Google releases its own Search Quality Rating Guidelines and handbook which is indeed a very important document for any website creator. As any SEO consultant will tell you, this guidebook provides valuable tips on how to determine the relevance of a webpage to Google. The search giant specifies some important characteristics for determining the quality of a page. In this article, we’ll look at some of these qualities.

1. Content is King

A typical webpage is made up of three different sections, including the main content, the supplementary content and the ads. When we say “content is king” we mean the “main content” because this is what the page is about and this needs to be created with a great deal of finesse. How well the content has been created is one of the key determinants for search engine ratings.

2. Authority

Both the website and the creator of the web pages need to show some authority. Google sees some websites as an expert in their niche and it favors those sites. However, the point to note here is that not all of these sites are created by experts with a PHD certification. The website creator simply needs to show that he has enough experience on the concerned topic to provide valuable tips to others.

3. Trustworthiness

The website should appear trustworthy. It should not contain anything that shows it in a bad light. Make sure your webpage do not prompt the reader’s to provide their personal information, such as, social security number, bank account details, address and birth date. There should be no suspicious “phishing” like activities or download links which may contain malware.

You will need to engage expert SEO services for guiding you through this task of achieving impressive search engine rankings. We will look at a few more qualities in the second part of this article series.

In the first part of this article series, we touched upon SEO trends like voice search, link building and image-based search. Here are some more prominent SEO trends of 2018 that SEO services providers need to watch.

1. Mobile SEO

It comes as no surprise that almost 60 percent of internet searches today are carried out by mobile phones! And why not! Smartphones have become our all-time companions. For most of us, our phones are the first items we seek on waking up in the morning! This is why mobile SEO is likely to pick up pace in 2018. Effective strategies for mobile SEO include creating mobile-friendly websites, leveraging browser caching, boosting page speed and load times.

2. Artificial Intelligence

This might well be the year when artificial intelligence will be leveraged by prominent search engines. Google’s Rank brain, which is more like a robot than a search engine assistant, will help in better understanding of the data we publish on our websites and will possess the ability of better comprehension of user intent. Search engine optimization strategies will therefore need to be equipped with artificial intelligence, in order to keep pace.

3. User Experience

In 2018, user experience based SEO strategies would rule the roost. Giants like Google are concentrating a great deal on offering the best user experience. Important considerations should be site speed, readability, navigation structure and so on. As SEO consultants will advise, search engines today can take a closer look into the usage habits of users and tweak their services accordingly.

SEO strategies are all set to undergo radical transformations in the years to come. It is all about keeping pace and seeking the best outcomes from a transformed scenario.

Digital marketing and its subset SEO evolve with time. The best way to become an SEO expert is to stay updated with the changing algorithms and trends. Now that 2017 draws to close, we look at some of the more prominent SEO trends that were nascent this year but are likely to become way more significant by the time 2018 gets over.

1. Digital Assistance and Voice Search

Voice searches have radically transformed the way we communicate or process information. Digital assistants can actually change our search patterns. Going by Google statistics, almost 20 percent searches are already performed through voice commands. With voice search emerging as a major trend, SEO is likely to move more towards verbal expressions and long tail keywords.

2. Stronger and more effective link building

In 2018, a successful search engine optimization strategy would be the one that dwells upon relationship building and managing to leverage links and contacts that are likely to be beneficial in the long run. For instance, SEO training courses should teach individuals ways to include guest blogs as an integral part of their links, without affecting the reputation of the brands. Spam links will also have to be handled with dexterity.

3. Visual Search

Search engine giants like Google are working on an image-based search system where the use can use images and graphics instead of words or voice commands when conducting an online search. It is interesting to note that rich visual content boasts of higher clicks on most search engine sites. Image searches can prove to be truly helpful not only for checking out on a specific product or service but also for educational purposes.

These are just some of the trends that are likely to be predominant this year. We will be looking at more trends in the next part of the article.

Once the basic tasks of setting up a formidable SEO strategy has been accomplished, your SEO services specialist may suggest you to add a few more to your checklist before you can launch your website. We look at some more of these tasks to pay heed to.

Conduct a keyword research

Performing a comprehensive keyword research is one of the most important steps to undertake. List out all the products and services you offer. Create as many combinations of words and phrases for representing these products and services as possible. Once you have a comprehensive list of options, you need to use the Google Keyword Planner for checking on their performance. Shortlist ones that register highest response rates and use them in your content.

Your SEO consultant will be able to assist you in arriving at a performance based list of expressions that will click for your website.

The URL, the Page Title and the Meta Description

Creating a friendly URL structure helps in ensuring higher search engine results. Having a suitable URL ensures higher ranking. You need to include the more important keywords in your URL and make them more meaningful. Using hyphens and underscores are equally important as well. Dynamic URLS should be avoided as well.

The title tag represents the Webpage. The title must be uncommon and must include keywords sparingly. However, the keywords should not be stuffed in the description. It should be readable and meaningful and the important keywords should be used first.

The Meta description is a short summary of the web page. It should not be above 160 characters in length. It should be a compelling statement that can.

Creating unique content that is suited to a target audience

The content you create should be unique and has to be targeted to your choice of audience. Use keywords and key phrases judiciously.

These are the basic steps to undertake for ensuring a robust SEO strategy. You can continue to build on the same as you go.

Setting the ball rolling in a start-up may not be an easy feat. Regardless of the nature of company in question, there would be plenty of work to do. Be it, financing, staffing, resource planning, testing or paperwork; they would all need an equal amount of attention. And there is also a SEO strategy to devise and implement. Your SEO expert will provide a basic SEO checklist that can help. Here is an SEO checklist for your website.

Begin by installing Google Analytics

Google analytics is the best analytics tool that is available in the market and it is free. When measuring the success of your SEO strategy, the most common metric that comes up is the keyword ranking. However, if you choose to focus on the SERP positioning of the website alone, you will be missing out on the bigger picture. This is why a comprehensive analytics tool is important in order to have a clear understanding of how the organic traffic is being converted. Even the most basic SEO training course will help you learn how to use this analytics tool.

Use the Google Search Console

The Search Console is a free tool that is provided to those who manage websites, by Google. It was previously called Webmaster tools and is used for getting data about the status of the website and its organic performance in the search engine. You can use this very handy tool to check if your website has duplicate content and can also keep a tab on the search engine rankings. It also helps you check how many people visiting your website and the click-through rate of your web pages.

Watch out for errors and broken links

Search engines reach out to your websites through these links. Therefore, if there are crawl errors or broken links, the search engines may not be able to find your website content and hence may not be able to perform the indexing and push traffic into it.

These complete the basic SEO checklist for your website. We will be looking at more such important points in the second part of the checklist.