7 SEO Trends That Will Dominate 2018

 

In online marketing, few strategies are as competitive or as quickly evolving as search engine optimization (SEO). Marked by a history of algorithm updates, new technologies, and new techniques to win real estate at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), most SEO experts (like me) chomp at the bit to predict or learn the latest trends that will shape our businesses’ digital futures.
Though algorithm updates were few and far between, 2017 was still an exciting year for SEO, and I’m anticipating even bigger changes on the horizon for 2018. Based on my observations, some trends that unfolded through the end of 2017, and some speculation on some newly unfolding technologies, I’ve come up with a list of predictions for the trends I think will dominate the SEO field in 2018:
1. Video and image search will vastly improve. Gradually, our online interactions have evolved to become more visual. Over the past few years, faster internet speeds, more visual-friendly social media platforms, and a general public desire to engage with more images and videos has led to a surge in visual online interactions. Accordingly, I think we’ll see some changes to how Google and other search engines treat images and videos in an online environment. New startups like Moodstocks and Eyefluence (both of which were acquired by Google) have sought to recognize visual elements within images and videos more accurately, or have sought to improve user interactions with them. I’m not sure what changes these startups foretell, exactly, but I bet we’ll see a vast improvement in search sophistication for visual assets.

2. The Knowledge Graph will dominate. For a few years now, Google has been steadily increasing the frequency and specificity of featured snippets—the concise answers to questions users pose in their search queries. Yet, just last month, the frequency of featured snippets declined significantly, apparently replaced by equivalent answers found in Knowledge Graph boxes. I think this event could portend the rise and eventual dominance of Google’s Knowledge Graph, replacing a good chunk of the space currently occupied by featured snippets in an effort to provide users with even better, more consistent answers.
3. Voice search will sharply increase with the rise of smart speaker sales. Do you have a smart speaker? If you don’t, I bet you know at least a few people who do. Smart speaker sales, like those for Amazon Echo and Google Home, surged in 2017, and sales will probably grow further in 2018 as newer models start to roll out. Because these speakers are activated by voice, and provide spoken search results, users are getting even more used to interacting with search engine results with only their voices and their ears. This could drastically change the types of queries we see, and reshape the way businesses think about SERPs (since they may no longer be as visual).
4. Individual customization will change the way many rankings are calculated. Google has been pushing the development of more personalized search results for the better part of a decade, relying on individual search histories, browser cookies, and other information to give better, more customized SERPs for individuals. With the advent of smart speakers, the increased convenience of search, and greater technological sophistication, the personalization factor will likely increase even further in 2018, making it more difficult to predict how your company will rank—or what you’ll rank for.

5. Machine learning will spell the end of traditional search algorithm updates. RankBrain remains Google’s deepest dive into machine learning—at least in how it pertains to its search algorithm. But Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has invested heavily in machine learning and AI over the past several years. Though Google hasn’t released any official news about when or if it plans to roll out more machine learning updates to its core algorithm, my guess is by the end of 2018, we’ll see a greater influence of machine learning over typical search results. Eventually, though it will probably be years from now, we may see algorithm updates fade away entirely, in favor of an automated, continuous and iterative algorithm updating process carried out by machine learning.
6. SEO will expand beyond Google and Bing. Over the past few years, I’ve seen an increased trend of companies competing for ranking space outside Google. Google still dominates the search engine sphere, remaining the most popular search platform by far, but third-parties like Yelp and Amazon, as well as digital assistants like Siri have stepped in to become relevant search engines in their own right. If you want to be found by a greater percentage of user searches, and introduce yourself to the widest audience possible, in 2018, you’ll need to begin to think beyond Google’s range of influence.
7. Hyperlocal results will finally take off. I anticipated 2017 to be the first major year for hyperlocal marketing (as did several other experts); I wasn’t wrong about the increased influence of local search and local SEO, but the world wasn’t ready for hyperlocal intent to become the new normal. By “hyperlocal,” I’m referring to the process of targeting customers (or presenting search results) based on physical proximity, down to less than a block radius. I imagine by the end of 2018, with more mobile use than ever before and the rising relevance of VR and AR, companies currently involved in local SEO will need to do more to target hyperlocal keywords and optimize for even more locally relevant appearances.

I feel some of these predictions are “sure bets,” bound to unfold soon, even if they don’t take hold early in 2018. Others are a little riskier, but I’m personally going to start pursuing them (or at least start brainstorming how I could take advantage of them). If you’re interested in seeing how these trends develop, stay tuned to your favorite SEO communities, and take note of any aberrations in your own sets of data.
I don’t think 2018 will be a highly volatile year for the SEO industry, but it could certainly bring some changes that shake up the game. For help improving your website’s SEO in a way that’s future-proof, see 101 Ways to Improve Your Website’s SEO.
 
Reference:https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/12/26/7-seo-trends-that-will-dominate-2018/#45cd1593139e

5 Tips for Making the Most of Your Google AdWords Budget

Every company wants to have a successful ad campaign. Unfortunately, most don't have the big budget necessary to compete with major companies. But that doesn't mean you're stuck with a losing marketing campaign. It just means your company has to be more creative and determined. If you're using Google AdWords, you have to narrow down your campaign and opt for a more targeted approach. Here are five ways that can help you make the most of your AdWords budget.

1. Develop Several Variations of Your Ads

You might think that being on a budget means you have to stick with just one ad. But having a generic ad is unlikely to generate the conversions you want. It's better if you have several variations of your ad that target various audiences.
For instance, if you're running an online bookstore, don't just target all the bookworms. Tailor your ads and focus on the different types of book lovers. Target young adults by pushing the latest works of a popular YA writer. Entice art buffs with an ad showcasing the different art, design and DIY books you carry.

2. Use Multiple Keyword Tools

Google's keyword tool is undeniably helpful, but it doesn't give out the best results all the time. There are instances when long-tail keywords they recommend simply do not have any data available. Or Google simply ignores really popular keywords.
A better strategy would be to utilize various keyword suggestion engines or keyword planners. You should also trust your knowledge of what keywords consumers are searching for when they came upon your site. Once you have a good list of keywords, test them yourself.

3. Create a Conversion Tracker

You need different ads to test which keywords are successful. More importantly, you need concrete data that can be tracked on a per-ad system. Let's say you're running eight ads and had $500 in sales, how will you know which ads generated that conversion?
You need a good conversion tracking system to help narrow down which ads are good and which ones are doing nothing for your campaign. AdWords has a tracking system that you can use and which can send your data directly to Google Analytics. But it's also a good idea to look for other conversion tracking tools and apps to get even more comprehensive analytics.

