Navigating the SEO Iceberg: Top 12 Changes in 2023
The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and as we move further into 2023, it’s essential to stay ahead of the curve. Here at Magnetic North, we’re always charting the next course in the digital ocean. In this comprehensive guide, we’ve outlined the top 12 seismic shifts in SEO this year that you absolutely cannot afford to ignore.
- The Emergence of EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trust)
- The Rise of Localized SEO’s Importance
- Unraveling Content Webs and Structured Data
- The Shift to Long Tail Search
- Mastering SERP Matching
- The Dominance of Video Content
- The Decreasing CTR
- The AI SEO Revolution
- The Importance of Author Authority
- Reduced Crawl Frequency
- Prioritizing Image SEO
- The Power of Personalized Content and Audience Targeting
1. The Emergence of EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trust)
The traditional SEO trio of Expertise, Authority, and Trust (EAT) has taken on a new member: Experience. This creates a fresh acronym, EEAT, which now holds the reins in the world of SEO. Google has always appreciated and rewarded websites that showcase expert knowledge, authoritative content, and trustworthy information. Now, an additional layer has been added to this mix – the user’s “Experience.”
In 2023, Google is placing a greater emphasis on user experience, recognizing its fundamental role in the digital journey. Today, a website’s ability to provide a seamless, user-friendly, and immersive experience is just as important as its content. This can encompass everything from site speed, mobile-friendliness, and ease of navigation to overall site design and accessibility.
In the face of this change, it’s vital for businesses to focus on providing a top-notch user experience. This means ensuring your website is responsive, fast-loading, and easy to navigate. Moreover, your content should be engaging, valuable, and easily consumable. All these factors work together to enhance the user’s experience, which can directly impact your site’s ranking in the search engine results.
2. The Rise of Localized SEO Importance
Localized SEO is not a new concept, but its importance has escalated in 2023. This year, Google is focusing more on localized search, with the aim of providing more relevant, personalized search results to users based on their geographical location.
Local SEO is about increasing your online visibility in your local community. It involves optimizing your Google My Business listing, collecting positive customer reviews, and ensuring your contact information is consistent across all platforms. It’s no longer just about ranking high for your chosen keywords. Now, it’s also about ensuring your business appears in local searches, Google Maps, and location-specific queries.
This trend underlines the significance of focusing on local audiences, as they can provide a steady stream of customers to businesses, particularly those with physical locations. In this localized search era, businesses must ensure their online presence is optimized for their specific locality, emphasizing aspects such as local keywords, local business listings, and locally relevant content.
3. Unraveling Content Webs and Structured Data
Content creation in 2023 has evolved into a more strategic, interconnected process. It’s no longer about standalone pieces of content; now, it’s about creating a web or pillar of related content. This method involves developing a network of interlinked articles or posts that provide comprehensive and cohesive information around a central topic.
Such content webs allow search engines to see the breadth and depth of content on your site, which can enhance your site’s authority on the topic in question. Moreover, this approach can improve the user’s journey through your site, providing them with a wealth of interconnected information that is easy to navigate and consume.
Alongside this, structured data has become increasingly crucial. It is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying the page content. Implementing structured data can help search engines better understand your content and display it in creative ways in SERPs, such as through rich snippets or Knowledge Graph cards. This not only enhances your visibility in the search results but also improves your chances of attracting more click-throughs.
4. The Shift to Long Tail Search
In 2023, the SEO landscape is witnessing a shift towards long tail search keywords, as users are increasingly opting for more specific, detailed queries over generic short tail keywords. Long tail keywords are lengthier, more precise phrases that users enter into search engines when they’re closer to making a purchase or finding a specific solution to their problem. While these keywords may have lower search volumes, they generally exhibit higher conversion rates as they target a more engaged audience.
To capitalize on this trend, businesses need to adjust their content and SEO strategies accordingly. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify long tail keywords that align with your business offerings and audience’s search intent. Next, create valuable, relevant content around these phrases, answering specific questions, and addressing unique pain points your target audience may face.
By focusing on long tail keywords, you can better position your content to rank higher in SERPs and attract a more targeted, motivated audience. Furthermore, long tail keywords often face less competition, providing your content with an opportunity to shine and gain a competitive edge over more generic, short tail focused content.
