Top SEO Trends in 2023 for Tech & SaaS
What is Voice SEO? What is EAT? Can you use AI for SEO? Find out below!
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility and ranking of a website in search engine results such as Google. SEO is a vital component of any marketing strategy, as getting to the top of Google search results can bring in a huge continuous flow of organic traffic to your website. However, the Google algorithm, or basically the mechanism that Google uses to determine how to rank your site, is constantly changing and improving to provide the most relevant results to users. Therefore, it is important to stay up to date with the latest changes to the Google algorithm and stay on top of the latest SEO trends.
Here are some of the top SEO trends to look out for and use to your advantage. Capitalizing on these new opportunities can bring in a surge of organic traffic to your site and keep you ahead of competition.
Video marketing
A survey conducted by HubSpot revealed that more than half of consumers make purchases based on videos they watch. By using videos, businesses can communicate their story and benefits and build connections with their customers.
In 2023, expect more businesses to incorporate videos into their marketing strategies. Therefore, to appear in more relevant search results, starting creating videos if you haven't already, and optimize your videos to rank higher in search results.
Optimization for voice search
Voice search involves users speaking to their devices to search for something, rather than typing it out. Voice search is rapidly becoming more and more prevalent, as voice recognition software such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, improves and becomes more common. If voice search optimization isn't part of your SEO strategy, make sure you add it now!
Ensure your content contains conversational, long-tail keywords. Your content should flow naturally if someone reads it out. Also try creating an FAQ section, or writing articles that answers common questions your target personas might ask. Voice search will continue to grow over the next few years, so don't miss out on this new opportunity to capture more users.
Featured snippets
Snippets are text boxes that appear at the top of search engine results pages. They give users a quick and easy answer to their queries without requiring them to visit a website. If your website is chosen to be featured in a snippet, it'll allow you to skip past all the traditional search results and show up at the top - imagine how much organic traffic that can bring to the table.
Start by researching what questions your target customers are searching for. Search for these questions on Google to see if there's a featured snippet. Click into the snippets and look at the content - this gives you a sense of what Google is choosing to promote. Once you've narrowed down the questions you'd like to target, create an informative page with the exact question as the page title, and insert high-volume, low-difficulty keywords to improve the SEO of that page. Avoid selling or promoting anything on the page, as Google tends to choose informational, educational pages as featured snippets.
Using AI for content?
There has been a rise of AI tools that help with content creation, such as writing. These tools can help expedite the content creation process for businesses. However, Google's latest update considers AI-generated content to be spam and will penalize the rankings for these pages. Specifically, AI-generated content violates Google's Webmaster Guidelines.
To ensure your content is well-received, AI should only serve as a productivity assistant, such as planning the outline of a blog or the wireframe of a design, while humans are still needed to fill in the blanks and produce quality, engaging content.
Reinforcing your EAT
We are no longer in the age of information, but the age of information overload. There are so many new blogs, sites, videos, podcasts produced every single minute, it's hard for your business to rise above the noise, and equally hard for Google to determine what to rank at the top.
Therefore, instead of making click-baity titles, or pumping out large amounts of blogs just for the sake of quantity, businesses should focus on EAT - expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Focus on creating well-researched and well-written content to reinforce your EAT signals. Use credible sources, cite your sources properly, and provide detailed and accurate information. Google now prioritizes EAT in determining the quality and relevance of content.
The Google algorithm will continue to evolve to provide users with most relevant content. It's important to stay on top of the latest SEO trends and updates from Google in order to reach the top of search results and capture a higher share of users.
By Kevin Ayatta