What to Expect From SEO in 2023: A Look at the Future of Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is constantly changing. What worked in 2020 will not necessarily work in 2023. To stay ahead of the competition, it is essential to keep up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies that will shape the future of SEO. This article will look at some of the changes that will likely occur in the SEO world in the next few years and what businesses can do to prepare for these changes. From the rise of voice search to the increased importance of user experience, there are plenty of exciting new opportunities for businesses to explore and capitalize on. By preparing for these changes now, companies can get a jump start on the competition and ensure they remain at the forefront of the ever-changing SEO landscape.
Rise of Voice Search
As more people use voice assistants such as Google Assistant, Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, etc., voice search is expected to make up about 30% of all searches by 2020. This is good news for businesses, as SEO will become even more critical. SEO is a process that has to be done carefully and meticulously, so it is a perfect fit for voice search. With SEO, you are trying to make your website rank as high as possible in the search engine results so that it appears as the first result when someone searches for a topic related to your business. With voice search, you also want to rank as highly as possible, but you want to be at the top of the first page, not the second or third page. Why? Because with voice search, people are not looking for your website by typing in a URL or a domain name — they are looking for the name of your business. So, it is an even more competitive landscape. If your website doesn't appear in the first few results, you will likely lose many potential customers.
Increased Focus on User Experience
Regarding Internet user experience, businesses have been focusing mainly on aesthetics, content, and marketing as critical elements of their digital strategy. However, in the coming years, companies will need to focus more on UX. The CEO of HubSpot predicted that “in 2020, bad UX will be the number one reason for business failure.” With more and more people using voice search and expecting quick results, the importance of a streamlined user experience only grows. With a streamlined UX, customers can easily use your product or service, making the experience more enjoyable and with less hassle.
Mobile-First Indexing
In the past, Google's index (the database where it stores websites and their related information) used to be desktop-first. This meant that desktop-first websites had an advantage regarding SEO as Google used them as a baseline to compare and rank mobile-first websites. However, since February 2017, Google has been using a mobile-first index. This means that it uses a mobile-first approach to determine the rank of websites in its index. As a result, mobile-first websites are expected to gain an advantage over desktop-first websites. While desktop-first websites will still rank well, the change could affect around 12% of websites, so businesses must make the necessary adjustments. To ensure your website is ready for the switch to mobile-first, you can make sure that your site has the following:
Local SEO
Local SEO is expected to see a shift towards a more service-oriented approach. As more people rely on voice search to make purchases, it will become even more critical to have accurate information about your products and services listed on your website. With local SEO, those details will include the product price, description, shipping options, and more. You are ahead of the game if you are already including these details on your website. However, if you are not, now is an excellent time to start! With voice search, customers can quickly and easily look up information about your business and products, so this information must be accurate and helpful. There are various ways to optimize your website for local SEO, and services like Yelp, Google My Business, and Facebook can help drive more customers to your website.
Structured Data and Schema Markup
As voice search becomes increasingly popular, businesses will likely be able to add rich snippets to their website to display more information in the SERPs. These rich snippets are like pictures of your website's information and can include product ratings and reviews, recipes, event information, etc. With the help of structured data, businesses can mark up their website's content with unique code so that Google knows what information is most important and should be displayed in a rich snippet. There are two types of markup that businesses can use to make their website more attractive to Google with rich snippets: – Structured data: This markup provides information about the type of content on your website. It can help Google understand the context of your content and serve relevant results to searchers. – Schema markup: This markup provides information about the type of business, the services you offer, etc. This can help Google display more information about your business in the SERPs.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are expected to play a more significant role in SEO in the coming years. Google's RankBrain algorithm has been a machine learning algorithm since 2015, responsible for approximately 20% of all search engine results. From what we know, RankBrain analyzes a website's content to determine its relevance to a given search. This means that businesses must focus on creating high-quality content relevant to their target audience. With RankBrain increasingly using artificial intelligence to improve its algorithm, companies must focus on creating high-quality content that attracts real customers. Creating content that looks good but has little or no value will not help you rank higher in the SERPs. It could have the opposite effect. With the growing role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in search engine optimization, businesses must be extra careful about the content they create. While there is no need to worry about Google becoming too powerful, there is a need to be prepared for what comes next.
Link Building Strategies
As more businesses use artificial intelligence and machine learning, link-building strategies will likely change. Companies will no longer be able to rely on article marketing or guest blogging to get their website in front of more customers. Instead, they will have to focus on creating high-quality content that attracts real customers and encourages these customers to link to the content through social media, email marketing, etc. This will help build quality links that Google will have difficulty ignoring. Another link-building strategy that businesses can look into is building links through collaboration. With more and more companies focusing on creating high-quality content, there may be opportunities for collaboration. For example, if you are an SEO agency and a law firm wants to make an article about the latest court ruling, you can help them make the report and get a link to your website.
Content Optimization
As artificial intelligence and machine learning play a more significant role in SEO, optimizing your content for search engines will become less critical. Instead, businesses will need to focus on creating content that meets the needs of their customers and drives them to take action. With artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, Google aims to provide users with the most relevant and helpful information. This means businesses need to start thinking about meeting their customer's needs and not just writing for Google. This can be done by creating great headlines, writing helpful content, and including appropriate keywords while keeping them natural. If you are creating high-quality content, you don't have to worry about SEO. Google will take care of it.
Conclusion
SEO is constantly changing and evolving, and businesses need to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies that will shape the future of SEO. With the rise of voice search, increased focus on user experience, mobile-first indexing, local SEO, structured data and schema markup, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and content optimization, there are plenty of exciting new opportunities for businesses to explore and capitalize on. By preparing for these changes now, companies can get a jump start on the competition and ensure they remain at the forefront of the ever-changing SEO landscape.
