With search engines constantly changing their algorithms and evolving search behavior among users, SEO trends have to jive with these changes to keep up with the needs and demands of the stakeholders.
That is why staying up-to-date on SEO trends and best practices is crucial if you want your website to appear higher in search results and be easier to find.
So, what are the latest SEO trends for 2023? What are the ways to optimize them?
Top 15 SEO Trends (2023)
In this article, we will walk you through each powerful SEO trend dominating this year and what best practices Your Digital Biz Solution Digital Marketing Agency has followed to boost our clients’ business presence in the digital world.
1. E.E.A.T
Segregate your videos into chapters.
Before 2022 ended, Google got an additional “E” to the popular EAT acronym, which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust. The new vowel stands for “Experience,” which denotes that Google now considers the experience of the creator or author during content evaluation.
Google wants to ensure that the content that ranks well in 2023 is made by real people who write for real people.
So, what can you do this year to help your creators gain more experience and authority?
Ensure that the people writing your content are experts, first and foremost. Then make their experience better by doing the following:
- Include author bios to tell your readers more about what your content creator knows and what they specialize in.
- Make author pages with links to all the articles on your website that the author wrote.
- Link the social media accounts of your creators so that Google can see more easily that these people are authentic and experts in their industry.
2. Audience-targeted content
One reason why Google has increased its focus on experience is that content creation is rapidly proliferating, which is why guidelines and measures are being implemented to prevent spammy or irrelevant content from reaching users.
Ranking success in 2023 is unlikely for businesses whose content strategy is just trying to get search traffic without considering what users want.
To make content that will rank well, you need to stay on topic and within your industry.
A content planning tool can help you find out what your target audience wants to know about your industry. Enter a keyword, and the software will show you the many other keywords that people are typing into the search bar that are relevant to such a keyword.
3. SEO Competitor Analysis
Competitor analysis helps shape your SEO strategy. In 2023, SEO tools will make competitor analysis even more accessible and effective.
Google puts more weight on a website’s topic areas and industry expertise. Therefore, looking at the thought leaders in your industry is an excellent way to figure out what kinds of content will rank in your industry.
You can compare your content, backlinks, domain authority, and more with your competitors through SEO competitor software.
Study how your competitors use on-page and off-page signals to show their experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Use what you’ve learned in your SEO campaigns and content strategy.
4. Video
As the number of online video platforms grows, it’s crucial to have an SEO plan that includes video format.
Research shows that by the end of 2023, approximately 80% of all IP traffic worldwide will include video.
But before getting too fired up about it, there is an important SEO and social media marketing trend you need to know. Over time, users’ attention span has decreased. People prefer short-form, on-point videos rather than reading long articles. Thus, making informative videos should be a big part of your SEO strategy.
Businesses of all sizes have embraced video production as a part of the numerous digital marketing trends. Entrepreneurs are using it to connect with customers and reach more people.
How can you get search engines to find your videos?
Optimize your video channel (like YouTube).
Write a thumbnail description for each video and answer questions about who, what, and why. Give a user-friendly overview of your channel.
Use keywords and avoid stuffing them in the video description.
Use long-tail keywords in the picture of your product.
By using a few relevant keywords and hashtags, you can get your content in front of people who might find it beneficial.
When making videos for social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, keep them short. Also, try to get the viewer’s attention within the first 2-3 seconds.
If your video content is good, it’s more likely that high-authority sites will link to it, which will help you rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
A Featured Snippet with a YouTube video shows up when someone searches for “how to” and wants step-by-step instructions.
With all of these in mind, ensuring your videos are optimized for Search is essential.
Chapters divide your video into sections, usually based on what they are about. This extra layer of information helps viewers and Google understand what a video is about. It also makes it easy for Google to use different parts of your video for Featured Snippets.
Add Closed Captions (CC).
Closed captions make it possible for Google and YouTube to understand every word in your video. Even though YouTube can make captions for you automatically, they aren’t always right, so it’s better to add your own.
