The SEO trends emerging half way through 2018….
June is nearly upon us, which means we’re almost half way through 2018 – time is truly flying in the fast-paced world that we live in! To mark the halfway point of the year, we thought we’d take a look at the SEO trends that will continue to be prevalent this year….
Advertising on Amazon
In 2017 Amazon grew to over $1 billion and their market share for ads surpassing that of Twitter and Snapchat. So far this year, Amazon have been working to challenge the Facebook-Google kingdom and we can expect big things, particularly as the company play the pivotal role (over Google) in the online shopping process. Amazon have previously owned platforms like Prime video, Kindle, Echo, IMDB and Twitch, so that we’ll see their ecommerce presence go to another level into the second half of 2018.
AI/Machine Learning
Until 2018, the traditional way for search pros to bid has been to manually bid on individual keywords and prioritise those that are effective. However, AI has now developed to a standard where it makes more sense to pass the task of bidding to an automated system which takes several contextual factors into account such as search history, location etc. This makes it better equipped to dictate how tenaciously to bid for particular users. However, whilst AI can improve performance, human reporting and optimisation will still be essential in ensuring a campaign runs smoothly.
Increased voice search volume
There has been a correlation between the volume of in-home device searches and the shift from text to voice for long tail queries on mobile and this will continue throughout the rest of 2018. At present, the results that are being accounted for where voice queries are concerned are featured snippets within Google (the text embedded in search results). The only way to achieve featured snippets, notably competitive verticals, is to have an SEO strategy. Amazon and Google will more than likely investigate this change in user and consumer comportment, so expect new advertising systems tailored to voice in the remainder of 2018.
GDPR
It’s been talked about for several months now since the announcement post-Brexit, and now it is upon us; from 25th May the new GDPR regulations will be in place. What does GDPR mean for retailers? Stricter laws on consumer data means that you’ll need to stay well ahead of your game as a retailer or your ad campaigns may become less targeted.
If you would like more information about the clients we’ve worked with or you would like to hear about the ideas we have for your business’s online presence, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