4. Be Smart About Your Ads Schedule

If you want to get the most out of your AdWords campaign, then you should only run your ads during hours when you'll have a better chance at conversions. For example, if your company's office hours run from 8 am to 5 pm, then it's not a good idea to have an ad running at midnight.
The only way to know what schedule is best is to test. Check your data analytics to see which hours and days your ads are performing well. Once you have narrowed down the optimal hours for your campaign, you can schedule your ads better.

5. Use AdWords Extensions Wisely

Google AdWords extensions can help you stand out and boost your ranking. Extensions can make your ad bigger and give you more room to work. It helps draw more attention to your ad and lets you emphasize more benefits and features. There are a variety of extensions that a business can use, but a company has to choose carefully as some might not be appropriate.  

Reference:https://www.webpronews.com/5-tips-making-google-adwords-budget/

The 5 most important SEO trends to watch in 2018

Long gone are the days when keyword placement and backlinks guaranteed success in SEO.
As Google gathers increasingly more data about us, search results have become more accurate, timely, and personalized than ever.
As such, the SEO’s job today is more than keywords and backlinks. It’s more than metadata optimisation. It’s more than even content.
It’s the assurance of a frictionless user experience while delivering the right information at the right time—and in a timely manner.
A lot has happened in SEO this year, but I don’t want to burden you with technicalities. Instead, I’ll discuss what I see as the most important trends in SEO on a macro level, which will give you a big-picture view of where SEO is headed.
You’ll notice how these trends build on each other, signaling the importance of a systematic and integrated SEO strategy.

1. The rise of voice search

Here’s a hard fact: 1 out of 5 searches already comes from voice queries, according to Google. And that’s not surprising: Voice-activated smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon Echo are on the rise. With its new flagship phone Pixel 2 and an extended line of home speakers driven by Google Assistant, Google is advancing the adoption of voice-activated hardware.
Side note: I have a Pixel Home and a Pixel phone myself, and I can tell you: The ease of using voice search is highly addictive. Try it once and you’ll have a hard time getting back to typing.
Plus, Google recently released Google Assistant for all Android devices. This is important because, contrary to popular belief, the adoption of voice search will largely happen on mobile devices, not on home speakers.
As the accuracy of voice assistants continues to improve, we’ll see more and more people utilizing voice search for timely search queries. That’s why optimizing your SEO strategy for voice search today is of vital importance.
In short, this means more focus on long-tail keywords and syntax used in everyday language, as well as creating well-structured content broken down into short sections answering more search queries at a time.
This brings me to the next trend…

2. Featured snippets

How do featured snippets tie back to voice search? Well, this is the information that voice assistants return to you.
However, featured snippets are more than that.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen an astounding growth of featured snippets displayed in search results across all devices. Today nearly 30% of all search queries on Google have instant answers in the form of featured snippets.
In SEO terms, it’s the new position #1!
Featured snippets are already stealing up to 10% of traffic from top positions on the first page. With the growing adoption of structured data and, in turn, the accuracy of instant answers, featured snippets will further deprive other positions of traffic.
This trend is giving rise to new forms of content, such as Q&A content, which is optimized to provide short answers in response to long-tail search queries. SEOs also pay more attention to the formatting and structure of content to make it easier for Google to pull relevant information for featured snippets.

3. A massive shift to mobile

We are probably only months away from Google’s roll-out of the mobile-first index. This means that Google will rank pages based on the mobile version of the page.
To this date, Google has been evaluating a website’s relevance to the user based on the desktop page. However, as mobile searches today account for more than 60% of total searches, this ranking system has become obsolete.
Hence the shift to the mobile-first index.
Let that sink in…
It’s probably one of the biggest algorithmic changes in Google’s history that might turn page rankings upside down.
As a result, SEOs increasingly adopt accelerated mobile pages and optimize the user experience for mobile: from page load time to navigation, information architecture, and design.
This brings me to the next trend…

4. User experience at the forefront

It’s not just mobile. User expectations and demands for search are growing across the board. Today users want instant solutions to their problems no matter the device they are using.
Want a hard fact? Google’s studies have shown that sites that load longer than three seconds lose about 40% of visitors. In other words, the bottom line of your business depends on seconds!
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that your site has a perfect load time. But what happens if the user can’t figure out how to navigate your site in a couple of seconds? What happens if the user can’t understand what your article is about in a couple of seconds?
They’ll bounce!
That’s why a good user experience from an SEO perspective is more than your site’s speed. It’s the readability of your content. It’s navigation. It’s information architecture. It’s design.
Google has made it clear that a seamless user experience is part of their ranking system. And that seamless user experience must be adapted for both mobile and desktop, ensuring a frictionless journey to the answer on all devices.
This brings me to the last trend…

5. Optimization for intent

As we’ve learned, search results are becoming more timely and contextual.
Google does a lot on its part to integrate AI into its search algorithm so that it can combine historical information, present context (location, device, etc.), and the intent of the query to return the most relevant and personalized answer to the user in the quickest way possible.
In fact, Google has recently confirmed one of my long-held hypotheses, which is that Google’s ranking factors largely depend on the keyword intent.
For example, for keywords with clear buying intent, Google will prioritize e-commerce sites instead of major media outlets even if the latter are more authoritative. That’s because the goal of the searcher is to buy, not to find information.
Conversely, for keywords with the intent to find more information, Google will more likely prioritize highly credible media sites.
That’s why SEOs are starting to factor in the intent behind each search query and optimize the content and user experience accordingly. As such, we see a shift from generic content optimization for keywords to more contextual intent-based content optimization.

Reference:https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/12/25/5-important-seo-trends-watch-2018/

Google confirms mid-December search ranking algorithm updates

As the updates continue to roll out, early indications suggest disruptions in mobile SERPs, sites with no schema data & those relying on doorway pages being most impacted

Google has confirmed what many in the search industry have seen over the past week, updates to their algorithm that are significantly shifting rankings in the SERPs. A google spokesperson told Search Engine Land “We released several minor improvements during this timeframe, part of our regular and routine efforts to improve relevancy.”
Our own Barry Schwartz analyzed his Search Engine Roundtable survey of 100 webmasters and concluded that the updates are related to keyword permutations and sites utilizing doorway pages. You can read his full analysis here.