Optimize your title, tags, and description.
Videos are like webpages; they have titles, descriptions (called meta descriptions), and tags (like meta tags). Use SEO best practices to improve these.
5. Mobile UX
Mobile search is growing rapidly.
With over 4 billion mobile users worldwide, Google’s priorities changed when it made the Mobile-First Index. This means that Google predominantly uses the page’s mobile version to index and rank it.
If your page’s mobile version is not well-optimized or has less content, you may lose rankings in both mobile and desktop search results.
People who use mobile devices are likely to look for answers in the middle of a task; hence they need answers in a snap.
This 2023, it is crucial to ensure that your website is well-optimized. The following are the things you can do to make your website is mobile-friendly:
- Use bigger fonts for increased readability
- Make sure your site is mobile-friendly.
- Avoid Flash and pop-ups
- Make the buttons more prominent, so they are easy to click.
- Use lightweight images to make pages load faster.
You can also change your content strategy to increase your chances of grabbing the featured snippet and ranking higher than your competitors.
Mobile users rarely have time to scroll, so optimizing your featured snippet is necessary if you want to be seen online.
To improve your featured snippet, you need to:
- Find out what and how the currently featured snippets look like for your important searches, take notes, and learn from them.
- Organize your content with H2-H3 subheadings that answer questions behind searches that lead to featured snippets.
- Putting short, correct answers with no more than 90 characters below each subhead for Google to grab and feature.
If you tell your writers to follow these steps in your writing guidelines, you are on your way to improving your ranking.
6. Localize Search Engine Result Page (SERP)
Now that Google is more intent on pushing toward very localized search results, it is time to up-level your local SEO strategy.
Going back to positive user experience, Google wants to show results that are helpful for the users.
In the past few months, country-specific content and businesses have done better in search results than global entities.
That’s because, case in point, the sites that rank well in the US may not necessarily benefit other parts of the world. Search results change depending on where the user is.
Thus, websites that want to reach people in a specific city, state, or country will need to include the name of the city, state, or country so that Google pushes your site to a higher ranking.
7. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Content and Content Writing Software
The use of SEO and AI in numerous marketing applications is rapidly growing because of how these integrations can save a lot of time and money.
Most content marketers have used AI content generators. But the big question is, with the ever-evolving algorithm of Google, is content-writing software safe to use?
Absolutely! Marketers can use these tools to speed up their content workflows and make original, high-quality content.
Below are some of the best ways to use these tools:
Content ideas.
Tools like blog topic generators can speed up the process of coming up with ideas. Half the battle is already won when you have conceptualized a good idea for content from a given keyword; hence, an idea generator can help you do that.
Content Outlines.
are a great way to show your writers how to write helpful content without relying too much on AI to do the work.
Content Briefs.
Content briefs help your writers know what keywords, topics, and subtopics are essential for their original content.
8. SEO Automation
Automation is swiftly gaining popularity, and digital marketers are fully intent on leveraging the power of SEO software platforms and tools.
For instance, keyword research tools eliminate manual tallying and filtering of keywords in spreadsheets. Site monitoring and auditing platforms can automatically find website changes and technical problems.
Website graders enable site owners who need to learn more about SEO to determine what changes need to be made and how to prioritize them.
With more DIY SEO tools, efficiency and efficacy are also increased. Businesses and agencies can now devote their time to creating tactics and implementing strategies.
9. Natural Language Processing (NLP) Optimization
Google has recently become much better at understanding websites than ever before. They spend their resources, time, and energy on neural matching and natural language processing, which helps search engines understand how and what people are talking about. This also helps people understand how Google handles content.
Google’s regular updates to their AI language capabilities enable search engines to better comprehend users’ search behavior.
With this in mind, writing content for people and computers is imperative.
Natural language processing (NLP) is how Google processes language to figure out interconnectedness in a text. The type of content that works well with NLP is simply straightforward, easy-to-read content– thus, the word natural.