5. Mastering SERP Matching
In the dynamic world of SEO, understanding and analyzing the content that appears on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) has become more important than ever. To optimize your content and make it more competitive, you need to study the type of content that is currently ranking in SERPs for your target keywords. This includes examining the format, style, structure, and any specific aspects that make the content stand out.
Moreover, it’s essential to observe how Google features, such as “People Also Ask” or “Featured Snippets,” are being utilized. Analyze how that content is structured, what kind of information is included, and how it answers users’ queries. This will provide you with valuable insights into how to optimize your own content, making it more appealing to both users and search engines.
By mastering SERP matching, you can better understand the factors that contribute to high-ranking content, helping you craft content that resonates with your audience and aligns with Google’s preferences. This approach not only enhances your visibility in the search results but also improves the overall effectiveness of your content strategy.
6. The Dominance of Video Content
Video content has become an unstoppable force in 2023, accounting for a staggering 82% of all content created. The allure of video is undeniable; it’s engaging, shareable, and visually appealing, making it a favorite format among users. With the growing popularity of video content, it’s more important than ever for businesses to integrate video into their content strategy.
To make the most of this trend, ensure your video content is optimized for Google search. This involves incorporating relevant keywords in the video title, description, and tags, as well as creating a compelling thumbnail that encourages users to click on your video. Additionally, consider creating and submitting video sitemaps to help search engines index your video content more efficiently.
Beyond optimization, it’s crucial to create high-quality, informative, and engaging videos that cater to your audience’s needs and preferences. This includes producing a variety of content types, such as tutorials, product demonstrations, customer testimonials, and behind-the-scenes footage. By embracing video content and optimizing it for search, you can connect with your audience on a deeper level and significantly enhance your online presence.
7. The Decreasing CTR
As we progress through 2023, an intriguing trend has emerged in the realm of SEO: a decrease in Click-Through Rates (CTRs). With Google’s SERP features like “People Also Ask” or “Featured Snippets,” users are finding the answers they need directly on the results page, resulting in less necessity to click on search results.
This changing user behavior calls for a strategic adjustment in your SEO approach. Instead of solely aiming to drive users to your site, you should focus on claiming a spot in these lucrative SERP features. This means crafting concise, informative, and engaging content that directly answers users’ queries. Consider using bullet points, tables, or numbered lists to make your content more scannable and increase its chances of being featured in a snippet.
Moreover, ensure your meta descriptions are compelling and accurately represent your content, as they can significantly impact your CTR. While the landscape is changing, with a strategic and adaptive approach, you can still maximize your visibility and engagement in this new era of decreased clickthroughs.
8. The AI SEO Revolution
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant future concept in the SEO world; it’s here and making a considerable impact. AI’s ability to analyze data and predict trends is revolutionizing SEO practices in numerous ways, including generating TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) summaries, repurposing old content, and optimizing content for Google’s features.
AI-generated TL;DR summaries help present the key points of lengthy content pieces succinctly, aiding users and search engines in understanding the crux of your content. Additionally, AI tools can identify opportunities to refresh and repurpose older content, ensuring your content remains relevant and up-to-date.
Furthermore, AI is playing a significant role in optimizing content for Google’s SERP features. By analyzing top-ranking content and identifying patterns, AI can provide insights into the type of content and structure favored by these features, enabling you to tailor your content accordingly.
Embracing AI in your SEO strategy can provide a competitive edge, streamline your processes, and enhance your content’s effectiveness and visibility.
9. The Importance of Author Authority
In 2023, the authority of the author has emerged as a pivotal factor in the SEO equation. As the prominence of AI-generated content and EEAT continues to grow, proving the expertise and trustworthiness of your content’s author has become more important than ever.
Author authority is about establishing credibility and demonstrating knowledge in your field. This can be achieved by creating detailed author pages that showcase the author’s qualifications, experience, and contributions in their domain. It’s also beneficial to link to their blogs, social media channels, and any other platforms where they share their expertise.
An authoritative author page not only builds trust with your audience but also signals to search engines that your content is reliable and valuable. This can contribute to your EAT score and potentially boost your rankings in SERPs.
In this era where authenticity and expertise hold significant weight, investing time and effort in building author authority can be a game-changer for your SEO strategy.