Early signs point to mobile & schema

I reached out to a few of the SEO tool vendors that do large scale tracking of ranking fluctuations to get their sense of where the updates may be targeted.
Ilya Onskul, the Product Owner of SEMrush Sensor gave this analysis:
“SEMrush Sensor follows all the changes that occur on Google SERPs in 6 countries for both mobile and desktop separately. On top of the general volatility score per country, Sensor tracks scores for various industries and indicates the change in 15 SERP features and % of HTTPS and AMP.
Some industries experience more change than the others on daily basis (for example, due to higher competitiveness). Thus, Sensor introduced the Deviation score that analyses which industries had biggest the volatility spikes in relation to their usual score.”

SEMrush Sensor data for all keyword categories (US) – December 20

Based on this data, Onskul concludes “Normally, December is one of the calmest months when it comes to SERP volatility as Google tries to minimize potential impact before big holidays. But something happened around December 14, something that Barry Schwartz called the Maccabees Update, or the pre-holiday update. Sensor spotted the highest SERP volatility on mobile (slightly less on desktop) across most categories, most affected on mobile being Autos & Vehicles, Law & Government, Reference.
In fact, right now, on December 19, Sensor is reporting another extreme spike in volatility. Now, Hobbies & Leisure, Science, Jobs & Education, Home & Garden, Internet & Telecom, have been affected the most. And the biggest fluctuations again take place on mobile.
Of course, it’s too early to come to conclusions on what’s going on and how to adjust to the changes (as we can’t really predict what exactly has changed), but what we know for now is that some new tweaks or updates were rolled out on December 19 for the US, and with a domino effect, the dramatic rise in volatility caught up in the UK, Germany, France, Australia and Spain the next day, which means that the update that was tested on the Google US on December 19 is now spreading across the world.”
We also reached out to Searchmetrics for their analysis and Founder and CTO Marcus Tober noted that they prefer to conduct a deep analysis of algorithmic fluctuations after a sustained change has taken place, saying “At first we saw some changes that at first look looked like typical Panda and Phantom symptoms, but not on a large systematic scale. Many sites have lost visibility that have no Schema.org integration, but we can’t determine based on such a short time what are the overall systematic changes.”
The MozCast continues to likewise show rankings turbulence as the updates roll out:

MozCast for Tuesday, December 19

With the holidays upon us and what would otherwise have been a slow week ahead, now is a good time to check your rankings and start auditing if, where, and why you might see changes.

Reference:https://searchengineland.com/google-confirms-mid-december-search-ranking-algorithm-update-288682

What To Expect From SEO In 2018

Did you know that 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine?

There are various different ways you can market your business online, and a huge part of achieving success, is understanding Search Engine Optimisation.
It’s true that 57% of B2B marketers stated that SEO generates more leads than any other marketing initiative. Knowing this shows the importance of SEO.

I want to share with you what I am expecting to be the biggest trends from SEO in 2018.

1. Voice Search

Voice search is going to play a huge part in the way we communicate with our audience online, and how they search for, and process information.
According to Google, 1 in 5 searches already happen through a voice search query. Because of voice search being a huge part of SEO in 2018, long-tail keywords and natural language need to be a huge focus.

2. The Importance Of User Experience

Offering your audience a great user experience has always been important. This will become even more crucial in 2018. Google has made it a priority for their top search ranking websites to offer a smooth user experience.
If you are looking to improve your user experience, look at your site speed, website readability and navigation.

3. Google Local

If you haven’t already set your business up on Google Local, and you have a physical store, this is a must-take action for SEO in 2018.Google is going to have a huge focus on local search queries, based on geographical locations in 2018. You will see more of “places near me” searches, and because of this; you need to embrace Google Local.

4. Link Building Is Still Key

Link building will not disappear in 2018. It is still going to be important for you, as a business to acquire quality links to your website to build authority.
For SEO in 2018, look at ways you can generate great links back to your website. Think about building relationships with industry thought leaders that will give you long-term links.

5. Mobile Search

Mobile should no longer be an afterthought. It needs to come first, as Google will likely make 2018 the year it develops a mobile-first indexing algorithm.
Around 57% of web traffic comes from mobile devices and because of this, you need to have a mobile strategy for SEO in 2018.

6. Visual Search

We have seen Pinterest introduce a visual discovery tool, and this was the first step into the visual search revolution. Search engines now go beyond text. Rich visuals are more engaging and innovative.
Google has already invested into visual search opportunities and as competition increases you, as a brand need to focus on optimising your visual content for SEO in 2018.

Reference:https://www.business2community.com/seo/expect-seo-2018-01977482

Google On Trailing Slashes & How It Impacts SEO & Search Rankings

It has been a while since we last talked or written about trailing slashes in your URLs and how it may or may not impact your rankings with Google. But hey, since Google's John Mueller brought it up both on Google+ and Twitter, let's get into it again.
In short, John explains that it isn't how Google handles the trailing slash for the most part, instead it is how servers treat them by default. That being said, John Mueller explained "the slash after a hostname or domain name is irrelevant, you can use it or not when referring to the URL, it ends up being the same thing." "However, a slash anywhere else is a significant part of the URL and will change the URL if it's there or not," he added.
He even made this nifty chart to try to explain it better:

He even posted this example of how the Google robots.txt file at https://www.google.com/humans.txt works fine but https://www.google.com/humans.txt/ 404s.
John explained, as I said above, "this is not SEO-specific, but just how websites work."

Reference:https://www.seroundtable.com/google-trailing-slashes-url-24943.html

SEO in 2018: Optimizing for voice search

Columnist Bryson Meunier argues that by understanding the nuances of voice search, marketers can do a better job of helping searchers find exactly what they're looking for when they're asking for it by voice.

 

Google Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller recently asked for feedback on why webmasters are looking for Google to separate voice search queries in Search Console. If you, like me, want to see voice searches in Google Search Console, definitely submit your feedback on Twitter as John requested.

I lived through the very beginnings of mobile SEO, where many people thought mobile search behavior would be completely different from desktop search behavior only to find that much of it is the same. So I see why Mueller and others don’t necessarily understand why Search Console users would want to see voice queries separately. Some queries are the same whether they’re typed into a computer at a desktop or spoken across the room to a Google Home.
That being said, there are some very good reasons to want voice search data. Optimizing for voice search requires some slightly different tactics from those for traditional SEO, and having insight into these queries could help you provide a better experience for those searching by voice.
Not convinced you should care about voice search? Here are three reasons I think you should:

