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Eleven Significant SEO Trends in 2023

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“Good SEO work gets better over time because you did everything else right.”

~Bonoboz

 Effective practices for SEO marketing continue to evolve year after year. As the best SEO agency, we know how important it is to stay on the good side of a new algorithm. Any significant search engine change can impact the way a website ranks.

Our SEO team is the quietest of all. Don’t mistake them for the silent members of Bonoboz. They’re just busy monitoring algorithms that can take a novice by surprise. However, we’re here to say that chasing after algorithms is no longer what they do! Isn’t that confusing? Isn’t it right to chase algorithm updates so we can stay on par with our organic marketing efforts?

Today’s blog will reveal why algorithms are not the only update you should pursue.

Latest SEO Trends in 2023

SEO activities are influenced by the changes search engines make, and that’s how the trends roll. This year, look out for the following practices that you need to adopt as organic SEO service experts.

1. Passage Indexing to show results for specific search queries

Remember when long-form content failed to drive traction because search queries got too specific? Google has gone a step ahead and made this problem easier. If a search query gets too specific and your article happens to answer that user’s question then you’ve just won a user’s visit views and probably more.

Take for instance, a user asking about how to find out if my table is made from vintage style. Then the brand-specific to these products that has an article answering this question will show up on search results. What’s more; that particular passage from your article will appear in that search result for the user to read it quickly. This means that passage indexing will have a bigger impact on the results in SERPs.

Google wants to make sure that the content they show is holistic. So, make sure that your articles are highly-structured so that it shows up in SERPs through passage indexing.

2. Intent-based content loved by users through MUM

Having the best content curated with the user in mind is crucial to rank well. Therefore, understanding search intent has become all the more crucial for 2023. This is particularly true with Google’s new introduction of the Multitask Unified Model (MUM) update. MUM has the AI intelligence to interpret the emotion and intent from search queries in more than 75 languages. This means that it will combine different aspects of the search query asked by the user, and figure out the sentiments, entities, context, and intent. MUM is 1000 times more powerful than BERT that was introduced in 2019. It is capable of analyzing videos, images, and text to give users answers to intricate queries.

Keyword research has always been and will always remain an essential backbone to organic search strategies. Hence, we need to look beyond keywords in their raw form and pull out valuable insights from them.

Websites may continue to lose traffic and rankings should they decide to use black hat SEO techniques. 

We advise you to:

  • Break things down by informational and transactional intent
  • Consider everything intent comprises for multiple user profiles to find the same content piece useful

3. Quality content not covered by any other website

Many SEO firms continue to play on short-term SEO efforts by gaining links and awareness from digital PR. They believe that adding hundreds of content pieces with specified word counts will get them the win they need. While this can work as quick ranking wins, this method does not provide a long-term solution. In the bargain, you will require more content pieces over time to keep the rankings from dropping.

Creating hundreds of content pieces has led to duplication and similar content on the web. If you consider the MUM update, unique content that covers specific topics gets more visibility and clicks compared to sites that have not covered the same information.

Therefore, rather than posting hundreds of content pieces for brands, SEO experts must research the overall interest of the target audience. In doing so, they can organize those interests by the topic, and use them by the relevance of business goals.

4. Mobile SEO is where the buck stops

Google introduced new tools, in the past year, to support the optimization of mobile and page experience. With the new tools coming into the picture, mobile page experience will relate to core web vitals as content leading the charge.

The entirety of mobile experience, from discovery aspects to user interaction, engagement, and product or service utilization will come together through content experience. This new experience will impact mobile UX and Core Web Vitals, usability, mobile-first indexing, and mobile security.

Therefore, enabling faster downloads and mobile-friendly browsers and applications can help in amplifying conversions.

5. Content localization in SERP

Google has created a fact-oriented SERP as it has found some brands publishing misinformation. That said, search results are powerful; they can reinforce a belief by seeing an idea repeated across page titles in a SERP.

