Cashfree Payment Gateway: 2018 SEO Trends and Marketing Strategy Essentials

As marketers, we are very familiar with the concept of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and how it works. As a quick recap, search engines like Google don't suddenly decide to push your content to the front page or the top of the search results.SEO is the key to this, and it's an organic way of being able to elevate your content to the front page or the top results of a search engine. However, SEO in 2018 seems to be a bit of a surprise.

According to Hubspot, 61% marketers cite improving SEO and increasing their natural presence as their most important introductory marketing tactics.

Here are the top 6 SEO trends that were hot in 2018 that seem to be trending deeper in 2019 as well!

1. classic SEO 2018 trends

We know that classic is timeless, so the basics of SEO will never go out of style. Setting up keywords, meta tags, descriptions, images, etc. correctly is a timeless formula for improving search engine rankings. Search engine algorithms are updated almost every fortnight. In order to meet the basic requirements of these algorithms, it is vital to maintain a traditional SEO system. You can take a quick look at our How to Boost Traffic by 500% tutorial to avoid making mistakes in the basics.

2. Backlinks

These days, you may often see abbreviations such as S4S, L4L and C4C on social media platforms such as Instagram. What exactly are these? These are terms used by well-known people or businesses to increase the number of followers, likes and comments.

S4S - Share for Share

L4L - Likes for Likes

C4C - Comment for Comment

For example, if you own an online business and want to increase your followers. You would find other players in the market that are similar to you and ask them to share, like or comment on your posts and in return, you would do the same for them. In this way, you are sharing followers with each other to gain more visibility.

Why do I bring this up in the context of this "backlinks" concept? It's because backlinks work similarly to S4S on social media when it comes to content. Backlinks are basically mentions of other bloggers or influencers on your blog and vice versa. Backlinking is very popular in SEO in 2018 because it automatically builds brand credibility for your content. It seems simple enough, but if you belong to a very niche business area, getting readers or visitors can be difficult. However, don't skip this trend as it will pay off for you in the long run!

3. Guest blog posts

Guests are always welcome. Keep the door open and invite them to write for your blog. Guest blog posts are closely linked to backlinks. A blogger or influencer writes for your blog to convey a specific message to your audience. Guest blogging works best if the person writing for you or the blog you're writing for has a high DA (domain authority), PA (page authority), or industry credibility (CEO, independent blogger, etc.). With all the perks that come with guest blogging, it has become a mainstream SEO trend and component.

4. Smart magnet method

This method requires you to bid on keywords intelligently. The Smart Magnet method is all about identifying the most commonly used advertising keywords and using them for your content or copy.

For example, I write a marketing and payments blog for PayUmoney. Here are the smart steps I will take:

Enter stealth mode

Enter what I intend to search for. For example: best payment gateway

I'm pretty sure all the top searches will have two letters: AD

Now, I will see all these adverts and pick keywords. For example: payment gateway India

I will use this keyword in my post and make it strong enough to rank high

So, the Smart Magnet method actually identifies keywords from ads and attracts more visitors by ranking high.

5. Multi-platform and multi-content

Multi-content means repurposing content. Content is a broad field with many faces: long-form content, copy, video, presentations, audio, GIFs, infographics, emojis, stories, and more. But not all forms are consumed equally. Today's fast-paced, impatient world demands short and sweet content. So here's a smarter way to rank: create long-form content and break it down into smaller content verticals for better results and views. Try this experiment:

Visit Google.com

Type "Instagram Content Strategy" in the search bar.

You'll see PayUmoney's blog + video at the top of the second page.

Therefore, in the SEO era of 2018, publishing multiple forms of content on multiple platforms is a plus! You can check out the PayUmoney SlideShare and PayUmoney YouTube channels to learn how to create optimised repurposed content.

6. Voice search

It's the future! 2/3 of people use their smartphones less because they use digital voice assistants like Amazon Echo or Google Home (Source: CNBC). The following statistics are enough to emphasise that voice search is the way forward for marketers: at least 37% of the population use Siri on a monthly basis, 23% use Microsoft's Cortana and 19% use Amazon's Alexa.

People say one thing and write another. For example, you might want to learn about "ways to collect money online", but when typing it, you might write "how to collect money online easily". As a result, there is an emerging trend to combine content with what people are likely to search for by voice rather than by writing.

These 6 trends may seem obvious. But it is always recommended to keep a close eye on them and explore new detailed areas in terms of SEO 2018. Before I conclude this topic, I would like to provide an updated cheat sheet of SEO tools that all businesses must have!

SEMrush - for detailed content analysis

Sumo - for clear email lists and subscription forms

Google Keyword Planner - for accurate keyword volume

Yoast - for succinct SEO content suggestions

Having an all-in-one payment solution is also a good idea while getting all the marketing ready for your business. Enjoy the best payment gateway experience now and grow your business with ease!