1. More visibility on featured snippets

One of the interesting things about Google Home is that when it answers a question with information from the web, it will cite the source of the information by saying the website’s name, and it will often send a link to the searcher’s Google Home app.
Currently, Google Home and Google Assistant read snippets from sites that are ranked in “position zero” and have been granted a featured snippet. This is why more people than ever are talking about how to optimize for featured snippets. If you look at the articles published on the topic (according to what Google has indexed), you’ll see that the number of articles about how to optimize for featured snippets has grown 178 percent in the past year:
Understanding voice search queries could help us better understand the types of queries that surface featured snippets. As marketers, we could then devote time and resources to providing the best answer for the most common featured snippets in hopes of getting promoted to position zero.
This helps marketers drive credibility to their brand when Google reads their best answer to the searcher, potentially driving traffic to the site from the Google Home app.
And this helps Google because they benefit when featured snippets provide good answers and the searcher is satisfied with the Google Home results. The better the service, the more consumers will use it — and potentially buy more Google Home units or Android phones because they think the service is worthwhile.
If bad featured snippets are found because no one is trying to optimize for those queries, or no featured snippets are found and the Google Home unit must apologize for not being able to help with that query yet, Google potentially loses market share to Amazon in the smart speaker race and Apple in the personal assistant race.
So this one is a win-win, Google. You need more great responses competing for position zero, and we want to help. But first, we need to know what types of queries commonly trigger featured snippets from voice search, and that’s why we need this data in Search Console today.

2. Better way to meet consumer demand and query intent based on context

We saw two major things happen in the early days of mobile SEO when we compared desktop and mobile queries:

1. Searchers often used the same keywords in mobile search that they did in desktop search; however, certain keywords were used much more often on mobile search than desktop search (and vice versa).
2. Whole new categories of queries emerged as searchers realized that GPS and other features of mobile search could allow them to use queries that just didn’t work in desktop search.

An example of the first point is a query like “store hours,” which peaks in volume when shoppers are headed to stores:
An example of the second is “near me” queries, which have grown dramatically with mobile search and mostly occur on mobile phones:
The mode of search therefore changes search behavior as searchers understand what types of searches work well on mobile but not on desktop.
Consider this in the context of voice search. There are certain types of queries that only work on Google Home and Google Assistant. “Tell me about my day” is one. We can guess some of the others, but if we had voice search data labeled, we wouldn’t have to.
How would this be useful to marketers and site owners? Well, it’s hard to say exactly without looking at the data, but consider the context in which someone might use voice search: driving to the mall to get a present for the holidays or asking Google Home if a store down the street is still open. Does the searcher still say, “Holiday Hut store hours?” Or do they say something like, “OK Google, give me the store hours for the Holiday hut at the local mall?” Or even, “How late is Holiday Hut open?”
Google should consider all these queries synonymous in this case, but in some cases, there could be significant differences between voice search behavior and typed search behavior that will affect how a site owner optimizes a page.
Google has told us that voice searches are different, in that they’re 30 times more likely to be action queries than typed searches. In many cases, these won’t be actionable to marketers — but in some cases, they will be. And in order to properly alter our content to connect with searchers, we’ll first need to understand the differences.
In my initial look at how my own family searched on Google Home, I found significant differences between what my family asked Home and what I ask my smartphone, so there’s reason to believe that there are new query categories in voice search that would be relevant to marketers. We know that there are queries — like “Hey Google, talk to Dustin from Stranger Things” and “Buy Lacroix Sparkling Water from Target” — that are going to give completely different results in voice search on Google Home and Assistant from the results in traditional search. And these queries, like “store hours” queries, are likely to be searched much more on voice search than in traditional search.
The problem is, how do we find that “near me” of voice search if we don’t have the data?

3. Understanding extent of advertising and optimization potential for new voice-based media

The last reason to pay attention to voice search queries is probably the most important — for both marketers and Google.
Let me illustrate it in very direct terms, as it’s not just an issue that I believe marketers have in general, but one that affects me personally as well.
Recently, one of my company’s competitors released survey information that suggested people really want to buy tickets through smart speakers.
As a marketer and SEO who sells tickets, I can take this information and invest in Actions on Google Development and marketing so that our customers can say, “OK Google, talk to Vivid Seats about buying Super Bowl tickets,” and get something from Google Home other than, “I’m sorry but I don’t know how to help with that yet.” (Disclosure: Vivid Seats is my employer.)
Or maybe I could convince my company to invest resources in custom content, as Disney and Netflix have done with Google. But am I really going to do it based on this one data point? Probably not.
As with mobile search in 2005, we don’t know how many people are using voice search in Google Home and Google Assistant yet, so we can’t yet know how big the opportunity is or how fast it’s growing. Voice search is in the “innovators and early adopters” stage of the technology adoption life cycle, and any optimizations done for it are not likely to reach a mainstream audience just yet. Since we don’t have data to the contrary from Google or Amazon, we’ll have to stay with this assumption and invest at a later date, when the impact of this technology on the market will likely mean a significant return on our investment.
If we had that data from Google, I would be able to use it to make a stronger case for early adoption and investment than just using survey data alone. For example, I would be able to say to the executives, “Look how many people are searching for branded queries in voice search and getting zero results! By investing resources in creating a prototype for Google Home and Assistant search, we can satisfy navigational queries that are currently going nowhere and recoup our investment.” Instead, because we don’t have that data from Google, the business case isn’t nearly as strong.
Google has yet to monetize voice search in any meaningful way, but when advertising appears on Google Home, this type of analysis will become even more essential.

Final thoughts

Yes, we can do optimization without knowing which queries are voice search queries, as we could do mobile optimization without knowing which queries are mobile queries; yet understanding the nuances of voice search will help Google and marketers do a better job of helping searchers find exactly what they’re looking for when they’re asking for it by voice.

 Reference:https://searchengineland.com/seo-2018-optimizing-voice-search-288078

 

Hacks to Improve Your Website Traffic

More traffic to your site can be a cash cow if you can place relevant ads for your audience, especially if your's is a blog



Every website needs traffic, lack of visitors to your website is not only an indication of disinterest in your offering, it could also be because you spent hours on research, proofreading the article and hitting the publish button but there was nary an effort on marketing your blog posts. Getting steady traffic from your TG is important for your business to thrive.
Why is getting visitors to your site important?

1. When you have targeted visitors on your site, they are more likely to buy your products or use your services especially if they have come across any work of yours earlier in the form of an article, an industry report your company prepared or an infographic.
2. They are more likely to sign up for your newsletters.
3. More traffic to your site can be a cash cow if you can place relevant ads for your audience, especially if your's is a blog.

