SEO in 2018: A Transparent Future by Matt

What will search engine optimization (SEO) look like in 8 years? We’ll, we are here to make some educated assumptions, so hold on tight. The art of SEO will continue to be more and more transparent, and the act of searching for something will rely more on personal attributes on the client-side, rather than some sort of assumed relevancy that the search engine comes up with. This applies to many situations, however we are not about to assume modern-day SEO tactics, which can be summed up for us as “smart coding, smart connecting, and smart content” will lose their place in the near future.

In 1993, if we searched for a place to eat, we would need a phone book. In 1998, we could use the web but would most likely get results for huge brand-named restaurants. In 2003, we now get local results near our physical location via Google. Lastly, in 2010 we can now pick up our phone and use augmented reality to find the nearest place (as seen with app’s like Le Bar Guide). Holy crap thats progression, and we already can see our transparency assumption come to life: for things that affect us “here and now”, searching has become more and more relevant, localized, and based on human attributes.. no matter the marketing efforts of a restaurant in 25 miles from me, it is on most occasions not relevant to me.

Lets go one step further, and assume in 2018 we have either started living under a rock, or allowed almost everyone and everything to see our Facebook page, read our Twitter posts, and even give some access to our spending habits and medical information. These things, when pulled together and paired with GPRS, and other mobile device sensors will revolutionize searching and relevancy.

So you want to search for a car to buy? Unless you are a complete outlier in your car picks, a search engine knows your age, your needs/interests, your height, weight, budget, occupation, if your a male, female, if the vehicle is available in your state, if a used one is located near you, and if your friends or family work for a car company so you can get an S-plan discount.. and thats hardly everything. So now we ask, by what method does a search engine know how to pair me up with a certain vehicle? Well lets not assume car companies can or will hand out all their sales information, and go back to open source solutions. Cars have WiFi and advanced multimedia stations now, in 2018 cars will have social media connectivity, and now your vehicle’s make, model, and usage information can be cross referenced with anyone else who has similar attributes you do.

Guess what else this says? Assuming we have given up hope on any privacy issues, Chemistry.com, and eHarmony.com wont have surveys to take anymore, because they just need to use an API to your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Health, then read your iPhone’s GPRS location (also taking note of your sleeping and eating habits), and that takes care of just about everything you could possibly want to know. Oh wait, unless you allow some basic info to be ported from your Mint.com account, then we can make sure shopaholics get dates with good financial advisors.

So what does this say for SEO? Well, for starters, searches are still based largely off of who provides the most “relevant” content (relevant being relative to the search engine), and who is considered an authority on the topic.. whether that be through content development, years present on the web, or visitors and interactions per day. However, we will slowly watch searches use more elements than just location, and their accuracy and efficiency will largely depend on the transparency we feel safe providing through various web-based portals. Summing this up, here are our some SEO tips for those with the future in mind:

• If you use social media, fill out your info using relevant keywords, and go into detail so users fully understand the scope of what you do.
• Share your research, your findings, and some of your IP (intellectual property). If you dont, someone else will, and you will lose out on any web-based authority, or even collaboration opportunities.
• Slowly but surely build content for yourself, or your business. Take videos, pictures, or write about what you know, what you see, and what is interesting to you; it will come in handy at some point.

If you need help with SEO, building a blog, or anything on the web for that matter, make sure to contact us.