Watch out for SEO basics
SEO or Search Engine Optimization in simple words is an attempt to increase the ranking of the website. It is not specified to a particular search engine but to all search engines collectively.
As the word optimization implies enhancing the search engine page ranks. Optimization can take many arrangements. It’s the whole kit and caboodle for making sure that the title tags and Meta descriptions are both explanatory and the right length to pointing internal links at pages you have full confidence on. Whether you’re a business with in house SE team or you have a digital marketing agency to do it for you, these are the factors you should know.
Does ranking matter?
Ranking of the website determines the appearance of the site in the search engine result pages (SERPs). People when searching for something, the words they enter into the search engines are called keywords and if these words rightly match with the keywords you used, the spiders crawl to find out the right website, and if your webpage is the first result then your ranking is the highest.
Appearing in first 3 results is even superb. This is because most of the people never try to move onto the next page. Therefore, more than 90% of the clicks on any search result page go to the first 10 results.
The Most Important Search Engine Optimization factors in 2023
It can be easily understandable that the Google and other search engines keep on making changes to deliver the best search results for its users, although SEO remain consistent year after years. Be that as it may, it is positive to adopt the changing ranking factors in search engine optimization tactics that will help in 2023.
Mobile-First Indexing
Over the past few years, the main focus of Google has been on the mobile and to index mobile pages ahead that of desktop pages. So if your website is designed to be useful on all devices whether desktop or cell phone, your ranking will increase due to the mobile-first indexing. Now, make sure that your website is responsive. If it’s not, it is essential for you to redesign in 2023 using responsive design.
The Google had stated in the last year that after careful experimentation, they have started migrating sites that follow mobile-first indexing. This means from now onwards, Google will mainly use the mobile version of the content for indexing. The main point to be noted is, the mobile-first indexing is all about gathering content rather how to rank the content. This implies Google is motivating everyone to make the content mobile-friendly for a variety of reasons.
With mobile-first indexing, Google favors mobile URLs for indexing. Make it sure that your mobile version has sufficient high-quality and valuable content that can cater to high importance searches. It is wise to ensure that the formats used on the mobile version are Crawlable and indexable.
If your site content is dynamic serving, meaning it displays different content based on the user’s device type, then Google would prefer mobile-optimized content and will prioritize those pages while indexing.
Reading on a screen is quite hard. And, reading from a mobile screen is even harder than reading from a big screen of the desktop. Therefore, in order to draw the attention of the mobile audience, you’ll require a mobile-friendly copy. It means your content should contain short sentences and compact paragraphs. It is mandatory for you to use such font size and style that is clear and large enough to be read easily.
Still User Experience will determine the value of your site
At times, we all have heard or read somewhere that don’t judge the book by its cover. But when it comes to the website, it is totally opposite. Your website is judged by its cover, means that people judge your website and the products and services you provided them would be witnessed on the first page if it appears in the results.
Gestures like organic click-through rate, bounce rate, and average session period will be an indication to Google if a user values your site. There are a few strategies although old yet handsomely applicable in 2023, which is going to be the toughest year regarding the SEO competency.
- Increase the Click Through Rate (CTR) by optimizing title tags and Meta Descriptions
- Use a content which is creative, clear and easy to read
- The usability of the site should be improved
- Improving the page layout and an easy to navigate site structure
Increase site visibility through Featured Snippets
Featured snippets are concise and straight answers which are shown in blocks on top of Google search results as a response to a search query. Featured snippets are an outcome of worthy on-page content top responding to search engine query.
Featured snippets encompass a backlink to the webpage and are revealed above #1 organic ranking, so it’s an awesome opportunity for search engine marketers to escalate their site’s visibility.
The question that comes in the mind that how can Google or any other search engine will be able to reflect our content in the featured snippets? The answer is simple, just by adding structured data to significant product pages, contact pages, and location pages. This will make easy for Google to read your site content and then reflect on the featured snippets. There are some tactics to increase the chances of your page to be featured. They include:
- Involving the targeted query within the content of your page.
- Your paragraph must not exceed than 50 words.
- Do write your content in list form
When your website starts to appear in featured snippets, it means it is highly optimized that’s a way to become the first search result page, eventually, the ranking will be improved.
Linkless backlinks are now a ranking factor
In the previous year, one of the important factors in ranking the website up was a number of links present on other websites. Although, a massive amount of links from worthy and reputable websites is still significant in the ranking of your website. But with the rise of online reviews and social media, Google has realized that it isn’t effective in case of backlinks to determine the reputation of a website. Now linkless backlinks have occupied a space in ranking factors.
The search engine marketers should look for their brand wisely and interact with customers through social media to assist in building a positive service reputation across the web. In order to attract users to post about your company and services, unique and shareable content should be invested.
Content be the King this year too
Due to the RankBrain, which uses machine learning to determine the appropriate result to the search result query, Google has got much better approach in shaping a user’s search intent and consequently ranking supportive and significant content in search results. This stresses on quality content will also be a necessity in 2023.
Therefore, search engine marketers should continue to concentrate on writing digestible, accessible content around relevant concepts as an alternative to targeting a single keyword or phrase. If you emphasis on great user experience and copying up with your visitors’ needs, there will be a gradual increase in search engine ranking.
Technical SEO
In addition to the importance of content, there are some other things to be considered also in stimulating the ranking of your website. Technical SEO is also a factor which will also be significant in 2023. Technical SEO engulfs some factors which are super necessary in 2023:
- The Desktop and Mobile Page Speed
- Use of SSL certificate
- Crawlability
- The existence of title tags and Meta Description
It is important to regularly monitor your site’s performance in Search Console, Google Analytics, or SEO monitoring platform of your choice to ensure your site is running proficiently.