Let’s see some of the ways in which you can increase visitors to your website:
Write Compelling Content
No matter how many visitors come to your site because of your kickass SEO expert, if the content on your site is not good enough to keep them hooked, you will eventually lose them. Research for the sort of content that people in your niche are looking for. Do you know that Google loves long-form articles?
Let’s say you provide fitness services, you can write a guidebook of 3,500+ words on the Ketogenic diet, which is the latest fad. What should this contain? Write in general about the diet, its progression, its acceptance in the fitness sphere, interview people who have achieved their fitness goals through Keto, interview fitness influencers and compare Keto with other forms of diet like Paleo, Atkins, Weight Watchers, etc. Now, you have a comprehensive article on Keto that people will bookmark and keep going back as it contains all the information that is required in a single place. Aim for this.
Go Viral: As simple as it is to say that, creating viral content is not that difficult either, assuming you have done your homework. A simple step would be to be controversial, but not everyone can afford to be so. Getting viral would open a plethora of opportunities for you as people will come back to your site and it will help in your digital marketing efforts too.
Jonah Berger, author of ‘Contagious: Why things catch on’, explains that the reason why content goes viral on social media is not necessarily significant as long as it resonates with the target audience.
Internal Linking of Pages:
In fact, this is not even a hack, it’s a simple step that most of you can follow. Probably one of the most effective ways to increase page views on your site. On each content that you post, make sure you find 3-4 relevant posts that resonate with this post and link them to it. If they are hooked to your content, they will be willing to read other posts of yours and hyperlink to other articles will only help them to engage more with your content.
I had an opportunity to take insights from Gaurav Gurbaxani, Co-founder of Onlinebusiness.org, an organization that teaches online marketing to businesses. Gaurav is associated with leading digital marketing agencies, online training institutes and has been learning from the Internet since he was 14. Find excerpts from the discussion on improving the visitor count for your website, below:
Today, businesses compete for traffic. It is competitive, getting more aggressive and a general rule of thumb is that the more targeted traffic a business can generate, it gets translated into more sales, leads, relationships and in turn, huge success as well.
Traffic = Money. Find the right offer and you can build an automated selling machine by repeatedly driving traffic to an offer that converts into profit.
1. Be Generous with your Knowledge and Content. The more value you deliver to visitors on your website, the more you will be rewarded by Google. Period.
2. Be Relevant. Be an authority. If your readers look up to you and share your content, you will gain with organic SEO traffic and viral Social Media traffic as well.
3. Automate. There is a tool for everything. Save time by automating mundane tasks and grow your social presence.
4. Be Creative. Content that stands out goes further. Use animation software, video effects, and live chat to engage with visitors.
5. Go Old School. Use direct marketing like email, forums and blogs to reach your niche audience and build a following.
While there are definitive hacks available for instant traffic, think long-term when growing an online business that thrives on website visitors.

Reference:https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/305274

AdWords advertisers can use phone numbers & addresses for Google Customer Match targeting

Google Customer Match becomes more accessible to advertisers that don't have large customer email lists.

 

Google has added more ways for businesses to target their known customers with AdWords campaigns. As of this month, advertisers can upload phone numbers and mailing addresses for Customer Match retargeting and similar audiences.
Launched in 2015, Customer Match lets marketers upload lists of customers or other proprietary lists —  newsletter subscribers, for example — into Google AdWords to target (or exclude) search and display ads to those users. Until now, Customer Match only supported email list uploads.
As with email data, Google attempts to match phone number and mailing address information with user-provided data in Google accounts.
Hashed email addresses and phone numbers are matched up with Google’s own hashed strings to find matches. The matches are then added to marketers’ Customer Match lists.
For mailing address matching, Google says it “joins hashed name and address data for Google accounts to construct a matching key. After you’ve uploaded your list with hashed customer names and addresses (don’t hash zip and country data), Google constructs a similar key based on your data and then compares each key on your list with the keys based on Google accounts. If there’s a match, Google adds the corresponding Google account to your customer list.”
Here’s a Google illustration of how Customer Match works from the back end:

Source: Google

Advertisers can use Customer Match for targeting those matched customers across all Google properties, including search text and shopping ads, display, YouTube and Gmail. The lists can also be used to create similar audiences for targeting on YouTube and Gmail campaigns.
Phone and mailing lists can be uploaded via the AdWords API or in the new AdWords interface. The Audience Manager is located in the Shared Library, which is accessed by clicking on the wrench icon in the upper-right navigation.
The addition of phone numbers and mailing addresses opens up more opportunities for marketers that don’t have large sets of email addresses to leverage their own first-party data — from catalog and call center sales, for example — in Google campaigns.

Reference:https://searchengineland.com/google-adwords-customer-match-phone-numbers-mailing-addresses-launch-288150

 

Twitter's Ad Business Shrinks, Company Focuses on Selling Data

With Twitter's ad revenues struggling, the company has set its sights on data licensing.
Twitter has seen some positive changes in its user engagement recently. But despite that, the company's ad business is still floundering. Data has shown that the company has been gaining ground with daily active users (DAUs), with the group clearly outpacing the modest growth of monthly active users (MAUs). However, Twitter still hasn't managed to turn this growth into revenue.
For a while, Twitter was hopeful that President Donald Trump's affinity for the social media platform would provide some much-needed boost. But it quickly became apparent that that wasn't going to happen.
Martech Today described Twitter's dilemma as a Goldilocks paradox. The platform has a huge user base, just not big enough to generate the revenue it needs. Though it's great for real-time marketing and event promotion, its targeting is less effective than competitors like Facebook and many advertisers tend to view it as more of a news publisher rather than a social media platform. Because of this, Twitter's has seen a year-over-year decline in ad revenue.
Luckily, Twitter has something good going for it—a massive data catalog that spans more than a decade. With such a goldmine at its disposal, the company has already taken the first steps to growing its data-licensing business.
Twitter is presently offering a new set of APIs that will give small developers access to its data. But instead of costing thousands of dollars like its enterprise APIs, this new set will cost about $149 a month. One of the tools Twitter is offering in this set is historical search. Developers will be given access to the previous month's tweets. Eventually, they will have access to tweets dating back to 2006. Developers will also be able to see more tweets and make more complex requests more often.
It's a smart move for Twitter, as its data licensing was responsible for about 15% of its recent revenue. The plans to offer more affordable API packages and its decision to work more with small developers might just be what Twitter needs to remain profitable next year.

Referencehttps://www.webpronews.com/twitters-ad-business-shrinks-company-focuses-selling-data-2017-12/:

10 Ways to Use Google Trends for Better SEO

If you’re like me, you love SEO tools – especially free ones!
One of the most underutilized free tools is Google Trends.
Think of Google Trends as your personal barbershop, a place you can turn to get your finger on the pulse of the world.
A word of caution: It’s important to understand how to use it properly and not “discover trends” where none exist.
Here’s what you need to know:

1. Start Big and Whittle Down

In the past, Google Trends had you enter parameters right off the bat — Web Search, Worldwide, etc.
Today’s main dashboard is simpler: it now prompts you to Explore Topics, before you start narrowing down.

