SEO methods and tools have become increasingly sophisticated to keep up with algorithm changes. This is why your SEO strategy and the methods you use need to be updated regularly. So, what can we expect in 2023?
While it may still be too early to say, there are a few trends worth keeping your eye out for. Here’s what the future of SEO is likely to bring in 2023.
Know Google’s Algorithm Updates
In 2022, 10 Google algorithm updates were officially conferment and an unknown number of minor tweaks and patches. Do you have to keep track of all of them? Well, whenever a piece of information is available, it’s helpful that you follow it, but you don’t have to study and adjust to every change.
We’re still early in 2023, but in January already, we saw the helpful content and spam link update. This is a continuation of a link spam update released mid-December 2022; still, since the update wasn’t complete until mid-January 2023, we can rightfully consider it a 2023 update. Seeing as this took place during the holidays, it’s only natural that it took so long.
The simplest way to stay ahead of these updates is to learn the Google mindset. Some factors seem to be in constant focus; for instance:
- Linking
- Domain age
- Direct traffic
- Keywords in subdomains
- URL length
While they are often the primary target of Google updates, it’s clear that the work on them is far from finished.
Content Marketers Will Need to Create Helpful Content
Complete resources are also deemed helpful content. Google has been pushing for longer and longer formats for a while now. Around 2014-2015, 500–600-word posts were doing great. Fast-forward 8 years, and now it seems that Google favors 2000-3000+ formats far better.
The thing is that “complete guides” provide you with enough information that you don’t have to go anywhere else.
The content needs to meet the visitors’ expectations to be deemed helpful. This encourages you to be more honest in your titles and metadata. It also incentivizes you to avoid clickbait, seeing that there’s more on the line than the bounce rate.
It’s also worth mentioning that this is not fact-based decision-making. Instead, these are minor, personal choices that most people subconsciously make. So, you might need to appeal to your audience’s emotions instead of fixating too much on their needs.
It’s also important that you understand the concept of unhelpful content. Passages with low-added value will not just damage the post they’re in; they might also harm the rest of your content.
So, you need to be critical about what you publish and leave in your posts while editing.
Accessibility for SEO
Higher accessibility for SEO is quite simple – by making your pages available to more users, you increase traffic. With higher traffic, your SEO rank greatly benefits. Still, how do you achieve higher SEO accessibility?
Sometimes, both users and crawlers need a little push. With the help of programmatic SEO, you can make your content easier to be found by everyone. Different users use different browsers and devices.
Not to mention that you’re creating content for both the human audience and the algorithm. This will require more similar pages than you might have originally intended to make.
This also helps you develop a programmatic SEO strategy. It allows you to publish high-quality pages with the help of effective templates and databases. You need to provide quality, but quantity is just as important.
Programmatic SEO can allow you to flood the market with quality content, which sounds halfway between an oxymoron and a recipe for success.
Competitor Keyword Analysis
Would running a 100-meter dash in 13 seconds be enough to come out first? It all depends on whom you’re running against. The same thing goes for SEO. You don’t need to have a flawless online presence.
All you need to do is rank better than your competitors. To achieve this, you must first figure out how they rank. This is where competitor analysis comes in handy.
While this is best done before you start your campaign, the truth is that it’s just as effective later on. After all, it helps you figure out where you’re going wrong and why your current campaign is not giving the expected results.
No, this is not industrial espionage. All the info that you can dig out using deduction and SEO tools is fair game. All is fair in love, war, and SEO analytics.
Video Content and Image Search
Google photo and media search are becoming just as effective as any other search engine method. This creates an opportunity further to enhance your SEO and rank higher than ever.
Previously, we’ve talked about helpful content. Now, there’s a difference between helpful content and content that your audience finds helpful. The truth is that images and videos have an easier job of triggering emotions. As a result, your content gets more attention and, in turn, gets more appreciated.
If anything, going with video content and images can increase your odds of going viral. This is especially true when using less formal content like memes.
Repeat this several times, and you’ll get more regular audience. As mentioned, appealing to your audience’s emotions is a foolproof plan.
Wrap Up
Google constantly gets new updates, but the focus always remains on user-friendliness. Therefore, it’s your goal to make your pages more accessible and your content more helpful.
From the technical standpoint, it’s in your best interest to incorporate as many different content formats as possible and try to appease the crawlers.
Lastly, keep an eye on your competition, just in case.
