We have gone through the three quarters of 2018, so fast and there is a fact that optimizing SEO for mobile is no longer optional, it is almost compulsory. Due to that usurpation of the mobile device in digital media time, the giant Google has changed for this new king. In May, they already rolled out the mobile-friendly algorithm boost that gave mobile-friendly websites an additional ranking boost. The question here is how can we optimize a website to position ourselves when this change happens? Read this post:

  1. Ready for Google’s Mobile Search Index

Recently, Google announced on their Webmaster Central Blog that they have begun experimenting with a separate mobile search index. This experiment will not cause any serious effects on the website but we can consider it as a strong indicator of a larger rollout. In the near future, Google will scale its mobile search index to include all mobile traffic...

Will it have any impacts on search rankings? It seems too early to give definitive answers. However, with this big changes, Google hopes that web owners will spend more time and effort and be more serious about mobile, adapt to new things.

  1. Increase in AMP Symbols

The importance of loading speed is undeniable and it is also the reason why Google has released its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project since February 2018. From 2018 and beyond, we are going to see an increase in publishers becoming AMP-compliant and this symbol will early appear in search results. Everyone desires to achieve a higher conversion rate so this more noticeable symbol could increase a website’s mobile traffic. What it represents is far more important. Google’s emphasis on AMP compliance comes from hard data, which we surmise demonstrates that AMP-compliant sites serve their customers better.

  1. Voice search

Now we have virtual assistants like Siri, Cortana, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home and people also prefer to use voice search more. Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed in the recent keynote for Google I/O that over 20% of mobile search was voice search. This figure is expected to skyrocket when voice recognition software becomes more advanced. To prepare for this change, SEO should optimize the website for voice search right now.

  1. Less Intrusive Ads

Desktop users really hate intrusive ads and so do mobile users. Intrusive ads were on the rise in early 2014, but right after that, Google has recognized that intrusive ads hurt mobile user experience seriously. Therefore, on January 10, 2017, websites with content that is not easily accessible in mobile search results may not rank as highly. And since 2018, we might observe the increasing usage of banner ads and more targeted offers that will not take up the majority of their mobile screen.

  1. Better content

In 2018, providing regular content is never enough. To get the higher ranking, web owners have to offer the content that resonates with mobile users. With voice search trend, you can consider integrating long-tail keywords and conversational phrases. Better content does not mean you add some keywords to your article, spend some time to analyze how mobile users might want different things than desktop traffic, create really interesting and helpful content.