A great way to start big? Start by entering in a big-time keyword for your topic and press Enter.
From there, Google Trends invites you to drill down in the following ways:

• Using Worldwide helps you target a specific market geographically. For example, you’ll see the word “umbrella” peak at different times across different hemispheres.
• Time selection ranges from the “past 5 years,” all the way down to the “past 4 hours.” Pro tip: Use multiple time selections to get an idea of the long-term trends vs. the short-term trends. More on that later.
• Filtering by category is essential. At least if you’re running a search on “Celtic Thunder” and don’t want to read about Irish weather patterns.
• Search Type (including web, news, and YouTube) is another vital category, but more on that in item #3.

With some 10 billion monthly searches in the U.S. alone, the key takeaway here is to start big, then filter to get the most relevant information.

2. Context, Context, Context

Google Trends works in a highly relativistic fashion. The results of today aren’t compared to the overall popularity of all trends, but rather the previous heights of the keywords you entered.
Take the phrase “Caribbean cruise” — an indisputably popular search term. Here’s what you’ll see in the default settings, which includes “Past 12 months.”

On that timeline, it looks like the popularity of Caribbean cruises is down.
But what if we change the date to “2004-present”?

The overall trend looks much more stable. This familiar “heartbeat” pattern is characteristic of seasonal search terms like the Caribbean cruise.
The takeaway: never ignore context.
Try to get rid of your own blind spots before you believe you’ve discovered an insight no one else has.
Other ways of adding context include:

• Using the “+ Compare” tool to add new keywords.
• Filter by country or category
• Web searches

3. Get More Advanced with Specific Search Options

How do you get advanced insights beyond the basics?
You’ll notice five options — many of which even frequent Google Trend users don’t always use:

• Web search (Default)
• Image Search
• News Search
• Google Shopping
• YouTube Search

Each individual click will yield results based on different segments of your potential markets.
You’ll also notice even more options here for sorting popular queries:

Note this is set to certain defaults: it’s showing you the rising trends, which is why in the above example you see the key phrases that have moved up 2,400 percent. Click “Rising,” and you’ll also have the option to view the top overall keywords. Usually, “Rising” is a better option if you want to identify the hot trends.
These suggestions are highly useful for SEO because they can help inspire new content that embraces new trends.
Don’t be afraid to dig down into the queries, either – there’s a good chance that you can hop on a new trend before it becomes a “breakout” and secure a top position for your latest post.

4. Target by Location

The most cursory use of Google Trends will focus exclusively on keywords. For the best results, you’ll also need to incorporate location into the mix. Don’t be afraid to zero in on specific regions and sub-regions – especially when it comes to the U.S.
Using our “Caribbean cruise” trends from earlier, you’ll find that Floridians – or at least, people already in Florida – are the most interested:



Take it a step further with a click on Florida, and you’ll find that the Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne metro region is highest, followed by Miami and then Naples. This is critical data for specific targeting in PPC and even local search.

5. Trend Predictions

It’s the easiest thing in the world to log on to Google Trends and identify those trends that already leave a trail of breadcrumbs. The problem? Every other search engine marketer is using the same data.
If you want additional insights, try using the available data to predict trends.
Not long ago, the practice of “newsjacking” was a sure way to capitalize on current hot stories. Google Trends can indeed show you exactly which news trends of the day are the hottest.
There are a few ways to do this:

• Identify trends with filtering by specific categories or countries. Today’s top health story might not make major headlines in Google Trends, but it can help you identify topics to watch.
• Compare two key phrases in a single trend. Is “Vote for X” trending higher than “Vote for Y”? You might have yourself an informal poll.

6. Use Long-Tail Key Phrases to Inspire Content

Ranking at the top of the SERPs for “Caribbean Cruise” is quite an undertaking, but there’s no reason you can’t get to the top of Google search results for a long-tail variation of a trophy phrase.
Switching gears, let’s say you’re writing a music blog and you want to leverage an upcoming event; the Grammy awards. A click on the trend will yield top questions asked Google, most searched best new artists, and even questions related to the host of the Grammys — such as “how old is James Corden”?
But you want to go deeper and find content that’s truly insightful. Try using tip #3 to find the associated queries making Google Trends — but don’t stop there. Cross-reference those queries with each other (ala tip #2) to get a proper context and find out what’s at the core of customer curiosity.

7. Use “Top Charts” For Additional Insights

Clicking on the icon in the upper left, browse over to Top Charts:

As Google explains, Top Charts is different than the trends most people are watching. Think of this as the “Billboard Top 100” of Google; you’ll see the top trending items in a variety of categories.
As of right now, the top trending animal is the deer. Who knew?
Sort between Trending and Most Searched for additional insights. There you’ll find that the dog rules supreme over the cat — and the deer’s popularity is most likely related to the recent deer hunting season. In search, context is everything.

8. Use Data for Video Optimization

Let’s say you posted a video on how to get discounts on Caribbean cruises.

• Enter in your search term.
• Switch from Web Search to YouTube Search.
• Check out Related Queries and Related Topics.
• Sort by Top or Rising — if you prefer.

From here, you’ll find that people search cruises based on ship classes, not just by searching the ships themselves. Armed with this knowledge, you are in a better position to write relevant titles and descriptions. This improves your opportunity to capture YouTube traffic, as cruise season rolls around.

9. Use Cyclical Trends for Brand Positioning

Let’s say you’re optimizing a wedding boutique. A simple search of wedding shows the reality of wedding season on Google:

From this, you can glean that weddings don’t compete with holidays.
Using some of the strategies above, however, you can find some additional keywords to position future posts to handle the return of each cyclical trend.
When your competition is just writing a post on a selection of wedding songs, yours is already up — and capturing views.

10. Identify Blind Spots & Don’t Misread the Trends

Let’s return to one of the current trends, the Grammy Awards. The recent spike suggests a strong interest in the topic.
But what if you zoom out to a longer timeline?

It demonstrates that once the initial buzz wears off, it will dip right back down to its usual rate.
Advanced use of Google Trends means you’ll go a step beyond whatever you think your current insight is to see if you have blind spots.
For example:

• Don’t ever trust a single snapshot. Always get a broader view of a timeline to see what else is happening.
• Is an increased trend in one key phrase still dwarfed by more important ones? Always look for context.
• Researching weddings for #9, I encountered a drastic increase in YouTube trends for weddings during the summer of 2017 – far greater than in previous summers – which almost quadrupled previous interest. Further research couldn’t identify a specific keyword, except to show a drastic increase in wedding interest in South Asia. This geographically-driven trend is a great example of a unique insight that comes from the never-ending search for understanding context.

