What’s New in SEO in 2018 and What You Need to Do About It

Google’s algorithm for search engine ranking consistently has marketers scratching their heads. It seems like every time they think they have it figured out, Google changes their algorithm once more, making past efforts useless.

Learn about SEO best practices 2018 in this article.

Always Use Unique Meta Descriptions

Although meta descriptions aren’t as important as they used to be, they can still help out your ranking. Make sure each one of your posts has a unique title and meta description, and never reuse the same ones.

Keyword Research Is Key

If you’re conducting an SEO audit on your website, you want to make sure you are using the correct keywords. There are many different keyword research tools available, but the best one to use is the Google Keyword Tool. This free tool will provide you with a list of relevant keyword suggestions.

Of course, you want keywords with a lot of search volume but you could bring in traffic with low search volume keywords too.

Tip: Don’t keyword stuff, ever. At the end of the day, you are writing for real people, not Google.

Utilize Sitemaps

Using a sitemap is absolutely critical for SEO. Sitemaps help Google index your site. If you are using WordPress, there are many plugins available that can generate a sitemap for you.

For those of you using a custom CMS, you want to use an XML sitemap generator. It will build a sitemap for you that you can upload to your site. Once it is uploaded, you want to go to Google Webmaster to submit your sitemap.

Pay Attention To Your Competitors

Paying attention to your competitors and using what works for them is a great way to improve your SEO. Look for the backlinks they are building. Try to replicate them.

To do this, you could use an SEO tool such as SEMRush. This tool allows you to monitor your performance, as well as that of your competitors. You could use this information to get some of the websites linking to your competitors to link to your site

Always Keep Track Of Your Backlinks

Search engine optimization relies on the quality of all the backlinks your site receives. You will rank higher on Google with high-quality links.

It’s important to know who links to you and when your links are removed. If you don’t do this, you could lose traffic. You could also use SEMRush for this purpose.

Never Keep Duplicated Content On Your Site

Google is harsh on duplicated content. This is true for content, titles, and meta descriptions. Your first tip is to never plagiarize content.

However, sometimes you might create similar content without meaning to. It is always advised to check everything with a tool such as Copyscape to prevent any duplicated content from making its way to your site. Neglecting this could severely hurt your SEO.

Implementing SEO Best Practices 2018

Websites that consistently post new content will rank higher on Google. New content lets Google know that your site is still up-to-date.

To learn more about SEO best practices 2018, contact us today! We at 904 SEO are a team of highly-skilled professionals that can help out with your SEO analysis.