Search engine optimization, commonly known as SEO, has been through a lot over the last few years, 2022 included. Consumers are shopping more online which means that more shoppers are searching or Googling for products, services or information. This trend will likely continue in 2023, which means that SEO will further its importance in a company’s digital marketing mix.

Here are four SEO trends in 2023 every small business should know about.

Backlinks Will Still Be a Ranking Factor

A backlink is a link from an external website to another website. For example, if website A links to website B via a blog post, the link is considered a backlink for website B. The number of backlinks a website earns will continue to play a vital role in SEO in the near future because backlinks show a vote of confidence for a website. If various websites link to website A, the backlinks suggest that website A is a credible source of information, which is why different websites are linking to it.

There are a number of approaches in which a business can engage to earn backlinks. Examples include:

• Media feature. If your business has done something incredible or noteworthy, you can reach out to a media company for a feature and include a link to your website in the feature. For example, if your business has raised over a certain number of dollars for a Christmas drive for a local charity, you can reach out to your local newspaper and ask them to feature the achievement in an online news article and include a link to your company site in this article.
• Local chamber of commerce. By joining your local chamber of commerce, you can list your business website in the business directory. Doing so lets your business earn a backlink.
• Create useful content on your website. You can share industry stats or insights on your website that other websites would want to link and refer to on your website. This approach is an organic way to earn backlinks.

Google Will Continue to Have Issues Indexing New Webpages

Back in July 2022, Google confirmed that it is having issues indexing new content and displaying that content in Google Search and on Google News. In a tweet, Google states that “[t]here’s an ongoing issue with indexing in Google Search that’s affecting a large number of sites. Sites may experience delayed indexing. We’re working on identifying the root cause. Next update will be within 12 hours.”

I believe that this issue will reoccur in 2023 and beyond because there are simply too many webpages nowadays. Even though Google is a robust machine, it has limitations and it’ll be very difficult for Google to keep up with all the new pages that are created daily. To increase your chances of getting your new webpages indexed by Google, you can submit your website’s XML sitemap or your new pages’ URLs in URL inspection in Google Search Console and request Google to index them.

Google Will Still Use Keywords to Gain Understanding of Webpages

Google will continue to use keywords in your webpages’ SEO page titles, H1 headings or website content to gain textual understanding of a webpage and display the webpage on Google search results accordingly. For example, if a webpage includes the keywords “organic cotton scarf” on the SEO title and body content, Google will understand that the webpage is related to “organic cotton scarf” and display the webpage for search terms related to “organic cotton scarf”. Make sure that your webpages contain relevant keywords you want to rank for.

Google Will Release More Algorithm Updates

Google released several algorithm updates between August 2022 and November 2022, hoping to provide more quality content on search results while minimizing the amount of spammy results. Some websites saw an increase in search rankings while other websites witnessed a dip in their search rankings. It’s very difficult to find out exactly what Google has changed in these algorithm rollouts and what factors Google weigh more or less for determining websites’ search rankings. The only approaches that businesses can take to try to minimize the adverse impact of these algorithm updates in 2023 and after (Google will likely roll out algorithm updates in 2023), is create valuable content using relevant keywords and earn quality backlinks so that your website is informative, useful and credible before the eyes of Google. Doing this will increase your chance to remain unimpacted or possibly improve your search rankings during upcoming algorithm updates.

2023 will be another dynamic year for SEO. For businesses, this means that you should be up-to-date with the latest Google algorithm changes and SEO practices so that you can implement effective SEO strategies for your website and maintain or increase your website’s search rankings. By following the four SEO trends in 2023 above, you can prepare your website for expected changes in 2023 and optimize your website to improve its search rankings.

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