Reference:https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-trends-seo/226809/

Google Reminds Publishers Not to Accept Bribes for Links

In response to a controversial article published by The Outline, Google has reminded publications to refrain from accepting bribes for links.
The article in question claims that major publications on the web, including New York Times, CNN, and TechCrunch, have accepted payments from companies in exchange for positive coverage.
Several writers, who remain anonymous, admitted to The Outline that they accept money for links. Some have done so for years, and people within the industry are well aware this is going on.
Bribing journalists for links is becoming so common that it’s now the new norm, which makes it challenging for publications to weed out such links despite their best efforts.
The Outline does not go into much detail about the motivation behind buying links for prices that can soar above $1000 a piece.
Obviously, these unethical “journalists” are motivated by easy money, but The Outline doesn’t mention why links are being bought in the first place.
Companies are not buying links just to be featured in a one-off article. As SEOs, we know that being linked to from a high authority domain has the potential to influence search rankings.
Google’s Danny Sullivan has since chimed in, reminding everyone that attempting to manipulate search rankings with paid links is against the search giant’s guidelines.
Fast Company’s executive editor took notice of Sullivan’s tweets, and is now actively looking for assistance with identifying any pay-for-play links.
Ideally, this is what what Google wants to see from publishers. Sullivan states that publications should be fine as long as an honest effort is made to thwart paid links.
A couple of writers who contribute to sites mentioned in The Outline’s article responded saying they regularly receive emails from people looking to pay for links.
For the record, here is how Search Engine Journal deals with the growing concern of paid links.

Reference:https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-reminds-publishers-not-accept-bribes-links/226851/

Google officially increases length of snippets in search results

Google has confirmed with Search Engine Land that it has made a change to the way it displays snippets in search results. A snippet is the description of a page shown below the URL in an organic search result that helps show how it relates to the search query.
A Google spokesperson told us:

We recently made a change to provide more descriptive and useful snippets, to help people better understand how pages are relevant to their searches. This resulted in snippets becoming slightly longer, on average.

Here is a screen shot highlighting the description snippet of a Google search result:
Over the past week or so, many have been noticing that the snippets were longer than what’s typically been shown.
RankRanger has been tracking these as well, and according to its tools, the snippet length has grown from 160 characters to almost 230 characters on average. Here is the growth chart:
Some webmasters and SEOs may consider updating their meta descriptions, but I don’t believe Google would recommend doing so. The snippets are more often dynamically generated based on the user query and content found in both the meta description and the content visible on the page. If Google is going to go with a longer snippet, it likely will pull that content from the page.


Reference:https://searchengineland.com/google-officially-increases-length-snippets-search-results-287596

How to Use Facebook's Messenger Ads to Grow Your Business

There's no doubting the power social media has to help businesses expand their reach, and so far, no social media platform can compete with Facebook.
One survey revealed that as of June 2017, Mark Zuckerberg's creation has more than two billion monthly users. Facebook's closest competitor is YouTube at 1.5 billion. Meanwhile, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger each boast 1.2 billion users.

While Facebook is a virtual goldmine of prospects, using it to promote your business means that you'll be competing with millions of fellow advertisers. Luckily, Facebook's Messenger Ads can help you better target potential clients and grow your business.
Quick Guide to the Different Facebook Messenger Ads
Messenger Ads are Facebook's latest advertising feature that lets users start a text conversation with a business whose ads caught their interest. The conversation is initiated with just a simple click of a button. Facebook is currently offering two primary types of Messenger ads – destination ads and sponsored messages.
Destination Ads: Also referred to as Newsfeed Messenger ads, appears in your newsfeed like a normal ad. But instead of the usual “Shop Now” call-to-action, the Facebook user will see “Send Message.” This type of ad is popular because it engages potential clients without directly telling them they have to buy something. This comes off as less intrusive, especially to users who were not already aware of the brand.
Sponsored Messages: With this type of ad, companies can deliver specially crafted messages straight to the inbox of users who have already messaged them. It's a wonderful tool for re-targeting leads and re-engaging those who have already interacted with your brand. Aside from minimizing the risk of messages bouncing back, this type of ad is a great way to stay connected to people who are likely to use or purchase your product.
Facebook is also offering Home Section ads. This type of Messenger ad appears directly in the user's Messenger home dashboard. It gives companies another chance to expand the reach of their newsfeed ads while utilizing conventional CTA choices.

How to Use Facebook Messenger Ads to Grow Your Business

The new Facebook Messenger ads are a great way to expand your bottom line. But the trick is knowing what strategy to use so that your marketing campaign will be effective.

1. Start a Conversation with Messenger Destination Ads

If you want to acquire leads and streamline customer acquisition, then a destination ad is a great way to start. With this type of ad, a prospective client is engaged in a conversation with the company instead of being directed to a landing or Facebook page.

Destination ads are perfect for getting people interested in knowing more about your product or services without them having to provide personal information or scheduling an appointment. And on your end, you get to qualify prospects quickly instead of wasting time attempting to get them into your funnel. The goal here is to narrow down your option to people who are more likely to convert.

2. Engage With People Who Have Already Shown Interest

Sponsored Messenger ads are one of Facebook's best advertising options. As previously mentioned, this type of ad allows you to send a message straight to the user's inbox. However, this user should have engaged with you first. This is great for several reasons. One, you don't have to worry about initiating a call-to-action or wait for them to accept your message because they have already made the first move. Second, these users are likely already aware of, or are interested in your brand. You can easily push them down the funnel and begin the process of getting them to convert on your offer.

3. Integrate Messenger Ads with Chatbots to Generate Leads

Chatbot integration is a vital marketing component used in Facebook Messenger. This feature allows brands to automate their messages based on specific questions or comments users might type when they tap on the “Send Message” button.
There are several approaches that can be used to integrate bots with Messenger ads, like Live Chat and Content + Follow-up. The Live Chat approach would see the Bot asking questions that demand specific responses. This allows the company to screen and check for quality leads before a live agent can start a conversation. In the second approach, the bot flow will promote useful content before following it up with a unique offer. This introduces value, engages your customer and creates a strong impression of your brand.
Facebook Messenger ads can give your business a novel and effective way of reaching customers. The personalized interactions and customized messages can help your company begin real conversations with leads that have higher chances of being converted.