10. Reduced Crawl Frequency
In 2023, Google has made a conscientious move to decrease the frequency of its site crawls, aiming to reduce its carbon footprint. While this adjustment aligns with global sustainability efforts, it has significant implications for SEO strategies.
With less frequent crawls, it’s more important than ever to ensure your content is fully optimized before publishing. This includes everything from keyword optimization, meta descriptions, and title tags to internal linking, URL structure, and mobile-friendliness. It’s also crucial to have an efficient site architecture that enables search engine bots to quickly and easily access your pages.
Furthermore, to ensure timely indexing of your most important content, consider using tools like Google Search Console’s URL Inspection tool to request indexing directly. This feature can prove particularly useful for time-sensitive content.
In this era of decreased crawl frequency, an effective SEO strategy is not only about creating high-quality content but also about ensuring it is fully optimized and accessible to search engine bots from the get-go.
11. Prioritizing Image SEO
As accessibility takes center stage in 2023, the importance of Image SEO has grown exponentially. Images are no longer merely decorative elements on a webpage; they play a crucial role in enhancing user experience, providing context to your content, and contributing to your site’s overall SEO.
For effective Image SEO, it’s essential to use high-quality, relevant images that add value to your content. Ensure your images have descriptive filenames and alt tags that clearly convey what the image represents, aiding search engines and users with visual impairments in understanding the image content.
Furthermore, consider optimizing your images for speed by compressing them and using the correct file format. Slow-loading images can negatively impact your site’s load time and user experience, which can, in turn, affect your search engine rankings.
Lastly, take advantage of structured data for images. Google’s Image License Metadata program, for instance, allows you to display licensing information for images in Google Images.
By prioritizing Image SEO, you can enhance your site’s accessibility, user experience, and visibility in image search results, creating a more holistic and effective SEO strategy.
12. The Power of Personalized Content and Audience Targeting
In the bustling digital landscape of 2023, where AI-generated content is prevalent, the importance of personalization and audience-targeted content has become increasingly clear. As search engines continue to refine their algorithms to deliver more tailored results, marketers must shift their focus from optimizing content around individual keywords to creating content that resonates with their audience’s specific needs, interests, and behaviors.
This trend emphasizes a more audience-centric approach to content creation. Rather than churning out content peppered with high-ranking keywords, the goal is to create meaningful, relevant content that speaks directly to your audience. This requires a deep understanding of your audience – their preferences, pain points, questions, and the type of content they find valuable.
Additionally, sharing personal experiences within your content can set you apart in a sea of AI-generated content. Personal stories, insights, and anecdotes can add a layer of authenticity and relatability to your content, fostering a deeper connection with your audience. It’s about infusing a human touch into your content, something that AI, despite its advancements, cannot replicate.
Personal experiences can also bolster your credibility, demonstrating your firsthand knowledge and expertise in your field. This can not only enhance your content’s EEAT score but also build trust with your audience, which can lead to increased engagement and loyalty.
In 2023, the most successful content isn’t merely optimized for search engines; it’s optimized for people. By focusing on personalized, audience-targeted content, and sharing personal experiences, you can create a more impactful, human-centered SEO strategy that resonates with both your audience and search engines.
Conclusion
As we navigate the SEO landscape in 2023, it’s clear that a blend of innovative technology, strategic optimization, and human connection lies at the heart of successful strategies. With the rise of AI, the importance of EEAT, and the shift towards long-tail keywords and video content, businesses must adapt to stay competitive. Google’s decreased crawl frequency and prioritization of localized search further underline the need for well-optimized, audience-targeted content. However, amidst these changes, the value of authenticity, personal experiences, and author credibility remains constant. The evolution of SEO is not just about aligning with search engine algorithms; it’s about creating meaningful, valuable content that resonates with your audience. By embracing these trends and maintaining a people-first approach, businesses can forge stronger connections with their audience, enhance their online visibility, and drive long-term success in the dynamic world of SEO.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hunter Krueger
Hunter graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2021 with a degree in Marketing. His entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to creating led him to start a video marketing business at 15, creating videos for businesses, schools, and TV. Through this, he found his passion for marketing and has since worked on marketing campaigns for businesses in different industries across the country. Outside of work, you'll find Hunter at Lifetime, doing home improvements with his wife, and working on new video projects on the weekends.