One thing we know for certain about the digital marketing landscape is that nothing ever stays the same. It’s critical for businesses to stay current on trends in search engine optimization (SEO). Doing so ensures that their businesses remain prominently featured in a competitive digital marketplace.
Business owners must keep in mind several important SEO trends in 2023 when crafting their digital marketing strategies. They must focus on content in the first person, user-generated content (UGC), Google’s Helpful Content Update, the user experience, and more if they want to attract and keep customers.
Start by exploring the latest updates in SEO through the dual lens of the present and the future. In other words, look at SEO trends for 2023 starting with the changes we already know about and then follow up by looking at changes we feel confident are coming soon.
SEO in 2023: What’s Already Happening and How to Respond
With the first few months of 2023 behind us, some clear SEO trends have emerged in the digital marketing space, many having to do with the human element of content generation. For example, despite — or perhaps because of — the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in digital spaces, search engines like Google have shifted the way they evaluate websites and assign rankings to focus on how helpful people find individual pages as well as websites overall.
As the year progresses, businesses need to take these trends into consideration when deciding on the types of content they want to produce and who will produce it. Let’s start our review of 2023’s SEO trends by examining the details of trends already in place and discussing the ways that businesses can respond to them.
The Importance of Citations and Review Ratings in Local SEO
Citations, also known as NAP data (short for name, address, phone number), are an important component in helping customers find local businesses to meet their needs. Technically speaking, a citation is any mention of a business on a third-party website that includes that NAP data. Most citations occur in online business directories, such as Google My Business and Yelp, as well as on social media platforms like Facebook. In many cases, these sites also feature review ratings from actual customers.
Citations and review ratings have long been a factor in increasing a business’s local SEO rankings for a very practical reason. When users find a business’ information on a trusted online directory, they transfer that sense of trust to the business itself. Furthermore, when real users endorse that business, potential customers use those reviews to form their own opinions of the business.
As a result, a powerful SEO strategy for 2023 must include a clear and specific strategy for local SEO. This includes both page optimization and designing online and in-person platforms to boost local review ratings and citations.
The Impact of Schema Code on Search Engine Rankings
Schema code is another powerful trend in SEO marketing for 2023. Also known as schema markup, schema code is a form of microdata. Embedding schema code into each webpage’s enhanced description helps provide context for the site to search engines. In other words, the details that businesses provide in their schema code help search engines identify the type of content on a page and understand that content more clearly. In turn, this increases search engine rankings by helping a site show its relevance with the use of properly researched keywords and phrases that are embedded in the code.
Developing schema code is a precise process. Embedding the code isn’t the only step. The way that Google uses schema markup to determine search engine rankings isn’t a one-for-one trade. Instead, schema code needs to be a part of a broader SEO strategy that places the code within a greater context of relevant, useful content.
The Future of Google’s Helpful Content Update
In terms of useful content, many businesses already know about a 2022 update to Google that is called the Helpful Content Update. The main purpose of this update is to reward websites that provide high-quality, targeted content that actually responds to users’ needs rather than simply driving traffic to a particular site. According to Google, the purpose of this update is to reinforce their long-standing commitment to connect people with useful content.
In many ways, Google seeks to combat the effect of bots for content creation by rewarding well-written, informative content that seeks to add value for the reader, rather than catering to the requirements of search engines to drive hits and sales. As a result, businesses are best positioned when their SEO strategies include human-generated content, such as informative and creative web pages and blogs.
The Power of User-Generated Content in Content Marketing Strategies
One way to generate the type of content that Google’s new update will reward is to take advantage of another new trend in SEO — user-generated content (UGC). Loosely defined as any content on the web that users generate themselves, UGC includes everything from influencer #advertisement posts to YouTube unboxing videos to individual rants on Facebook posts about particular businesses.
Businesses and brands cannot produce UGC themselves, but they can leverage the positive UGC that is already out there, primarily through collaboration and engagement with those users. For example, businesses create engagement when they regularly post on social media and encourage their followers to like and comment on their posts. Similarly, businesses can partner and collaborate with individuals and influencers by asking or even incentivizing them to use and review their products or services online.
Future SEO Trends for 2023: What to Expect and How to Prepare
While SEO trends like citations, schema, and UGC are clearly important for businesses to keep in mind, we expect to see other new trends in SEO develop in 2023. Let’s take a closer look at these trends and what businesses should do to prepare for them in the year to come.
The Rise of Voice Search Optimization
Voice assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, have changed the landscape of search queries. Traditional SEO trends focused on tight, short-form search terms, but as more users turn to their digital assistants to facilitate searches, it’s becoming increasingly popular to use longer, more sentence-focused search terms. Businesses should plan to focus some attention on learning more about voice search in 2023, including finding a way to balance the use of long-tail keywords as they refine their SEO strategies.
The Growing Importance of Mobile-First SEO
Another growing trend in digital marketing is mobile-first indexing. This is another trend related to Google’s continued efforts to reward useful, mobile-friendly content that is more accessible to those who access content on smartphones rather than on a home computer. Mobile-first indexing is exactly what it sounds like — Google looks at the mobile version of a website first when indexing and uses that mobile version as the base for its rankings. Businesses need to keep mobile at the top of their list of priorities in website design and development in order to maintain relevance and stay at the top of search results.
The Increasing Importance of Artificial Intelligence in SEO
There’s no denying the growing impact of AI in digital marketing; however, there are right and wrong ways to jump on the bandwagon of this latest SEO trend. First, it’s important to understand what AI can and cannot do for your business. For example, it can identify opportunities, optimize content, and automate many processes, including help desks. AI cannot replace human marketers and content writers.
Google’s Helpful Content Update and UGC prove that just because AI is available, that doesn’t mean that it’s the best way to generate results. Therefore, businesses can best prepare for this new SEO trend by being strategic with how and where they use AI within their SEO strategies.
The Expansion of Visual Search and the Use of Video in SEO
Visual search is the final upcoming trend in SEO to be aware of in 2023. Also called search-what-you-see, visual search is the process of using images, such as photos, to query search engines rather than words. Similarly, the use of optimized video on your website can also increase search rankings.
Practices such as using file names, alt text and tags, and schema markup all affect visual search and video SEO results differently than traditional text-based queries. As a result, businesses need to consider the differing requirements of visual search and video optimization strategies along with their traditional SEO strategies.
Get Expert Advice on SEO Trends for 2023 and Beyond
Managing the new and emerging trends in SEO and digital marketing is a full-time job. At Elevation Ten Thousand, we understand this job and do it for our clients every day. This involves not only keeping an eye on SEO trends but tactically planning digital marketing activities in a way that responds to the trends — without over responding to them. Because if there is one thing we know for certain about the digital marketing landscape, it’s that nothing stays the same.
Contact us today to learn how Elevation Ten Thousand can help you craft a tactical, practical SEO strategy for 2023 and beyond.
