SEO Trends for 2023

5 Minutes

SEO is highly competitive with everyone battling it out to appear at the top of Google search engine results pages. New up and comers can knock websites from top spot if they refine their techniques and do what the Google algorithm wants and values.

Staying ahead of the curve is critical for any successful SEO strategy and marketers that understand the existing landscape put themselves at a competitive advantage. In this article I will discuss search engine optimisation trends in 2023 and where SEO efforts should be directed for maximum impact.

Unique, High-Quality Content

Optimise the User Experience (UX)

UX statistics suggest that businesses that improving their site’s UX can increase conversion KPIs by up to 83%. Your customers have many prospective businesses to choose from and a seamless, intuitive website experience means they’re more likely to remain engaged and convert.

Faced with slow loading times, confusing page navigation or unsuitable content, site visitors will likely exit the page and go elsewhere. All website content, design and structure should be designed with the end user in mind; good website experiences tangibly improve online sale or lead conversions.

Mobile Device Optimisation

Searches made from mobile devices make up around 60% of all search volume and the number will no doubt continue to rise. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure that your website is mobile friendly and is free from ugly formatting and usability errors that disrupt the UX. Since the launch of its ‘mobile first algorithm’, Google prioritises the mobile version of a website’s content for its indexing and ranking activity. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test enables you to quickly assess the mobile friendliness of your website and find out ways to improve performance.

Making sure your website is coded to adapt automatically to different desktop, tablet, and mobile devices is critical. Additionally, website loading times can be improved by compressing images, optimising servers, implementing caching, and using content delivery networks.

Google My Business for Local SEO

In 2023, focusing on ranking highly under relevant keywords in your local area remains crucial, especially for service businesses that rely on local customers. To enhance your local customer base, there are two key things you should do. Firstly, maintain an updated Google My Business listing which is a free tool that allows you to create a local listing for your business, including a Google Maps listing to help potential customers find you easily.

Secondly, use geo-targeted keywords specific to your locality by adding the names of counties, regions, cities, or towns to the keywords you already use. This strategy helps you stay ahead of your competitors in your area and better align your business with user intent.

The Power of Featured Snippets

Featured snippets provide a concise answer to a user’s query and are displayed at the top of the organic search results. As a result, they attract a significant number of clicks, making it highly advantageous to get your content featured.

To optimize your content for featured snippets, Search Engine Journal provides a comprehensive guide on how to do so. It involves understanding the types of queries that trigger featured snippets and structuring your content in a way that provides a clear answer to the user’s query. Given their potential to drive traffic to your website, it is worth investing time and effort in optimizing your content for featured snippets.

Focus on Your EAT Signals

In its guidelines, Google has emphasised the importance of enhancing the EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) signals of your website. As we move forward, search engines will continue to evaluate the Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness of your website when ranking its content. Google prioritises the user experience and demonstrating that your website is worth your visitors’ time will remain a critical factor in achieving top rankings. Incorporating E-A-T signals such as social proof, customer testimonials, links to authoritative websites, badges, and other indicators of expertise can help you achieve this goal.

SEO Statistics for 2023

About 70-80% of users ignore sponsored ads. Pinning your online success solely on pay-per-click strategies should be avoided. Improving your organic SEO performance remains critically important to raise search visibility and online conversions.
Google is still the #1 search engine. Around 75% of desktop searches and 96% of mobile searches happen on Google, with Bing attracting approximately 10% of searches.
The top 3 search results take 60% of clicks. The role SEO plays in elevating business search visibility is vitally important to growing businesses on and offline.
68% of online experiences start with a search engine.
69% of digital traffic stems from organic and local searches.
Search engines drives 300% more traffic to websites than social media.
28% of local searches result in a purchase.

Grow Your Online Leads and Revenue

Approximately 63% of all purchases begin online, even if money exchanges hands in a store or over the telephone as opposed to on a website. Considering that 75% of browsers never scroll past the first page of Google, businesses that don’t optimise their website for SEO will often be invisible and sadly go undetected.

SEO is a medium-long term investment that pulls in organic leads, boosts web engagement and brand recognition, and complements offline sales activities.

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