You had 2018 well under control for as far as SEO is concerned, alright, but how prepared are you for 2019? History has taught us that SEO trends evolve year after year to the effect that your previously effective SEO practices may or may not bear significant results in the coming year. You, therefore, need to constantly revise and update your SEO and marketing strategies in order to align them with the fast-evolving business world. In this article, we will discuss two strategies that you must drop going forward, two that you must retain, and two that you may have to adopt if you haven’t done it yet. Please read on to understand how you will win the 2019 search results.

2 SEO Strategies That You Must Drop In 2019

1. Stop limiting your SEO focus on Google

Google is the largest search engine today and, without a doubt, that isn’t changing any time soon. That’s why most SEO strategists have their minds fixated on impressing Google’s ranking algorithms when designing their websites. But limiting your SEO focus to this giant search engine may be limiting your business opportunities in 2019. Here is why: The significance of visual content in online searches has grown tremendously well over the recent past. This has, in turn, made YouTube- the second largest search engine- very powerful. When designing your web content for 2019, therefore, you need to extend your focus to YouTube searchers. Post as many videos on YouTube in order to gain visibility there as well. Amazon’s search engine is another very important marketing tool to consider. Recent data has shown that over 50% of online shoppers value Amazon as their to-go-to shopping platform. You, therefore, must optimize your content and products for Amazon if you are to leverage this huge market opening.

2. Drop all black hat SEO tactics

Search engines have become very strict on sites that use black hat SEO strategies to deceive online searchers. They have adapted sophisticated algorithms that will easily detect keywords that are inserted unnaturally, titles that mislead searchers, and click-bait meta descriptions. You will be jeopardizing your SEO ranking by adopting any black hat tactic in 2019.

2 SEO 2018 Strategies That You Should Retain In 2019

1. Keep optimizing your site for mobile devices

The last two years have seen Google centre its focus on mobile searchers, particularly by rewarding sites that have optimized their content for mobile with top search rankings. As you may have noted in 2018, your online success was tied to how fast your site responded on mobile, how good its user experience has been, and how navigable it was on small devices. This trend will continue in 2019 so you must keep focusing on mobile. AMP stories (Accelerated Mobile Pages stories) have also become very popular among mobile users. However, even though they have the same genesis as Instagram and Snapchat stories, they do not appear on search result pages. So, ensure that you have the most catchy, informative, and shareable stories on Google in order to pull mobile traffic to your site. That said, there are companies that have created a tool which helps you create the best stories.

2. Keeping your social media game strong

You probably have already realized how effective social media is in creating brand awareness, business backlinks, and increasing online traffic to your website. You also may have noted that creating shareable content for different social platforms is now vital for increased on-site engagement by your online visitors. Though indirectly, these two trends have been contributing to high SEO rankings in a big way. Keep interacting with your prospective customers on social media, answering their questions, and giving them rich content to share in 2019.

2 SEO Strategies That You Must Adopt In 2019

1. Focus on featuring on Google’s snippets

Google has recently introduced a new search feature called Featured Snippets. This feature allows searchers to get comprehensive answers to their queries without having to click on any of the top links on Google’s SERPs. It usually has a short, precise, and keyword-rich bulleted answer to the search query. Readers often click on the site that has provided the snippet answer in a bid to explore further, and that gives you an edge over competitors. Going into 2019, ensure that your content is precise and well-structured to qualify for the snippet post.

2. Use AI to your advantage

Artificial Intelligence is here with us; it’s the future of e-commerce and SEO. Google is already using AI to sort out pages in their order of relevance before displaying them as results to its searcher’s queries. You too will need to think in that line going into 2019. AI-based tools such as Automated Insights will help you to improve your content for SEO by giving you all the data that you need to understand your target audience and their problems.

Bonus Tip: Improving your SEO strategies takes time and expertise. Sometimes your hands are filled with other business logistics such as managing your offline store, dealing with suppliers, and preparing your products for the market. That leaves you limited time to think about SEO. In that case, you can consider hiring an expert to help you do the work, who can guarantee success. According to Outsource2EU, Europe provides a large pool of talented SEO experts which every company from the world can outsource from. They are professionals who provide qualitative work and can handle every SEO-related task on your behalf.