Every business owner knows the value and struggle of getting their site to rank highly in search engine result pages. With online searches now accounting for more than 93% of web experience, you need to ensure that your web pages are not only visible but also good enough to beat the competition. This takes a lot of work. It gets even more challenging because of the constantly changing SEO trends.
Still, to build a successful brand, you need to figure out what these new trends are and how best to incorporate them into your business management and marketing strategies. There are no other alternatives if you hope to boost your brand's visibility, attract your target audience, and make more sales. This is why we have gathered all the insights you will need to get started in this article.
Top SEO developments and breakthroughs in 2023
For many SMEs, AI has perhaps been one of the biggest SEO developments and breakthroughs in 2023. From ChatGPT to Google's Bard, the possibilities seem endless, and people are keen to see improvements over the coming years. But that's not all. Tweaks have also been made to existing search engine policies to allow for better optimisation and more human-focused content. These changes prioritise better UX, expertise, structured data, and author authority, to mention a few.
All of these factors work jointly to provide the best relevant content and improve user experience. For example, with a good UX design and quality scannable content, your ecommerce site might pop up in category pages of web shops in search results, with filters that make it easy for visitors to find what they need. Some businesses also buy backlinks from credible sources, preferably at LinksManagement, to further enhance their search rankings. If you have been struggling with visibility lately, chances are that it's time for you to comb through your SEO strategies and see where you need to make needed improvements.
New SEO trends in 2023 that every business needs
Mastering the 2023 trends in SEO means finding unique ways to make changes that drive growth. For example, many small business owners can learn how to turn their brand identity into a key to success (SMEs can learn some key lessons on this from the Barbie movie). But you need to do it right, so here are some tips to help you.
Focus on audience-targeted content creation
You should start with this SEO trend. The idea behind this is simple. With many sites creating content for traffic rather than focusing on their users' needs, you want to be different and stand out for the right reasons. Besides, Google's algorithm is now smarter than ever and can detect when a piece of content doesn't fit your niche and, therefore, can't serve any purpose for your audience. So what should you do? You want to focus on creating content that aligns with your industry and experience, which brings us to the next trend in SEO.
Choose helpful topics that highlight your first-hand experience
It's no surprise that Google's quality rater guidelines award extra points for content that demonstrates some degree of first-hand experience with the topic, product, or service. This requires you to create content on topics you are knowledgeable about or hire writers who have experience in that area. For instance, just because you sell fitness equipment on your site does not mean you have the expertise to talk about diets and nutrition. You want to ensure that your content is helpful to your audience and not just targeted at the search engines.
This makes keyword research essential, but that's just the first step. So, you could get a trained nutritionist to share their insights on your fitness website or create a relevant article on the topic. Instead of writing blogs, you can interview experts in your niche, for example. By doing this, you ensure that your posts reflect authority, expertise, experience, and trustworthiness. All the good stuff that search engines love. You can also add in the author's bios, their pages, and social media accounts to boost the legitimacy and credibility of your content.
Optimise and strategise
Crafting quality content is only one piece of the puzzle of the new SEO trends. You also need to understand how to tweak your posts for the People Also Ask section and even how to create eye-catching titles to get them to click. Experts often suggest using titles that convey emotion, as these have a higher click rate than those that don't.
Then, see how you can rework your content for the People Also Ask sections. You can do this by incorporating subheads that have detailed keywords and also include the wh-questions, words like "what, why, where" etc. The idea is to use these questions and their answers to build content that directly aligns with user's queries, thereby boosting your visibility and rankings.
Responsiveness, accessibility, and all that great stuff
A good website design is essential for improving your search engine rankings. But there's more to it than just choosing the right mix of colours and fonts. Finding ways to improve your loading speed, enhancing your layout, and updating your accessibility can be exactly what you need to rank higher. With less than 5% of the internet accessible to people living with disabilities, you can make a direct impact. How so?
You can achieve it by simply adding high-contrast texts and alt texts. Besides, form labels and ensure that your web pages are user-friendly. This will enhance customer experience and foster brand loyalty. Also, if done right, this will help develop your brand's customer-centricity, which is the first step for turning your customers into salespeople or brand ambassadors.
Bonus tips on SEO
It takes a lot to incorporate SEO innovations into your marketing strategy. You have to be flexible and willing to learn. This is true whether you are trying to pick up a new trick or to explore possibilities for cooperation, such as through guest blogging. So, here are a few hacks to make your workflow easier.
- Create more optimised video content and include it in your landing pages and social media channels.
- Create more how-to content using keywords paired with bullet points or numbered lists to improve your chances of showing up in featured snippets.
- Automate your SEO tasks and other digital marketing processes as much as possible. Still, be careful not to develop an overreliance on machines because it might backfire.
- To be in sync with the latest SEO trends, you opt for human-created content over AI-generated pieces. Remember, quality should always be more important than quantity.
- Diversify your content formats and use multiple channels for better reachability. That said, don't stretch yourself too far to avoid overwhelming your team. It's better to be consistent on two platforms than posting once in a blue moon everywhere.
Conclusion
The good news is that small businesses are usually more flexible than giant corporations. Of course, you have much smaller budgets, but it's easier for your company to adjust to the new SEO trends without no extra bureaucracy. By applying the tips in this post, you can expect to see a remarkable increase in your visibility and much more effectiveness in your overall marketing efforts.
Copyright 2023.Sponsored post from Denys Zakharchenko, WMLinks.