just planning and predicting which will set you up for success in 2019; your SEO firm should also be providing plenty of up to date performance reports. This allows you to see what’s working and what isn’t, so that you can restructure for your next campaign. There are a variety of tools and software which allow SEO teams to monitor the success of your website, the popularity of your keywords, and the incoming traffic of your viewers.
Using the Google Search Console and other tools, SEO professionals can see statistics regarding current rankings, bot crawlers, site errors, and other indicators on your website’s success. Sometimes webmaster tools will send messages to inform you of issues with your site, updates and changes, and other pertinent information. Your team can use these messages to redesign your campaign, fix mistakes, and create a successful site.
- 3. Change and Update Your Website: The internet is constantly changing, as are the expectations of search engines. Every time Google has an algorithm update there are bound to be one or two areas of your site which require attention. Sometimes it’s content based, other times it’s layout based, but it’s always in the best interest of the consumer. Visitors to your site are looking for clear-cut, concise, honest information that can be seen on any device at a fast and convenient speed. If your site is slow, not loading properly from a tablet, or includes spam-like materials, your site could be penalized, and it will drop in ranking.
Your SEO team can help you determine what changes need to be made and implement them in a streamlined approach that won’t disturb regular business or site traffic. If you keep up with updates and algorithm evolutions, these changes should be minor each time you make one. If you don’t keep up and are lagging in terms of algorithm adherence, your next change could be quite drastic. A team that stays abreast of new Google guidelines is a team you can trust to maintain your site.
- 4. Implement Tech Support: Search engine optimization experts aren’t always experts in IT and web design, but they will know who to call to get things fixed. Technical errors can be terminal to a website’s success, especially in the ecommerce industry as it can warn off consumers or halt business altogether. As soon as you notice a technical error, it should be addressed, but even if nothing seems to be the matter, having an IT expert give your site a once over is a good way to stay one step ahead of any problems which might arise.
So far, it appears that the coming year is going to be all about fast, convenient, and streamlined digital viewing; getting content quickly and easily with few issues flipping between devices or while on the road. A technical team in combination with your SEO partners will help make this projection a reality and get your site in tip top shape.
- 5. Get an App Ready: Mobile friendly sites are an integral part of search engine optimization ever since Google launched their mobile-first browsing algorithm. However, even with this mobile-friendly approach to browsing, many consumers prefer the ease of an app. If your business has yet to create an application, now might be the time. Projections for 2019 are suggesting that mobile use will increase even more than it has throughout 2018, making it a primary viewing option for many Americans.
There are plenty of online resources for application creation, and your SEO team may be able to point you in the right direction. Some SEO experts even offer app building as part of their service, so do your research before choosing the optimization professionals you work with.
Not sure what else to expect for 2019, keep your eye on the Google official site for more algorithm updates and follow along here for information on search engine optimization and tech news.