Search engine optimization (SEO) is widely acknowledged as a highly dynamic domain within digital marketing. That’s primarily because Google consistently updates its ranking algorithm to enhance the overall search experience for its users. Consequently, every passing year offers marketers a chance to review and reassess the prevailing SEO trends that have been instrumental in shaping the current search engine landscape.
According to a HubSpot study, in 2020, 64% of marketers will actively invest time in SEO. This stat highlights the crucial role SEO plays in modern-day digital marketing strategies. The evolving nature of Google’s ranking algorithm and the subsequent changes to SEO trends underscore marketers’ need to stay informed and adaptable in their approach to SEO.
4 SEO Trends That Are Dominating 2023
This article will highlight the most significant SEO trends expected to shape the digital marketing landscape in 2023.
1. Local SEO
A critical SEO strategy is website optimization for local search. With a growing number of individuals relying on mobile devices to search for products and businesses, local optimization assumes an essential role in capturing the attention of the intended target audience.
Optimizing websites for local search results enables businesses to feature among the top search results when individuals within their vicinity search for the products or services they provide. This approach also aids potential customers in accessing vital business information promptly, including contact details and physical addresses, which are readily available. For instance, parking businesses can use local SEO to ensure that their website appears at the top of search results when individuals search for parking services in their area.
By incorporating local keywords into their website content, such as “parking near me” or “parking in [city name],” parking businesses can increase their visibility to local searchers. Such companies can boost their local SEO by hiring a digital marketing agency like Gateway Parking Services. Gateway Parking Services offers search engine optimization services for the parking industry. They use different SEO tactics to help parking businesses cater to their customers in the best way possible.
2. Google BERT Model
Google’s Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) update represents a significant milestone in Google’s search algorithm since the implementation of Rankbrain. BERT aims to enhance natural language processing (NLP) capabilities through machine learning (ML) or Transformer.
Unlike traditional directional models, the Transformer mechanism instantly reads and comprehends the entire sequence of words in a text to learn contextual correlations between them. As a result, BERT empowers Google’s spiders to grasp the subtleties of a conversational tone and better and more accurately interpret the intent behind a search query.
So, to ensure your blog content receives favorable SERP placement, it is essential to prioritize user intent and create content that fulfills user search queries. Google’s filtering process of the indexed content will favor the most relevant and informative material for each search query. By neglecting the user’s intent in content development, you risk dropping your website to inferior SERP rankings in favor of competitors who cater to the user’s intent.
3. E.E.A.T
EAT has emerged as a prominent feature in the Google Quality Rater Guidelines. EAT stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness and has been identified as the top SEO trend for 2023. Recently, Google added a new component to the acronym: experience, making it E E A T. The purpose of E E A T is to assist Google in determining the quality, reliability, honesty, security, and trustworthiness of the content to be ranked on search results. For websites in niches that can impact health, financial stability, safety, or society, such as those falling under the YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) category, higher E E A T weightage is necessary.
To ensure the content does not negatively impact users, Google checks for E E A T factors before ranking product review sites and online stores. Online stores are evaluated based on online payment security and customer service reliability. On the other hand, product review websites are assessed based on the honesty and depth of their reviews, helping consumers make informed purchasing choices. The recently added experience signal within EAT helps Google determine whether the content creator has first-hand experience with the main content conveyed. For example, if someone writes an article about EMI delays, Google checks to see if the author shares personal experience with the banking and finance industry.
Content produced by individuals with personal experience is often considered more trustworthy and effective. Such content can be more reliable and useful compared to content created by those without personal experience. Therefore, the new experience signal added to EAT helps Google assess the personal experience of the content creator, ultimately leading to more accurate search results.
4. Core Web Vitals
In 2023, Core Web Vitals remains an increasingly important SEO strategy, gaining momentum with each passing year. Core Web Vitals refer to a set of ranking factors that Google employs to assess the overall user experience of a website.
These factors comprise the following performance metrics:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures the time taken for the largest content asset on the page to load.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This evaluates the number of unexpected layout shifts during the page’s lifespan.
- First Input Delay (FID): This indicates how long it takes for a site to respond to a user’s initial interaction with the page.
Of all the latest SEO trends in 2023, enhancing Core Web Vitals signals across your pages will significantly affect your search engine performance. Improving your Core Web Vitals can improve user experience, resulting in increased engagement, longer sessions, and higher conversion rates. It is essential to prioritize optimizing your website for Core Web Vitals to stay ahead of the competition in today’s digital landscape.
Conclusion
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is undeniably an essential component of digital marketing strategies, and its importance will continue to grow in 2023. As Google continually updates its ranking algorithm, marketers must stay informed and adaptable to keep up with the evolving SEO trends. The most significant SEO trends in 2023 include Local SEO, Google BERT Model, E E A T, and Core Web Vitals. These trends help businesses improve their website performance, user experience, and search engine rankings. With the ever-growing importance of SEO, companies that prioritize SEO strategies and stay up-to-date with the latest trends will have a competitive advantage in the digital market.
Read More:10 Things You Need to Know About the Latest SEO Trends in 2023
