Due to Google’s continuous updates to its ranking algorithm in order to enhance user search experience, SEO remains a highly dynamic field within digital marketing. This presents an annual chance for marketers to assess the SEO patterns influencing the search engine domain.
The focus of this year centers on showcasing our content expertise and value, while persisting in producing web pages that perform exceptionally for our users. These approaches have maintained significance in SEO’s preceding years, however, Google’s capacity to assess signals and establish content that meets these standards has improved significantly.
1. First-hand experience on a topic (the new “E” in EEAT)
As of December 2022, Google’s popular EAT acronym, (Expertise, Authority, Trust) has gotten an additional E: Experience. Google will now consider the experience of the author or creator when evaluating the quality of content.
What exactly is the definition of “experience”? Google requires evidence that the author of the content possesses genuine, practical knowledge of the subject matter being discussed. This implies that websites should scrutinize not only the identity of their content creators, but also the subjects they are highlighting.
This brings me to the following two trends.
2. Audience-targeted, not traffic-targeted content
The growing prevalence of SEO content creation is one factor driving the heightened importance placed on experience.
When a website selling financial software creates blog posts featuring food recipes, Google crawlers will become suspicious. This is because it is unclear if the content is useful to the intended audience of financial software customers or if it simply serves to boost the website’s ranking for high-volume keywords.
The answer is already known by you. In 2023, businesses that solely target search traffic without regard for user preferences are unlikely to achieve high rankings. To produce content that is worthy of ranking, it is crucial to remain within the scope of your topic and industry.
If you’re uncertain about the content subjects to pursue, utilizing a content planning tool could assist you in identifying pertinent industry subjects that your intended audience is searching for. Input a keyword, and the tool will display various semantically linked keywords that users are entering into the search field.
3. Increased emphasis on author authority
Google’s focus on experience is also driven by the increasing prevalence of auto-generated content appearing in search engine results pages. In order to ensure that only quality content produced with genuine audiences in mind ranks in 2023, Google is prioritizing experience in their algorithms.
What steps can you take this year to enhance the expertise and credibility of your content creators? To begin with, ensure that your content creators are genuinely knowledgeable. Afterward, raise their level of proficiency with the following actions:
- Include author bios to better and more fully communicate your content creator’s knowledge and areas of expertise
- Create author pages where you link out to all of the articles on your website that are written by the author
- Link your creators’ social media accounts so Google can more easily understand through social signals that they are real people and real experts.
This is a sample of a superb author biography that enhances the perception and credibility of the writer as a specialist in PPC.
4. Satisfying, helpful content
The upcoming significant algorithm update from Google in August 2022 regarding helpful content will influence our content creation strategies in the year 2023.
Throughout its existence, Google has consistently made serving top-notch content to users a priority. However, with its recent focus on “helpful” content, Google is highlighting the importance of users feeling content and fulfilled with the content they access through SERPs.
It is a challenging task to measure or quantify user satisfaction. Therefore, when Google refers to “helpful,” what qualifies as helpful content?
- Created for humans, not search engines.
- Appropriate for the target audience.
- Relevant to the primary topic or subject area of the website.
- Created by authoritative, experienced creators.
- Displays a depth of knowledge about the topic.
Making your content more helpful can be challenging. Therefore, what methods can you use to achieve this goal?
Prioritize quality over quantity. Even if your content calendar for 2023 includes numerous target keywords, generating a large quantity of content that lacks substance and expertise is unlikely to lead to high-ranking results.
Additionally, broaden your exploration of keywords to encompass more than simply the search volume. Take into account these factors:
- What types of content are ranking for specific searches?
- How long is the content?
- What questions does it answer?
- What other subtopics or related questions does it explore?
- What links are included on the page?
- Who is the creator?
- What is their experience?
Don’t solely rely on organic traffic and overlook the valuable insights provided by keyword research and content research pertaining to quality indicators.
5. Content writing software and artificial intelligence content are the same thing.
Although the 2022 upgrades were aimed at combating auto-generated content, it is anticipated that the usage of AI content will rise further in 2023.
There is a continuous rise in the quantity of marketing applications that combine SEO and AI. This is unsurprising considering the significant amount of time that can be saved with such integrations. Within the last year, the majority of content marketers have made use of AI content generators in some form.
Is it safe to use content-writing software in light of Google’s recent updates? The answer is yes! While generating auto-made drafts is highly discouraged, marketers can utilize these tools to expedite their content creation process and produce genuine, high-quality content.
These tools offer several helpful applications that preserve the originality and human-centered aspect of the content.
- Content briefs: Content tools that generate content briefs can help your writers understand the important keywords, topics, and subtopics that should be included in their original content.
- Content outlines: Outlines are a great way to give your writers a roadmap for how to create helpful content without relying on AI to do the work for them.
- Content ideas: Tools like blog topic generators can speed up the brainstorming process. Moving from a keyword to a helpful content idea can be half the battle, and an idea generator can help prevent writer’s block. For example, here is an auto-generated blog idea that has been revised to include the website’s brand voice and be more tailored to the website’s younger target
By utilizing content writing software, one can improve their ability to adhere to Google’s quality standards instead of circumventing or disregarding them, as illustrated in this particular case.
6. SEO automation
Enterprise SEO software platforms and tools will increasingly automate SEO tasks in 2023, similar to content AI, as digital marketers seek to maximize their efficiency.
- Keyword research tools can automate tasks that once required a lot of manual spreadsheet work.
