The new year doesn't only bring more opportunities, but a lot of changes as well. With a ton of new trends and forecasts coming up this 2018, the competition to stay on top of the game is still there. While anyone can predict what they should post to stay popular, only very popular search engines like Google can control your position on pages to garner viewers.
 

Optimizing your website for search engines is a must, paying attention to Google's algorithms and how you can stay on top of the search results. That's why you'll need to pay attention to your SEO ranking. Here are some things you need to focus on when it comes to maintaining your SEO ranking this 2018!
 

Here are nine of the most effective strategies you can use to maintain your SEO ranking this 2018:
 

1.    Attract Long Clicks!

Long clicks mean that people who go to your website will spend time reading and look through internal pages rather than click and go after a few seconds. Long clicks mean that your website is related to what they searched on, it contains important content which is current and updated, and what you have is interesting to the user. That is why it's crucial to ensure that your website is filled with up-to-date content that is interesting and related to what your target audience searches for.

2.    Make Your Website Faster

Your website should have a good design, but avoid overfilling it with useless widgets or frills which would slow down your website. Whether it's the web or mobile version of your page, make sure that it loads quickly, preferably under three seconds. Why? Google has stated that over half of sessions would be abandoned if websites take over three seconds to load! Check your website's design and remove anything that would slow it down to keep users on the page.
 

3.    Always Have Goof Public Relations

Another vital aspect to focus on would be public relations, meaning you'll want to be featured on high-ranking websites! Pitch your ideas and begin contributing to other blogs and influential pages. Link your page to contributions or features and this will increase your domain authority.
 

Not only does public relations help with your SEO ranking. It can also attract visitors to check your website out upon stumbling to the article linked from the influential page. Backlinks also attract clicks!
 

4.    Update Your Google My Business

If you are a business, then make sure that you update your Google My Business listings. Make sure that your photos are up-to-date, that you have current reviews, and you update opening hours during upcoming holidays. It's also best to have a "virtual tour" of your space, along with accurate information about your business for a better impression. Through doing this, you'll be able to have a higher rank for local searches, along with a higher ranking website.
 

5.    Fix Any Duplicates Immediately

No matter how small the duplicate may be on your website, you will need to update it immediately! Even with your metadata, there should be no duplicates within your website or other pages. Did you know that your metadata is also very important but also constantly overlooked or duplicated? Because of this small mistake, it prohibits the page from indexing, losing any opportunity for keyword ranking. It will then NOT show up in organic search results.
 

6.    Focus On Your Mobile Searches, Too!

Make sure that you have a good ranking for both your web and mobile versions. Unfortunately, many website owners tend to forget about optimizing their page for mobile devices. Because of this, viewers will get discouraged from visiting your page and that would lessen the affectivity of your mobile SEO strategy. Ensure that your pages look and work well when visited from mobile devices. It will help for your rankings AND conversion rate, enticing more traffic without them leaving so soon.
 

7.    Have Custom Competitor Research

Besides looking into your own SEO strategies, look into your competitors as well tone one step ahead of the game. There are many SEO agencies and apps which can help you delve deeper into obtaining custom competitor data. That way, you'll be able to build more strategies to encourage more viewers and potential customers to visit your page. Through having access to competitor data, you'll find out what you can do to be better.
 

8.    Pay Attention To Local Search Rankings

Make sure to track your local rankings on search engines as well, which is also vital in maintaining a good rapport with locals around your area. Learn about how potential customers find your website and how you can compete with other businesses in your area. Remember that your first customers are usually nearby, which is why on-site and off-site optimization for local search rankings is vital. There are various SEO tools like Linkio which can help you to optimize your local keywords and drive more local clients towards your business.
 

9.    Try Keyword Grouper

Keywords are also a vital way in staying on top of search engine results. To help your keywords become more effective, you must choose the right ones to use for your content. I recommend using keyword grouping, meaning to collect keywords in logical groups. While it may be a tedious task to do, it's proven to be effective.
 

You should also learn about SEO yourself instead of depending on other people to work for you. This will help you understand what works best for YOUR website.
 

Wrapping it Up

SEO ranking for your website is something you need to focus on! When maintaining the reputation of your website and garnering potential customers, you must also maintain your SEO ranking to stay at the top!
 

I hope that these top SEO strategies this 2018 helped you become more knowledgeable about what you should do to gain popularity and traffic to your page. So don't wait any longer and start following any of these strategies now!
 

If you have any questions or would like to share your tips and experiences on SEO strategies and optimizing websites, then comment down below. I would love to hear what you have to think.

Author bio:-

Joel is a professional blogger and writer at Oxnard SEO and He is a fanatic technology lover and passionate for writing articles on technology, digital marketing, SEO, SMM, etc.