How to perform well in Google in 2019

As machine learning gets smarter and smarter, and Google's algorithm continues to evolve, it's going to be an interesting year for maintaining a strong online presence in 2019. Gone are the days of hustling the search engine by stuffing your page with keywords and hoping that sees it pop up the search results. Here are our top few thoughts on what search engine optimisation is going to mean in the new year and how you can keep performing well on Google.

A positive reputation online is the new word of mouth
Online reviews for businesses are becoming increasingly important in picking up work for companies. A highly reviewed business across platforms like Google & Facebook, as well as industry specific sites like TripAdvisor and the likes will see it's success breed success. Not only do those positive reviews influence a customer's decision making process, we've seen them increasingly help out from a search engine perspective.

The humanesque brain of the algorithm
As Google has evolved, it's AI capabilities are making it closer and closer to a human in it's ability to recognise original and valuable content. What that means for website owners, SEO specialists and content creators is that it's important to invest time in uploading quality content to your website and social media platforms. Automatically generated articles or regurgitated stories are falling to the wayside - so having a quality content creator on your team is going to be increasingly important.

The basics still apply
While the old days of keyword stuffing on websites is gone, the basics of white hat search engine optimisation continues. If you want to do well on Google, you'll still want to get a few things right. Say the right thing in the right places, make sure your site is technically well built and is optimised for speedy and mobile friendly use, and you'll be off to an excellent start.

Be social - in a way that's appropriate for your business
If you want to do well in search results, you should also want to be doing well on social media. In a perfect world you'd have multiple social media channels all engaging different audiences. Small businesses often don't have the time to be able to implement that sort of time, so consolidate your effort and focus on the platforms that suit your business. Getting your world out regularly and people engaging with your brand can definitely have a positive impact on search results.