What We Learned in 2017, and What to Expect in 2018

As we are nearing the end of 2017, it is important to look back and see what we learned about internet marketing this year.

1) The number of direct website visits impacts organic search ranking.
It makes sense. If Google sees that your website is getting a lot of direct traffic, it is going to assume that your page holds more authority than others. The more direct traffic your website gets, the higher you are going to rank in the search engine results pages. This connection demonstrates just how important it is to create quality content that is accurate, helpful, and unique.

2) User behavior signals are important indicators.
Google is paying attention to how your website visitors are using your site. You want visitors to spend a decent amount of time on your website, visit multiple pages in a single session, and have a low bounce rate. If your visitors are leaving your website quickly, it can be an indication that you did not offer them what they were looking for or it was difficult for them to find what they needed. The lesson learned here is that you need to provide people with the information that they want while also ensuring that your website is user-friendly.

3) Content is still king.
In fact, pages that have more content tend to rank better in Google. While content length may be one important factor, the most important detail is to produce high-quality content. Junk is still junk, no matter how long it is.

Now, what can you expect to see in 2018?

1) Google search engine result page features will continue to rise.
Remember the days when you would do a Google search and get back a simple list? Not anymore! Now you have organic listings, paid listings, shopping results, image results, and more. As a result, this means that even a great ranking may not be bringing in the maximum number of clicks possible. It is now important to track your rankings within all of these different features and see what opportunities exist. Is it possible to get a featured snippet? Maybe get a local listing result? Would a photo or video bring more traffic to your website?

2) The implementation of structured data will become more prevalent.
Structured data allows you to format HTML in a way that tells search engines how to interpret the content. As a result, you have the opportunity to enhance your search listings with details such as ratings, reviews, and other key factors. Implementing this mark-up gives users more information, which could easily lead to more clicks.

Internet marketing is always evolving, so it will be exciting to see what 2018 has in store!