2018 is almost over folks and you know what that means. It means 2019 is just around the corner with another chance to dominate the rankings and make your website the best ROI for your business.
But let’s be real: you can’t hope to start 2019 with your best foot forward in an SEO sense if you wait till December 31st to start preparing. SEO is a long-term game, and whatever gains you enjoy in 2019 will be a result of work done now.
Here are some steps you can start taking NOW to make sure you dominate the Google SERPS come 2019:
1. Create for the Future with Pre-emptive SEO
Guess what is going to be the most sought after SEO topic come 2019?
You guessed it: How to Improve your SEO in 2019--or any other differently worded topic with the same meaning.
The point is this: start looking for content, hashtags, and keywords revolving around the coming months or the coming year, and your post will trend in that category, and this popularity will snowball even more as the relevant date draws near and the relevance of the content increases.
Creating content around a point in the future is a great way to stand out in crowded niches not only because such content is scarce and easy to rank at the time of its production, but also because the post will become even more relevant as the future date draws closer.
2. Create Content Clusters
For some time now, Google has been awarding major cookie points to websites that create many pieces of quality content around particular niche topics. These pieces of content talking about different aspects of an overarching topic form what is known as a content cluster.
Not only are content clusters good for SEO, they also make your website better structured, easier to navigate, and can easily present you as an authority in your field.
3. Make Use of Google Search Console
Worried about Google crawlers not being able to navigate their way to your latest and best pieces of content? You can throw away your fears with Google Search Console!
If you don’t already know, Google Search Console is a tool that allows you to monitor and maintain your website’s presence on Google. Setting up is easy and only requires a sitemap, which is a map to your site that helps search engines to read it better and, thus, rank it better.
4. Remember Google Plus
You remember Google+? It was supposed to be Google’s answer to Facebook, Twitter, and the growing influence of social media on the way we gather and extract information.
Unfortunately, it never took off--not even after the recent makeover.
However, Google is known to reward those who stay loyal to its free products--and this includes Google+.
Google+ could be one of your greatest SEO tools if you use it right. Content posted to the social media site gets indexed almost immediately, for example.
So what you should be doing is taking your content from other social media sites and posting them on Google+ ( Don’t forget to add a backlink to your website).
5. Boost Your Business with Google My Business
No, you don’t need a brick and mortar store to use Google My Business; that’s a myth.
Google My Business is great for local SEO and can help create a new point of contact between you and people who are actively searching for your business, which means more leads.
6. You Can’t Put Video Off Any Longer
By 2020, 80% of all content on the web is expected to be video. So you can expect that video content is going to become even more relevant next year than it is now.
Two major advantages that come with video are that they keep visitors longer on your site, and that they reduce bounce rate.
Given that Google rewards sites where users stay longer and sites that exhibit low bounce rate, video is going to be crucial for your SEO come 2019.
7. Content is Still King
Yes, content is still king and shows no sign of relinquishing the throne. Creating high-quality, highly informative content, and establishing yourself as an expert in your niche is still one of the most important ways to improve your SEO and search rankings.
In creating your content, you want to go deep rather than wide.
Instead of writing on any and everything that has to do with health, for example, you are more likely to see your posts rank if you choose to specialize on, say, nutrition and diets.
By focusing on a single subtopic, your website quickly becomes an authority site and this will make Google more eager to rank your posts as more relevant for any niche-related keywords.
Conclusion
These steps may be a little hard to implement all at once; so do them over time, starting with those that are easily within reach. However you choose to implement them, you can be sure that you will see some results. In the meantime, if you are looking to learn more about how you can dominate the rankings in 2019 why not reach out to the experts? We here at Eternity would love to hear about your website and the wonderful dreams you have for it.
