Did you know that 68% of online experiences start with a search engine and that 21% of users check out multiple search engine results? It’s also essential to consider that Google has 91.07% of the search engine segment. Bing and Yahoo, meanwhile, have 3% and 2.87%, respectively. You can never rest on your laurels on the search engine optimization (SEO) front. Just when you think you’ve got everything figured out, everything changes. If your business has an online presence, SEO is a must-have skillset. But SEO is evolving, and you need to keep up. Google dominates the search engine space, so it’s safe to say that SEO best practices will change as Google tweaks SEO techniques and adjusts its algorithm. Are you aware of significant SEO trends for 2023? If not, consider these top three SEO trends that small businesses like yours need to be on the lookout for this year.
1. “E” for Experience
In December 2022, Google added another letter to its E-A-T acronym. E-A-T — which stood for Expertise, Authority, and Trust — got another “E” for Experience. So, E-A-T is now E-E-A-T. What this means is that Google will, when assessing content quality, factor into the equation the writer’s experience. Specifically, Google is looking for actual experience regarding the topic covered in the online content. If your business has a content strategy, you’ll want to consider, firstly, who is writing the content, and secondly, what the topics are. Google’s algorithms will check to ensure that content that ranks well is produced by people with demonstrable experience.
2. Author Authority
You’ll also want to focus on highlighting author authority. Google recognizes that auto-generated content is increasingly finding its way into search engine page results. But since Google wants actual people to rank in its search engine results over auto-generated content, it’s essential to make an effort to stress author authority. How can you do this? The first step is to find experts. Once you’ve done that, you can highlight author authority by, among other things, publishing author bios that demonstrate that your writers are, indeed, experts in the areas they write about.
3. SEO Competitor Analysis
It’s always been a good idea to stay on top of what your competitors are doing. You can keep your finger on the pulse of the industry by so doing. Conducting competitor analysis is a good idea if you’re looking to fine-tune your SEO goals. Who are the movers and shakers in your sector? Staying abreast of what these thought leaders are writing about and focusing on is vital. You can assess what they’re doing, how their content ranks, what keywords they’re using, and more. Look at how your competitors are complying with Google’s E-E-A-T objective. That can help your business develop a more robust and impactful SEO strategy. These are three key trends to be on the lookout for this year. But what if you don’t have the in-house talent to develop a strong SEO strategy and keep up with these and other trends? One option is to outsource this responsibility to an experienced digital marketing agency. When you choose the right service provider, you’ll get help with SEO, video production, website development and design, PPC advertising, social media, and more. If you’re like many small businesses, you have a small core group of talent, many of whom wear multiple hats. Instead of assigning SEO duties to someone already stretched too thin, consider hiring a reputable third party that lives and breathes SEO. It’s essential to be prepared on the SEO front. When SEO is done right, your company’s website will be more visible. This means you’ll get more online traffic to your website, allowing you to turn consumers into customers. When someone searches for something on a search engine, they will most likely focus on the top few entries. If you don’t have an effective SEO strategy, your SERP performance will be lackluster. And this means fewer eyeballs will see your company’s website when they search for products and services online.