SEO: The Latest Trends For 2023

The world of SEO moves fast, both speculative and data-driven, and can be as unpredictable as the frequency with which Google updates its web-search algorithms.  

In this article, Bocasay, an offshore outsourcing company, begins with the basics and provides a showcase of the latest SEO practices we can expect to see in the year 2023.  

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ?

SEO is the practice of positioning your website to rank higher within search engine results pages, and ultimately boosting online traffic to your brand’s website. The goal is usually to rank on the first page of Google results, according to the specific search terms that are most important to your target audience. 

Therefore, SEO is as much about understanding the needs of your audience, as it is about configuring the technical nature of your website. Generally speaking, it’s about helping other people find your website among the top-ranking sites – whenever they search for terms related to your product or service on a search engine such as Google.

Top SEO Trends for 2023

Machine Learning (ML) & Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Machine learning and AI are already being used in anything from content organization, link building, keyword research and even content creation. 

However, keep in mind that according to Google’s Search Advocate, John Mueller, any content that is automatically generated by AI writing tools will be considered spam, as it violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. 

The most important aspect is ultimately studying your target audience as well as possible, and using ML and AI as productivity assistant tools without ever losing your company’s ‘human touch’. 

IndexNow

Developed by Microsoft as recently as October 2021, the IndexNow API is an open-source engine currently deployed by search engines in order to discover new content.  

Basically, when a website that is integrated with IndexNow API publishes new content, updates old content or deletes old material, the API automatically transmits these changes directly to search engines. 

It essentially offers faster indexing and helps search engines to avoid excess crawl load. 

Search giants like Google, Bing and Yandex are already supporting the IndexNow protocol. Last but not least, IndexNow is also a carbon-neutral initiative that is likely to be widely adopted by companies that want to reach various environmental sustainability goals.  

Core Web Vitals

For Google, it is absolutely crucial for webmasters to provide the best possible page experience for their intended users. This is Google’s way of ensuring that visitors don’t exit a page found in its search results due to poor page performance. 

Launched in 2021, Core Web Vitals are basically a set of three key page experience metrics that provide Google with data regarding the particular user experience offered by various websites. These metrics primarily impact mobile search results and they include the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift. It is important to note that even if a website does not comply with Core the Web Vitals’ standards, Google will still rank websites with high-quality content and links.   

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕖 𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕤? ℍ𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤 𝕔𝕦𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕞 𝕕𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕕! 𝔹𝕠𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕒𝕪’𝕤 𝕠𝕗𝕗𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕦𝕥𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕒𝕟𝕪 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕀𝕋 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖. ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕥 𝕦𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕥𝕠 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕒 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕖𝕕 𝕢𝕦𝕠𝕥𝕖!

Localized SEO

With a general push towards highly localized search results, and as users’ search behaviors and intent evolve over time, companies need to focus on how to reach their clients exactly where they are geographically located. 

As Google and other engines want to provide beneficial results to their users, searching for ‘cat food’ in India will showcase different results than searching for the same term in the United States. 

This is why websites that want to target local audiences will have to deploy more and more localized SEO practices – such as including the names of cities, states and countries in order for Google to rank their pages accordingly.  

Zero-Click Pages

It is estimated that approximately half of all web searches performed on Google end without a click on any of the search results. Features like Google’s Direct Answer, accompanying organic search results with small snippets of relevant information, have contributed to the general trend of zero-click searches. 

Digital marketers can ensure organic website traffic by precisely associating content keywords with search engine features like Direct Answer or Knowledge panel. 

Long-tail keywords and adding content that anticipates your customers’ needs will ensure your brand’s visibility within relevant searches. The bottom line is being able to provide good and valuable content for your users. Long-term, repeat website traffic will always ultimately rely on your content’s value.

Essential SEO Tactics ✅

Valuable Content 👍

No SEO strategy can ever replace quality content. High-quality, engaging and original content is what essentially attracts visitors to your online brand. Your company’s content marketing efforts should focus on producing content that is not only relevant to your particular industry sector, but more importantly on your intended customers’ needs and desires. 

Speedy Loading ⏳

It’s a cliche but unfortunately true: the customer should never wait. No one wants to stare at a blank page while waiting for a website to load. Ever since Google’s Core Web Vitals launched in 2021, the search giant appears to be prioritizing website loading speed, especially on mobile devices.  

Good Links 🔗

One of the most important aspects of successful SEO still concerns how various websites link to each other. For Google and other search engines, links represent a form of trust. And this is all very simple: when other websites link to your brand’s website, this signifies that your content is valuable.   

Responsive Design 📱

The importance of responsive web design has been widely established for at least a decade. With mobile-first strategies widely adopted by brands around the world, and the ever-presence of mobile devices in our everyday lives, this is exactly why Google favors websites with a mobile-friendly design.