Reference:https://www.webpronews.com/use-facebooks-messenger-ads-grow-business-2017-12/

Hacks to Improve Your Website Traffic

Every website needs traffic, lack of visitors to your website is not only an indication of disinterest in your offering, it could also be because you spent hours on research, proofreading the article and hitting the publish button but there was nary an effort on marketing your blog posts. Getting steady traffic from your TG is important for your business to thrive.
Why is getting visitors to your site important?

1. When you have targeted visitors on your site, they are more likely to buy your products or use your services especially if they have come across any work of yours earlier in the form of an article, an industry report your company prepared or an infographic.
2. They are more likely to sign up for your newsletters.
3. More traffic to your site can be a cash cow if you can place relevant ads for your audience, especially if your's is a blog.

Let’s see some of the ways in which you can increase visitors to your website:
Write Compelling Content
No matter how many visitors come to your site because of your kickass SEO expert, if the content on your site is not good enough to keep them hooked, you will eventually lose them. Research for the sort of content that people in your niche are looking for. Do you know that Google loves long-form articles?
Let’s say you provide fitness services, you can write a guidebook of 3,500+ words on the Ketogenic diet, which is the latest fad. What should this contain? Write in general about the diet, its progression, its acceptance in the fitness sphere, interview people who have achieved their fitness goals through Keto, interview fitness influencers and compare Keto with other forms of diet like Paleo, Atkins, Weight Watchers, etc. Now, you have a comprehensive article on Keto that people will bookmark and keep going back as it contains all the information that is required in a single place. Aim for this.
Go Viral: As simple as it is to say that, creating viral content is not that difficult either, assuming you have done your homework. A simple step would be to be controversial, but not everyone can afford to be so. Getting viral would open a plethora of opportunities for you as people will come back to your site and it will help in your digital marketing efforts too.
Jonah Berger, author of ‘Contagious: Why things catch on’, explains that the reason why content goes viral on social media is not necessarily significant as long as it resonates with the target audience.
Internal Linking of Pages:
In fact, this is not even a hack, it’s a simple step that most of you can follow. Probably one of the most effective ways to increase page views on your site. On each content that you post, make sure you find 3-4 relevant posts that resonate with this post and link them to it. If they are hooked to your content, they will be willing to read other posts of yours and hyperlink to other articles will only help them to engage more with your content.
I had an opportunity to take insights from Gaurav Gurbaxani, Co-founder of Onlinebusiness.org, an organization that teaches online marketing to businesses. Gaurav is associated with leading digital marketing agencies, online training institutes and has been learning from the Internet since he was 14. Find excerpts from the discussion on improving the visitor count for your website, below:
Today, businesses compete for traffic. It is competitive, getting more aggressive and a general rule of thumb is that the more targeted traffic a business can generate, it gets translated into more sales, leads, relationships and in turn, huge success as well.
Traffic = Money. Find the right offer and you can build an automated selling machine by repeatedly driving traffic to an offer that converts into profit.
1. Be Generous with your Knowledge and Content. The more value you deliver to visitors on your website, the more you will be rewarded by Google. Period.
2. Be Relevant. Be an authority. If your readers look up to you and share your content, you will gain with organic SEO traffic and viral Social Media traffic as well.
3. Automate. There is a tool for everything. Save time by automating mundane tasks and grow your social presence.
4. Be Creative. Content that stands out goes further. Use animation software, video effects, and live chat to engage with visitors.
5. Go Old School. Use direct marketing like email, forums and blogs to reach your niche audience and build a following.
While there are definitive hacks available for instant traffic, think long-term when growing an online business that thrives on website visitors.

Reference:https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/305274

Email Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2018

The number of email users have grown exponentially over the years, and there's no sign that it will be stopping in 2018. Studies have shown that almost 90% of American consumers use email, and 65% or more have bought something online due to promotional emails.
This means the future of marketing relies on data-boosted content marketing. If you want to keep up with your competitors, you should watch out for these email marketing trends that are expected to dominate next year.

Increased Interactivity Inside Emails

Marketers forecast that emails will show increased interactivity in 2018, with the goal of making them fun to read so engagement rates are increased and bounce rates reduced.
One of the best ways to do this is to enhance emails by including image galleries, quizzes, GIFs, countdown timers, and add-to-cart capabilities. Quizzes and GIFS will lead to increased customer footprints while countdown timers create a feeling of urgency that will push recipients to take action within a stipulated time-frame. Meanwhile, including an add-to-cart function will shorten shopping time and enhance brand experience.
Email Marketing Programs Backed by Artificial Intelligence
It's a given that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology will be a big part of the future. As a matter of fact, numerous tech companies have already invested heavily in developing AI technology that will make lives easier. Email marketing is one area that will reportedly benefit from machine learning.
It's expected that machine learning programs can assist companies and email marketers by suggesting ways on how to better segment email lists, incorporate product recommendations and design more personalized emails that target specific customers.
Rise of More Plain-Text Emails
The trend of using HTML-powered email templates with images is over. Instead, 2018 will see the rise of plain-text emails. Researchers have found that this style of email is more effective than the HTML ones. Marketing campaigns using plain text emails have been found to have higher delivery and open rates, as well as better engagement numbers.
Marketing specialists have theorized that plain text emails look the same across various gadgets and look more personal. Recipients don't have to open a browser to read a plain-text email. They're also easier to format for mobile devices.
Mobile Becomes a Priority
More than half of emails are opened on a mobile device, and 2018 is expected to be the year when emails will be designed with mobile formatting as a priority.

Graphic via superoffice.com

Pretty soon, companies will be obligated to have a responsive design when it comes emails. This trend won't be limited to emails though. Subscription forms will also become more mobile friendly while articles will start wrapping up their content with an email signup form to boost conversions.
Increased Significance of Gmail and its Subscriber-Level Filtering
Gmail is becoming the primary inbox provider for a lot of companies. Therefore, most customers on subscriber lists have a Gmail address. But due to Gmail's system of filtering email, it becomes imperative for businesses to think about how it will be placed in the inbox.
In order for marketers to optimize clicks, opens, and conversions, they have to pay more attention to who they are emailing and how they're sending their email.Questions like whether the subscriber is actively receiving and interacting with the email and whether they have economic value should be answered. Likewise, the frequency of emails sent, the order, and even the time that they're sent becomes more significant.
However, the upcoming year will see more companies using more robust analytics to optimize results and foregoing conventional rules like not sending mail to those who haven't clicked or opened an email in the past three months.
The year 2018 will see more emails that are deeply personalized and utilizing advanced automation technologies. The integration of AI and machine learning will also help marketers to harness the power of email marketing and use it to further their business.

Reference:https://www.webpronews.com/email-marketing-trends-watch-2018-2017-11/