Without further ado, here are some tips on writing better, more precise, and easier-to-read content.
- Use short, simple sentences.
Simple is best. Use words that are easy to understand. Make your sentences short, and as much as possible, construct your sentences in an active voice.
- Keep each sentence to one idea.
Keep complexity at a minimum. Sparingly use clauses and pronouns.
- Closely connect questions to answers.
Bring the questions and answers together. Avoid fluff.
- Be specific, then expound on the details.
If you want your writing to be easy to understand for machines and people, start with the specifics, then go deep with an in-depth analysis and details. In addition, use real numbers and statistics, and factual answers to support your topic.
- Avoid using jargon.
Don’t use jargon or words that are hard to understand. If a term is used sparingly, Google may be unable to figure out how it relates to other things.
Simplicity is key. By removing jargon and other filler in your content, you are reducing the semantic distances between elements, making them easier to crawl.
- Organize your information.
Create a map and organize your information, so it’s easy for people to navigate the content. Always keep your audience in mind and answer this question: “If I were the user, in what order should the information be for me to understand?”
- Create headings and subheadings.
Use subheadings to break up the content.
- Use lists and bullet points.
Breaking up lists with bullets or numbers can help people read them better. Using bullets or numbers to break up a list also makes it easier for a robot to crawl and extract information.
- Pay attention to grammar and punctuation.
Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are easy for a machine to find and crawl. A well-written, structured, spelled, and grammatically correct document is a sign of authority according to Search Quality Rater Guidelines.
These readability tips improve the reading experience for both the user and the algorithm.
10. Topic and Keyword Cluster
A topic cluster is a group of content that delves deep into a broad topic and breaks it into smaller, more specific sub-topics that can be discussed in more depth. They help answer all the questions a user might have about a particular topic in an industry niche.
Topic Clusters are built around a page or piece of content called a “pillar.” The cluster that goes with it digs deeper into the general topic on which the pillar page is based.
Another way of leveling up your on-page optimization is by using keyword clusters.
Keyword clusters are keywords that represent searchers with similar buying intent.
But how do you create these two clusters? Below are the simplified steps for creating keyword and topic clusters.
Make a keyword list.
The first step in the keyword cluster is to do keyword research. Find the main keyword and then all the variations and sub-topics that people are using to look for it.
Segment keywords.
After compiling your list of keywords, look for a pattern that will help you make groups and clusters of keywords.
Make pillar pages for keyword clusters and optimize them.
Once you're done creating keyword clusters, you can use it as a map to help you create and optimize content for your website.
Keyword clusters are your website’s most important topics. They are also called “pillar pages.“
Add blog posts to the pillar page to make it stronger.
Make blog posts that strengthen your keyword clusters to boost the authority of your content and your ranking on pillar pages. These blogs cover related subtopics or answer other questions that people often ask. To rank high on Google's search page results, you need to link between your blogs and your "pillar" pages.
11. Strengthening content
There are several reasons why it is imperative to revise different kinds of content, and here are some of them:
- Pay attention to grammar and punctuation.
SEO is a game that everyone is playing. When you’re done and publish your content, your competitors will still be working.
Stay ahead of the competition by consistently coming up with new ideas and improving your content. The featured snippet from the front page of today could be at the back of page four.
- Ever-changing search behavior
The best kind of content is one that answers the searcher’s question. Find out what the person searching for wants and give it to them.
The problem is that how people search changes over time; it never stays the same. Three years from now, content that was perfect for the user three years ago will have a different value.
- Latest information
One of the quickest ways to make high-authority content is to use data and statistics from well-known and trusted sources.
If you want your content to appear on page one of Google’s search results, you must keep it fresh and up-to-date and make changes.
Over time, information can change, so it is crucial to keep your content fresh, revised, and sourced from credible resources.
12. Schema Markup
Schema markup is one of the newest trends in technical SEO. This optimization tool will help you rank higher on the search engine results pages and get noticed.
Schema markup, or structured data, is a coding language that enables search engines to understand the content on your pages and show more valuable results on the SERPs.