- Site auditing and monitoring platforms like SearchAtlas and Content King can automatically detect changes and technical issues on websites.
- Website graders can help the less SEO-savvy to identify needed optimizations and prioritize accordingly.
The proliferation of DIY SEO tools will enable both businesses and agencies to handle tactics with greater efficiency and devote more attention to strategic efforts.
7. Content created for humans, not for bots
In 2021, Google introduced the Helpful Content Update that prioritizes value as the key factor in ranking.
To produce content for humans, it is essential to ensure that the text you create meets the intended keyword search and provides comprehensive responses to user inquiries. For this reason, Google favors content that is well-researched, well-written, and easy to comprehend, and also includes an original human element derived from personal expertise and experiences.
Producing content intended for human consumption can benefit your SEO efforts in multiple ways:
- Boosted engagement – human-oriented content is more likely to be engaging and informative, leading to increased time on site, reduced bounce rates, and increased shares and backlinks. All of these factors can help to improve your search engine rankings.
- Improved user experience – by producing content that is easy to read, navigate, and understand, you can improve the overall user experience of your website.
- Increased relevance – you will raise chances that your website will be considered an authority on a given topic.
At the same time, the update reduces the relevance of content intended to manipulate search engine rankings, which is packed with.
- Keyword stuffing
- Plagiarism
- Irrelevancy
Such manipulative tactics can lead to the demotion of a website’s ranking on search results by Google’s algorithm.
8. Topic clusters
The use of topic clusters is an incredibly helpful technique for arranging content according to specific subjects. Essentially, topic clusters involve organizing content around a central theme or topic. In terms of structure, this involves…
- Central “pillar page” that covers a broad topic
- Clusters that cover specific aspects of the main topic and are hyperlinked on the central “pillar page”
The content within the clusters should be connected to the main content, while the main content should also have references to the contents within the clusters.
Assisting search engines in comprehending the interrelation between subjects and the substance of your site can amplify the discoverability of search outcomes and simplify visitors’ movement through the website to locate pertinent information.
To sum up, the main points to consider regarding the advantages of SEO are
- Increased chance of ranking
- Expanded traffic
- Boosted user experience
9. Keyword research
Keyword research is essential in content creation because it determines which topics and themes should be included in the content. Employing a keyword research method enhances the output of your content creation.
- You can identify what your potential customers are searching for and then create topics around that subject.
- You can look at several keyword combinations and understand what themes should be covered in your main topic.
- Including relevant keywords in your texts will help search engine bots comprehend what your content is about. It may improve your ranking heights and increase your visibility.
Make sure to steer clear of black hat techniques like keyword stuffing, as this can negatively impact your SEO, readability, and ranking with Google. The key is to maintain a natural flow throughout your content.
10. Long-tail keywords
In 2023, ensuring the optimization of long-tail keywords will remain a crucial element of a successful SEO strategy for multiple reasons, as predicted by the upcoming trend in SEO.
- They are more specific.
Usually, long-tail keywords are phrases with more words and greater specificity.
An instance of a long-tail keyword is “best glasses for round face” whereas “glasses” is a concise, more universal keyword. “Best glasses for round face” is a targeted, less crowded keyword that can aid in the website’s ranking for a specialized niche.
- They can attract more qualified traffic.
You can effectively reach potential customers who are more inclined to take interest in your products or services by focusing on them. For instance, if someone searches for “hiking boots for flat feet,” they may be more inclined to purchase your glasses or become a potential converter after proper nurturing.
- They can help uncover new opportunities.
Through the exploration of long-tail keywords, you may discover fresh perspectives and themes to incorporate into your content, enabling you to draw in novel viewers and potentially gain new keyword rankings.
- They can help to increase click-through rates:
Long-tail keywords are advantageous in enhancing click-through rates as they are closely related to user intent and more specific. Users searching for a specific topic such as “SEO content eBook” are highly inclined to click on relevant SERP results.
11. Authentic product page reviews
What is the implication of Google’s new algorithm update, the Product Review Update, for individuals? This update aims to favor product review pages that offer comprehensive research on product specifications and demonstrate excellent product review quality.
- As a consumer, you will find reviews written by people who have personally tested and experimented with the product they’re reviewing.
- As a website owner, product review pages should be of the highest quality if you want to be visible in search results.
In 2023, successful search engine optimization requires excellent product page SEO. As per webmaster guidelines, companies need to optimize their product pages for both technical and content-driven SEO to enhance crawl ability and secure a higher rank on Google’s search results.
The optimization of a website’s technical aspects like page loading speed, mobile-friendliness, and structured data falls under technical SEO. On the other hand, content-driven SEO concentrates on refining page content by incorporating specific keywords and phrases while providing engaging product descriptions that attract potential clients.
12. Image SEO
In 2023, Image SEO plays a vital role in enhancing a website’s search engine visibility. It entails optimizing the images for web usage by reducing their file size and compressing them while preserving their quality.
Optimizing images can improve website loading speed and the overall user experience. Additionally, it can boost SEO rankings and generate higher traffic for websites.
In 2023, the top techniques for optimizing images for SEO include optimizing for Google’s CWV benchmarks, incorporating keywords with the help of artificial intelligence, implementing structured data, and crafting appropriate alt texts for images.
The amalgamation of all these strategies heighten both user satisfaction and search engine rankings, ultimately resulting in increased conversions and reduced bounce rates.
