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2023 SEO Trends You Need to Prepare For

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a key part of marketing—and one that should never be taken lightly. Your entire website and online presence may rely on the work you do to improve its search engine rankings, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the industry. When there are new trends or updates announced, it’s always prudent to know what they mean for your business.

1. Voice search and long-tail keywords

Voice search has already been used by a large percentage of the population, but it’s only going to become more popular.

Here are the reasons why:

• Voice search is easier than typing—it takes less time to ask a question or command your phone to do something than it does to type out what you want on a keyboard. This will allow people around the world who don’t have access to technology (for example, elderly people) or those who are very busy (like parents with young children) access to new technologies like voice assistants and smart speakers at an earlier age than ever before.
• Voice search is more natural. Many brands are starting their own podcasts now, because they know how important audio content can be in helping people buy products and services online. Since voice searches tend towards long-tail keywords, brands need quality audio content that tells stories about their products/services.

2. Speed is king

While most users won’t consciously notice whether or not your website loads quickly, you can bet that Google will. Search engine algorithms are constantly being updated to reflect user behaviour and preferences, which means that websites that load slowly in search results will be ranked lower than those that load more quickly.

In addition to affecting your rankings, slow websites can also have a negative impact on conversions and user engagement rates.

If you want your visitors to stay on the page long enough to read whatever content is there or complete any action you ask them to do (like signing up for an account), then it helps if they don’t have time to get bored waiting for the page to load.

3. Mobile-first indexing is the way to go

One of the biggest changes you’ll see in the next few years is that Google will start to index websites according to how they appear on mobile devices. Mobile-first indexing means that Google will be more likely to rank your site higher based on how it looks when viewed on a smartphone, rather than on a desktop computer.

If you haven’t already started making changes to your website so that it’s optimised for mobile devices, now’s the time. You’ll want to make sure that:

• The site loads quickly and doesn’t have any errors or broken links.
• All pages are optimised for both mobile and desktop users (to ensure that your content is seen by everyone who visits).

4. Backlinks are still important

It’s true that backlinks are no longer the most important ranking factor and you can get away with not building them in a perfect way. But they still matter and they have an impact on your rankings, especially if you’re trying to rank for competitive keywords.

To build good quality backlinks, you need to create content that is high-quality and useful for your target audience (which will also attract more users who share it), participate in relevant communities like Reddit or Quora, and build relationships with influencers by commenting on their posts or by sharing them on social media.

5. Schema markup is a must

You may have heard of Schema markup, but you’re still not sure what it is or how to use it. The truth is that Schema markup isn’t just for SEO. It can also help you add more information to your website and increase user engagement by making your content more search engine friendly.

Schema markup allows webmasters (and humans) to annotate their websites using structured data so that search engines can better understand the purpose and context of their content without having to rely solely on keywords in the title or description.

6. Video content will become even more important

Video content is a great way to engage with your audience and build trust with them. Videos are also more likely to be shared than text-based content, which means they can help you reach a wider audience. Video marketing is also an excellent way to tell stories in an engaging way that is memorable for people visiting your site or watching it on their phones.

7. Doubling down on quality content with value is crucial

As we progress into the future, content will continue to be king. It’s not enough to just have excellent content that is relevant and useful on your site; you need to make sure it’s found by Google.

When it comes to quality, Google bases its rankings in part on time spent on your page (or site). This means that if someone has a poor experience with your page/site, they won’t stick around as long as someone who had a good experience. If they don’t stay long enough for Googlebot to crawl through all of your pages, then you are going to have trouble ranking well for any keywords at all.

8. Featured snippets will be more important than ever before

With Featured Snippets, you can get a lot of traffic without having to do a lot of work. However, it’s important to make sure that you’re following the rules and not overdoing it.

At the end of the day, users only have so much time to interact with your website before they click away—so make sure that any featured snippets are helping them find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently.

9. User experience matters more than anything else

The most important part of SEO is your user experience. User experience is more than just what the user sees, it’s also how they feel and interact with your site. It’s about how they feel after they leave your site.

If you are ranking well in search engines without worrying about the user experience then you could be losing out on sales or even losing existing customers who won’t trust you anymore because, in their minds, other businesses do care about providing a great experience for them.

Many of these trends are already happening, so 2023 is the time to prepare for them!

As you begin to prepare for these trends, don’t forget that some of them may already be happening. For example, Google has been telling us for years to make sure our content is readable on mobile devices, and now it’s even more important. If you haven’t already optimised your site for mobile users, start now.

Conclusion

So, what can you do to prepare for these trends? The first thing is to make sure that your website is mobile-friendly and responsive. This means that it looks good on all devices.

If you already have a responsive site, then check out our guide on improving its speed!

We also recommend starting now with building in Schema markup for better search results (this also helps boost clickthrough rates). You might also want to start thinking about your content strategy if you haven’t done so already—i.e., what types of content do people want from me? And lastly: don’t forget about user experience! Your customers should always feel like they are at home when visiting your site or app.

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Darlyn Herradura

A self-professed book and digital marketing nerd, Darlyn Herradura focuses on building trust between customers and businesses with the written word. She understands that creating valuable content is the best way to get found online and happily spends her time doing that.