Search engine powerhouses such as Google, Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo collaborated to launch the Schema.org project to add microdata to websites.
Schema markup’s prime feature is its unique way of organizing data about all kinds of people, places, and things on the web. Some of the most common schema markups are for articles, events, products, people, reviews, recipes, etc.
On schema’s website, you can see the complete list of things that can be organized with schema markup. After adding these markups to your site where needed, the search engine figures out what your site is about.
The search engine will then use Rich Snippets to show this information.
Although schema markup isn’t an algorithm ranking factor, it has numerous benefits that help improve your website’s SEO.
Schema helps search engines give better results since it helps Google know what your website is about before showing it to people.
13. IndexNow
Google’s advocacy of finding ways to keep improving the users’ experience is their motivation to embrace innovation.
Google is next in line to use the IndexNow protocol.
IndexNow was created by Microsoft back in October 2021. It is an open-source engine used by search engines to find new content. It uses the push method instead of the traditional pull method of retrieving content.
When a website that uses IndexNow API changes its content, deletes a post, or adds a new one, the API sends this information to the search engines.
Other giant search engines such as Bing and Yandex have already adapted to the IndexNow protocol to make indexing faster and minimize crawl load, thus saving energy and promoting efficiency.
A statement released by Google has confirmed that Google is part of the IndexNow movement. They are testing how well the protocol works to see if it helps Google be more environmentally friendly.
Google takes a holistic approach to sustainability. They want to get all of their power from renewable sources by 2030. IndexNow’s Carbon Neutral initiative makes it more likely that Google will use it. When this happens, it will be easier for the search engine giant to list the pages.
14. Core Web Vitals
The most significant change made by Google in the past few years was the page experience launched in the previous year.
The experience of a page, which is now measured by Core Web Vitals, is now a real ranking factor for Google.
Core Web Vitals are a set of ranking factors that Google uses to determine a user’s overall experience on a website. It is now a vital SEO technique in 2023 and will keep innovating every year.
It measures the following metrics:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): how long the page's most significant piece of content is to load.
- First Input Delay (FID): the time it takes for your site to respond to a user's first action on a page.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): measures how many unexpected layout changes happen on a page over time.
Changing your Core Web Vitals will make a big difference in how well you do in search engines.
Improving Core Web Vitals signals on your pages will improve your search engine performance more than any other new SEO trend in 2023. This may need the help of skilled web developers, but you can start with these free tools to improve your page performance.
- Google Search Console allows you to determine which pages meet and does not meet the Core Web Vitals standards. It will also identify what kinds of issues are affecting your pages.
- PageSpeed Insights provides Core Web Vitals data and reports that allow you to look closely at how your web pages perform for its users.
15. People Also Ask
According to a recent study, the People Also Ask feature comes up for about 48.6% of searches.
Who wouldn’t want to covet this prominent place at the top of the SERP, even if the page where you answered ranks lower on the first two pages?
But how do you get there?
You can improve your chances by making these small changes to your content:
- Use a tool for keyword research to find long-tail question keywords, which you can use in your page headers.
- Use the search engine results pages (SERPs) or a keyword research tool to find out what long-tail question keywords your audience uses. Your content needs to answer questions that people often have.
- Include the questions in your answers in your H2, H3, and H4 headings.
- Add a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Add a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section at the bottom of your website pages. Most PAA boxes start with a WH question words like “what,” “why,” and “when”. Adding an FAQ section with questions and answers in your content will be great. It not only summarizes important points for readers, but it also helps with your SEO.
Conclusion
There is one thing constant in this world; change. It may feel overwhelming, but keeping yourself up-to-date with the latest trends and taking actions like studying them, creating S.M.A.R.T. goals, and implementing them one at a time will eventually get you to your SEO goals.
Also, take advantage of the SEO tools available to efficiently and effectively meet Google’s ranking standards.
Hope this guideline will help you reach your marketing goals for this year.
Cheers!