It’s worthy to note that Google is experimenting with changes to the mobile layout for local intent. This continued testing is especially useful for businesses in online shopping, reviews, trust signals, and brand awareness.

Therefore, focusing your SEO efforts on third-party and industry sites like GBP completion, wikis, site markup, and knowledge panels will benefit the brand.

6. Optimize images suitable for the visually impaired 

Google has considered those with visual disabilities and impairment, and it’s time you do too. Adopt website image optimization by consistently checking how they score on the optimization analysis meter. You want your website to be accessible to all users, and image optimization will further boost your brand rankings online.

Furthermore, images will also be used to convey an idea visually, use in search to shop, acquiring information, and more. So, conduct an image audit on your website to identify what you need to do to optimize images:

  • Add images in next-gen formats
  • Images should be in compressed format
  • Name each image file appropriately with the right keywords
  • Add a unique alt text for each image

7. Automation of technical SEO practices

More tools for automation have been introduced with features that encourage site changes. In-house SEO specialists can now spend more time working on strategies and improve website performance.

2023 will be the year where several technical SEO practices like auditing, analysis, and other areas make use of machine learning and correct technical issues. In fact, the coming year will open more doors to SEO automation. The quality and quantity of AI-generated will improve because of the increase in use of automated tools. However, a warning to SEO experts; you might have to further filter out spammy content.

SEO experts are coming across even more complex sites. Therefore, the need for automation is highly needed to overcome gaps in technological skills, and resources to enhance execution of SEO efforts.

8. IndexNow helps in immediate updation notified by brands

IndexNow is a feature wherein websites get to immediately notify search engines about content updates, creation, or deletion. This allows quick crawling and reflecting website changes in their index and search results.

It is particularly useful for startups growing quickly, and when changes are made to the database, updating millions of URLs. Therefore, SEO pros can submit a list of URLs with modifications and updates through the API. Bing and Yandex are aware of these updates and changes instantly.

At present, protocol efficiency of the way IndexNow functions is being tested to see if it improves Google’s sustainability methods. This means the Carbon Neutral initiative of IndexNow. Google aims to become a completely, that is, 100% renewable energy-based company by the year 2030. As the current indexing process is leaving a huge carbon footprint, one the best ways to reduce it is through IndexNow. 

9. E-A-T SEO: Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness

Given that not every SEO professional can be a subject matter for the brands they manage. However, the growing importance of E-A-T will continue to trend at high speed in 2023.

Regardless of your SEO practices, you need to understand how to implement an adequate sum of E-A-T. You can leverage E-A-T by consistently backing up your data with statistics and facts. Link them to authoritative sites like .edu and .gov, which reinforces your social proof, awards and badges won, display customer reviews and testimonials. You can even improve your E-A-T signals by winning over links for other authoritative websites.

10. Understand the market before making an SEO strategy

Not long ago, SEO experts had to assess user behavior before strategizing. The tables have shifted a bit, where a dual process has to be adopted. You have to understand the market where the consumers operate to take a strategic approach and meet their demands in real-time.

To do that, you will have to use many tools, platforms and sources to understand the economic, social and psychological factors. These factors are what influence search demands. Only after this, you can turn towards understanding user behavior on a more accurate level.

11. Sustainable & long-term SEO practices

We suggest that SEO professionals (team, are you listening?) quit chasing algorithm updates, but instead look towards long-term, sustainable SEO strategies.

Due to the endless noise, SEO experts will have to completely focus on site and brand merits. This excludes latest industry news updates or even Google updates. This seems like good news for SEO people, since new and sudden updates always led to some bonfire SEO horror narrations.

Therefore, if you note, Google has put up result enhancements to incentivize sustainable choices in Nest, Maps, and Shopping. Expect consumer appetite to continue to build throughout 2023 and beyond.

Content indeed rules the field for SEO. However, 2023 brings with it a myriad of new practices that if not implemented can cost a brand its rankings. So, stay updated from our blog as we hope to let it help you boost your SEO efforts.

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