SEO Trends to Look Out For in 2023
In 2023, savvy business owners will be considering their plan of action for business growth for this year and into 2024. One of the most critical factors business growth is the improvement of your website’s performance through a strategic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy.
My website is already SEO-optimised?
SEO requires on-going, continual management. Your strategy needs to meet the new and current Google Algorithm updates and changes for ranking to stay optimised, therefore SEO is a strategy that requires constant management by an SEO Specialist.
SEO has been around for as long as we have had the internet, but it certainly hasn’t lost its strategic benefit. If anything, its importance has only catapulted due to the increase in competition across all industries. SEO has a foundation of set rules and strategies that never change. All new websites should have these foundational principles in place.
Is your website Search Engine Optimised for 2023?
Website templates created by designers typically have the structural settings in place for SEO, but SEO is much more than its structural setup. There are technical elements that must be considered like tags, headers, naming conventions, link strategies and on-page & off-page content strategies. There is also a multitude of new developments and considerations, thanks to Google’s everchanging Algorithm.
Here are SEO trends for 2023 that are imperative to keep up with the competition and to improve visibility of your website.
1. Mobile Responsive Web Design
Here are a few facts you may not be aware of:
- 54% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices
- 65% of all digital media time is spent on mobile devices
- 68% of businesses increased their online sales with a mobile-friendly website
- 88% of consumers who search for a business on a mobile device will call or visit that store within 24 hours
- 47% of users expect a page to load within 2 seconds
- 94% of first impressions are related to the design of your website
As you can see, implementing responsive Web Design techniques is a crucial strategy for SEO success in 2023. With so much to gain and so much to lose, isn’t it time you revisited your Website Design & SEO Strategy?
2. Content is still king in 2023
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Content is King”. It is king, and it remains to be king in 2023, but what kind of content should you be focusing on in order to get ahead of the competition?
Focus on content that is 100% Unique and Topically Relevant
Duplicated content is “bad” content in the eyes of Google. Ensure that all content you publish is 100% unique and topically relevant in order to boost your website ranking. Consider what information your potential customer may enjoy that is aligned with your business. Create content that connects, informs and provides a unique take on what is already featured online. This is how you can improve engagement and, ultimately, your visibility online.
Authoritative Content
Your business typically represents what you specialise in professionally. Over the course of years of schooling and industry experience, you have obtained knowledge and insight that is incredibly powerful to share. By creating credible, authoritative content, you can establish yourself and your business as a leader in your industry. Your knowledge is your strength and sharing these nuggets of wisdom does wonders for customer appeal. Just like testimonials increase your influence over prospective clients, so too does authoritative content.
Video Content
Video content is a necessity moving forward for your SEO campaign. It addresses the fact that people are increasingly time-poor and in need of quick answers. Video content is highly consumable content that can successfully deliver a large amount of information in a shorter timeframe. It is advisable to keep your video content short and sweet, implementing all the available publishing tools so that users can easily access the information they want. Video content is also paramount to the success of Social Media Marketing campaigns, with video reel consumption in Facebook Ads increasing by almost 50% in the past three months. Implementing highly relevant video content on your website increases your ability to meet the needs of a user’s search. Doing so, it improves your ability to rank over the competition.
Voice SEO
The use of digital assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant has increased, with 41% of adults using voice search daily. This is projected to continue rising beyond 2023. In creating Voice SEO content is to consider what kind of questions your potential customers could be asking about your business. Do a little brainstorming, and then test out the voice search on your digital assistant device if you have one. By reviewing the results, you can see what other companies are doing to hone in on this traffic. As always, keyword research is imperative to this process. Ensure you are targeting queries that are being used regularly. This is an area of growth that you will see gain momentum as the year progresses into the next.
Featured Snippet
Snippet inclusion, much like Voice SEO is a key content strategy to consider as we move into 2023. By including concise answers to popular queries concerning your business, you will improve your chances of appearing at the top of Google’s search results.
Passage Indexing
A new ranking algorithm and technology designed by Google is Passage Indexing. Not to be confused with the Featured Snippet, passage indexing produces results based on the user’s search query by scanning individual passages on a page for relevancy. Regardless of whether the answer to the search query is buried deep within a page, Google can still find it, featuring it directly at the top of the search engine results page. This is a strategy that should be considered, particularly in the development of Long Form content this strategy is best implemented.
Long Form Content
Long-form content is usually responsible for obtaining the most organic traffic for a website. It has been shown to generate 3x more traffic than shorter pages. Long-form content is extensive. It takes readers a long time to consume, increasing the time a user will be onsite engaging with your content. This sends a message to Google that the content is highly relevant to the search query. The reward for improved time on site is a boost in rank.
Mantle Digital Media has an experienced Copywriting team to facilitate the production of any and all client content development. Well-versed in the latest SEO trends and strategies, contact us to discuss our Copywriting Services.
Visual Search
Visual search asks a search engine for image or photo results, rather than text. A rather new technology, the results one receives come digital platforms that utilise Artificial Intelligence and visual recognition technology. Elements in an image are used to supply the user with the requested information. Google is continuing to develop this technology; thus, we should see this influence SEO more in the year to come. Another visual search technology in full force is Pinterest.
AI-Powered Tools & Rank Brain
AI is anticipated to change how we interact online, and it is already making its mark in a big way. Pioneering this technology for SEO, Google came up with a software called RankBrain. RankBrain is an artificial intelligence system that helps you obtain the research and results you desire, based on factors such as Search Intent and Location. Rankbrain has an incredible capacity to learn from all the input it receives. User experience signals such as click-thru rates and time on the page are one way it is suspected that RankBrain is influenced in its positioning of websites. Keeping in mind that Google wants nothing but to deliver the best and most accurate search results for a query, these factors will be instrumental in ascertaining where your website is found.
Local SEO and Google My Business
Local SEO and Google My Business is not a new strategy, but it is continually gaining momentum. Particularly critical to local service-oriented businesses, maintaining one’s Google My Business listing is key to local search optimisation. Google My Business is a tool provided by Google that complements the Google Maps listing. It helps match your business with potential customers in your service area. A combination of strategies gets implemented to gain traction in local search. Be sure to find a reliable local search professional with experience with these tools for maximum exposure.
Mantle Digital Media is a full-stack agency offering professional SEO Services to businesses across Gold Coast, Brisbane and Australia-wide. Get in touch to hear more about how we can increase the visibility of your website.
