GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 40- February 2018

the long-tail conversational keyword, are expected to rank better in voice search. The change in how Google is used with voice search can be illustrated with an example. While a traditional keyboard search will be miley cyrus age in order to have as few characters as possible, voice search is more likely to take the form of how old is miley cyrus now as the person asks the question the way they usually would in a conversation with a human. (By the way, the former “Hannah Montana” is 25.) A voice search optimized website needs to be mobile-friendly, as doing SEO for a voice search won’t matter much if your website doesn’t appear onmobile SERPs because it isn’t mobile-friendly. Speed and convenience are the main reasons people use voice search, therefore, the website needs to be fast and convenient, and the content has to provide precise information. SMART SPEAKERS Smart speakers such as Google Home and Amazon Echo were among the most common Christmas presents in 2017, and they’ll be the gadgets that are the face of 2018. This is anoth- er argument for voice search optimization, and another argument that favors No. 1 results on Google. How- ever, there is one question every webmaster needs to ask them- selves: Is the person who uses a speaker box my customer? The most likely answer is no. MACHINE LEARNING Everything Google has done recently is pointing toward a better understanding of the intent of the user and what kind of con- tent they expect, and making sure they get the most relevant piece of information on the web. This trend is here to stay, and the search results will be more refined and more personalized. This means there are no more excuses for not creating top-notch content, and for the first time, it might not be enough to just create good content – we will have to actually start understanding our customers. BARRIERS TO ENTRY ARE INCREASING Since the demands Google puts in front of webmasters are more and more refined, and there are more of them, it’s more technically challenging, time-consuming and generally demanding to launch a new website that fits Google like a glove. With SEO as the only source of traffic, it’s more difficult than ever to rely on it alone when SEO Trends for Gambling Affiliates The mobile-first index means lazy webmasters will no longer be able to rank on mobile with their desktop-only content . . . Everything in Google is focused on improving the experience on mobile devices . Illustrations by Sammby/Shutterstock 31 W W W . G P W A T I M E S . O R G