2022 saw a lot of changes in Google’s algorithms for ranking websites. A lot of SEO trends surfaced, made some noise, and now are making their way out to be replaced by newer trends.

It’s the same story every year. What worked for your website, in terms of SEO, may not work today. So, the right thing to do is to keep abreast with the latest changes in SEO trends and plan accordingly.

With that said, experts at Zoom Digital have come up with top SEO trends in 2023, which will take centre stage in the world of search engine optimization. Take a look at them:

Top SEO Trends in 2023 – Our Picks

1.       Video Marketing to Become Part of SEO Campaigns

2022 saw video marketing taking giant strides and emerging as one of the most preferred marketing methods.

YouTube, even though it was already dominating the market since long, TikTok posed serious competition. Statistics reveal that 86% of brands have turned to video marketing to boost their leads. And it comes across as no surprise that more brands will join the bandwagon in 2023. So, terming it as one of the key trends in 2023 isn’t wrong by any means.

Some other interesting statistics about video marketing are:

• Over 50% of consumers use video when they have to buy something.
• Video marketing has proven to be effective in improving conversation rate by a significant 86%.
• Video marketing video helps to improve brand awareness by 139%.
• YouTube ads have convinced 7 out of 10 users to buy a product.
• If you have a video on your website, the chances of getting your website ranked on the 1st page increase by 53%.

These figures clearly demonstrate that consumers now prefer watching videos when they want to try new products or services. So, it makes complete sense to include video marketing in your SEO plans.

2.       More Focus on Online Shoppers

Although online shopping was experiencing a boom even before 2020, it reached new heights of success when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Since people were confined to the four walls of their homes, they relied on online means to shop for products or services they required. And this trend continues even now when the lockdown restrictions have eased all over the world.

Taking numbers into account, the revenue of the US retail eCommerce industry is expected to cross $1.7 trillion (per year) by 2027.

Google trends in 2023 are also changing in light of this. In order to make it more appealing for companies to sell on its platform, the search engine giant has also increased the range of its services. Additionally, Google is ad-free. So, companies are not charged commissions for product listings.

Google, however, also wants to help online shoppers have a better shopping experience. The search engine firm has always prioritized the customer’s buying experience and developed a shopping graph for consumers. For this purpose, Google collects real-time data from product listings across several retailers. It accomplishes this using a variety of resources, such as product evaluations, videos, specs, costs, and advantages.

Even if a customer doesn’t know the product’s name or brand, they can upload a photograph of the item to Google, and the search engine will locate it for them.

All this clearly implies that you need to focus more on online shoppers when drafting your SEO strategies for 2023. Following these pointers will help you in targeting online shoppers in a better way:

Make sure your eCommerce website has a fast loading time.

• It should be optimised for mobile devices
• Your products listings must be optimised with relevant keywords
• The images must have Alt Tags optimised with keywords so that Google can find them

3.       The Use of AI-Generated Content

Many AI tools, in the past, have surfaced that produce content. However, the content produced by these tools hasn’t exactly been up to the mark. In most cases, it’s a far cry from being quality content that your website needs to be ranked.

Remember that E.A.T. (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) still matters. Therefore, trusting AI tools to generate content may not be a wise idea. Well, it wasn’t until last year before ChatGPT came into the picture.

This content-generating tool, by far, has been the best in the business. However, can it replace humans in creating content? Of course, no! The tool, even though quite helpful, cannot replace professional writers. The content it produces looks like it’s produced by a machine.

Having said that, it can prove to be of great value to writers as they can extract information in a quick time. SEO personnel can also take its help for various purposes.

So, yes, when it comes to top SEO trends in 2023, the reliance on AI tools to generate content deserves mention.

4.       Optimisation for Voice Search

The prompt and correct resolution of a user’s query is Google’s top priority. We all know that, right? So, as per SEO trends in 2023, more people will use voice search in 2023. And to facilitate them and assist its search engine to better interpret natural, conversational speech, Google has developed the LaMDA AI language system.

This system can swiftly interpret a consumer’s inquiry about the kind of goods they’re seeking and provide the most pertinent answers.

Now, the question arises, how to optimise for voice searches? We have got you covered in this regard as well. Here’s what you to do in order to target voice queries:

• Create posts answering your users’ common queries: When creating blog posts for your website, take into account the common questions your target users will have in mind, and then select your topics. Your blog posts should answer these questions.
• Optimise with conversation phrasing: There’s a difference between typing a query in the search bar and performing a voice query. The former can be precise and brief, while the latter can be a complete question. The idea is to optimise the website for voice queries since they automatically include text queries.
• Be concise: Deliver concise, to-the-point answers so that users’ queries are quickly answered. Make sure you have incorporated relevant keywords in your answers.

5.       The Rising Use of AI-Images

Much like AI-generated content, AI-generated images are also about to take centre stage in 2023 as well.

There are certain tools that allow users to create AI-generated images. However, you need to be very tactful in providing them with details to be able to get quality images.

Again, these images cannot replace a professional image designer and editor. But, it can be of great help for SEO executives when they need a quick image before publishing a blog post on a third-party website to acquire backlinks.

6.       Fewer Organic CTR

Since the search engine giant developed several SERP features that directly respond to users’ searches, we have noticed a significant decrease in Google’s click-through rate (CTR).

With Google’s immediate replies, consumers may quickly find the information they need without leaving the search results.

Basically, Google works to retain people within its ecosystem because it has more control over what information is shown and how it is presented. In addition, the longer users stay on Google, the more adverts the search engine may sell, and the more likely they are to visit its affiliated services, such as YouTube, YouTube, Shopping, etc.

To put it simply, Google’s SERP features have essentially taken over the entire screen, making it nearly difficult for other websites other than the product’s official store to garner click-throughs.

According to estimates, the site that appears first in search results pages receives about 43% of clicks, followed by the sites that appear in positions two and three by 37% and 29%, respectively. However, this may not be the case, given the changes to the search result page dynamics. This is due to the fact that the majority of conventional organic pages rank quite low in the SERPs.

As Google wants people to spend more time on the verticals that are affiliated with it, we anticipate this trend to remain prevalent in 2023 as well.

7.       SEO Localisation

Up next on the list of SEO trends in 2023, we believe local SEO is going to dominate the trends.

Google is definitely pushing for highly localised search results, so we anticipate that local companies will gain greater momentum from the search engine.

This means it’s time to concentrate on creating real, high-quality evaluations for Google My Business as well as other review sites.

There you have it! These are some of the most anticipated SEO trends in 2023. Since the year has just begun, it’s crucial that you get familiar with them at the earliest.

For further assistance, you can reach out to experts at Zoom Digital and get a robust digital marketing, SEO, or social media strategy to stay on top of your game in 2023.