Top 3 SEO Trends for 2023
SEO has always been important for increasing the visibility and reach of the content your team diligently prepares. In 2023, this will perhaps be even more critical.
Surveys have shown that 61% of B2B marketers state that SEO generates more potential clients than any other marketing initiative, and Hubspot predicts that SEO/organic search will be the most successful this year. So, what should your SEO strategy look like in the next period?
Content is still the most important - and it should be of the highest quality
Lately, we have heard so many times that content must be of high quality to rank well in searches, but just in case you haven't been taking it seriously - now you really should.
Namely, Google recently updated its content analysis metrics and gave a huge advantage to useful, informative content created by real people for real people. The most important guidelines on the basis of which Google evaluates the quality, credibility, and relevance of your content are expertise, authority, and trust, and recently also experience (E-A-T = experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness). User satisfaction comes first, so it is important that the author of the content is professional, and the sources are reliable. This is especially true for topics related to health, science, finance, and legal advice. Keep in mind that despite all the changes happening in the market regarding artificial intelligence, Google is still cracking down on automation and non-human content.
Artificial intelligence is an aid, not a replacement
Of course, the foregoing does not mean that we will leave artificial intelligence aside - that is simply impossible. After all, Google itself uses AI and machine learning to better understand the needs of its users and offer them better results for their searches.
In addition, recent surveys show that as many as 64% of SEO experts use AI tools to help create posts on their sites, and 70% of them have had positive experiences with this practice.
Therefore, artificial intelligence can and should help you in, for example, choosing topics, checking whether your content is plagiarized, and similar operational actions so that you have more time to devote to creating really quality content that will help you better position yourself and be recognized.
User experience at the highest level for SERPs
A positive user experience means that the user got the best information in the fastest and easiest way possible. For this reason, Google introduced new formatting to SERPs in an attempt to improve the user experience and CTR. In addition to featured snippets, infographics, and images, frequently asked questions are now seen among the first visible results (in the "People also ask" section), and the tendency is to replace numbered pages with infinite scrolling, i.e., continuous scrolling down as it would offer other views on the given topic.
Also, SEO experts must pay attention to priorities as they work to optimize the content and restructure the data on their web pages to make it easier for search engines to sort, decode, and reorganize. This is achieved by optimizing Core Web Vitals through load time, interactivity, and visual stability.
Know that Google will reward you if your page is the last one a user visits because it should mean that they found a solution to a problem they have or are searching for.
As in all other areas, it is important to follow trends and adapt to them adequately. However, don't get lost in the settings - the basic SEO tools will still be in place and deliver good results.
Text written for the Marketing mreža website by: Dušan Džakula, SEO Specialist, Smartpoint Adria
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