Admittedly, I do not have a crystal ball. And even if I did, I’m one of those people who would probably decide not to use it. There’s way more that can go wrong than can go right, but that’s a subject for another blog post. For this one I want to focus on the future of SEO, despite the said absence of a crystal ball.
No, I can’t see into the future. But we can take a look at what happened in the world of SEO in 2022 and make predictions about what will happen in 2023. Hopefully, those predictions will help us come up with awesome SEO and digital marketing strategies so we can make 2023 the best year yet for our businesses!
Here’s what happened in 2022 … and what I think will happen in 2023.
Table of Contents
- Google Likes to Mess with Us
- AI Is Here to Stay
- Content Still Reigns Supreme
- Not All Content Is Created Equal
- Page Experience Continues to Be a Big Deal
- B2B SEO Priorities vs B2C SEO Priorities
- SEO Generates Significant ROI
- Think Beyond Google
- Google Is Trying to Figure Out What You Want Before You Know You Want It
- Zero-Click Queries
- Remember the Humans
- Need Help Getting Your SEO Strategy Ready for 2023?
Google Likes to Mess with Us
Google’s Helpful Content Update got a lot of attention over the summer and early fall … only to have nothing happen. Of course, Google will never admit to intentionally misdirecting us, but it’s likely that’s exactly what they were doing with this particular update.
Does that mean we can’t believe anything Google says ever again? Probably not. But I will be taking their announcements and recommendations with a grain of salt from now on, especially when it seems to be a little too on the nose.
AI Is Here to Stay
I’m still not a fan of AI writing software (no, not even ChatGPT). I wrote about my experiences with it here, and while that blog post was written prior to ChatGPT’s release, I have also played around with ChatGPT and also found it provided very generic, boring content devoid of any personality. It also provided an answer that I thought was flat-out wrong, but I’ll dig deeper into that in a later blog post.
Regardless of how you feel about AI tools, there’s no denying that a lot of people will be using them to perform more and more of their tasks. Google has said it’s not a fan of AI-written content, but given Google’s anticlimactic announcements in the past, I’m taking that with a grain of salt.
The only thing I can say for sure is more and more people will be using AI to complete more and more tasks in 2023 and beyond. At least in the short run, this will mean we see a lot more boring, generic content written by AI software flooding the internet. That means it’s going to be more important than ever to create content that is engaging, has a unique voice, tells a story, and uses emotional intelligence to lead prospects through the buyer journey. That will help you stand out from the crowd when everyone else is pumping out tons of content that all looks and sounds the same.
I also want to point out that I am not against ever using AI to generate content. I am against relying exclusively on AI to do anything without human oversight. At the very least, you need a human to decide which keywords to use, which audience you’re targeting, and edit the content to make sure it’s accurate and on brand.
In my opinion, the best use of AI is to write the boring, informative parts of your content for you, leaving you to flesh it out with a story that will draw readers in and keep them reading all the way to the call to action.
Content Still Reigns Supreme
When Search Engine Journal interviewed SEO experts about where they allocated the majority of their budget, the top 3 answers were
- Content Marketing
- On-Page SEO
- Technical SEO
B2B teams in particular are investing even more in content marketing. This is why I always stress the importance of investing in content marketing — it’s because your competitors are investing in it, and if you don’t, you’ll fall behind.
Not All Content Is Created Equal
While I continue to maintain that blogging is not dead, it is evolving as technology evolves. While you can write content that’s engaging enough to keep people reading, people are more likely to engage with content that prompts them to engage.
Since technology is making it easier for us to create content that interacts with the viewer, people who invest in this type of content will see better results, not only in their search rankings, but in the amount of time people spend on their websites. Time spent on page doesn’t always translate to conversions, but it is more likely to get you there, especially if you have a great call to action.
With that in mind, here are some types of content you should absolutely invest in creating and distributing in 2023:
- Ebooks
- Calculators
- Infographics
- Quizzes
- Virtual Reality
- Interactive Content
As with any other aspect of your SEO and content marketing strategy, it all comes down to knowing your target audience. What kinds of content are they most likely to consume and engage with?
This requires you to research your audience ahead of time, but it also requires you to track your data so you can see which types of content your audience engages with the most. Remember that your audience is unique and might not fall into any of the broader categories. That’s why tracking your metrics is so important.
Page Experience Continues to Be a Big Deal
Google released its first Page Experience Update back in 2021, and quickly followed it up with another Page Experience Update. The idea was to prioritize websites that make it easy for users to navigate and use the website so they can find the information they need. Shouldn’t we all be striving for that anyway?
If you haven’t done so already, make sure your website loads quickly and is easy to use. As with every other aspect of your SEO strategy, it’s important to check in on your website’s performance regularly to make sure you don’t have any broken links or loading issues.
B2B SEO Priorities vs B2C SEO Priorities
B2B companies tend to have a much longer buyer journey compared to B2C and direct sales companies. Keep in mind I tend to lump professional service providers, such as attorneys and financial planners, in with B2B industries, even though they’re technically B2C. They’re selling directly to the consumer, but they tend to face a lot of the same challenges B2B companies face in that they require a bigger investment, a higher level of trust, and there’s usually more than one person making the buying decision.
Reflecting the longer buyer journey is the fact that B2B companies tended to prioritize things like traffic, lead generation, and brand awareness over direct sales to measure the effectiveness of their digital marketing efforts. By contrast, B2C and ecommerce companies were more focused on direct sales, although they also paid a lot of attention to their website traffic and rankings.
SEO Generates Significant ROI
Most SEO professionals saw an increase in the ROI generated by their SEO efforts, with a definite minority reporting that their ROI stayed the same, and an even smaller minority reporting a decrease in their ROI.
As with content marketing, this is why investing in SEO (which should be combined with content marketing) is so important. Your competitors are investing in SEO, and when they do so strategically, they get to take advantage of opportunities you miss out on because your prospects never found their way to your website.
Think Beyond Google
Although Google has never been the only search engine in the world, it has dominated the industry for long enough that it has become synonymous with SEO. But for the first time in a long time, Google is facing some real competition from other search engines. Consider the fact that more and more people are using TikTok, rather than Google, to look for information.
I always stress the importance of considering where your target audience is hanging out online. Admittedly, I normally talk about that in terms of the social media channels they’re using and the influencers they’re following. But it’s equally important to consider which search engine they’re using when they need to find information related to your industry.
Google is Trying to Figure Out What You Want Before You Know You Want It
Rather than waiting for the user to tell Google what it’s looking for, Google is trying to anticipate users’ needs and give them what they want before they ask for it. Personally, I think Google has a few kinks to work out of this model, but it’s worth taking into consideration when putting together your SEO strategy for 2023.
This requires spending some time on Google and figuring out how it determines what to put in front of people. It will probably require you to get to know your target audience really, really well, because my guess is that Google will use data on users’ search histories to guess what they’ll want next.
Zero-Click Queries
Have you ever wanted to look up how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon? So you go to Google, which generates a bunch of links, but also includes a link with a Snippet right there on Google that gives you the answer. You don’t even have to click away from Google. You can just close out of your browser and get back to work in the kitchen.
It’s super convenient on the user end, but consider all the people who worked so hard to give you the answer you needed and get it to rank on the first page of Google. They didn’t even get you to click through to their website, much less sign up for their newsletter or buy something from them. What did they gain?
This is known as a zero-click query, and they’re getting more and more popular.
It can be tempting to throw up your hands in despair and give up on the idea of ever getting leads from Google again, but don’t throw in the towel just yet. The key is to work with zero-click queries, rather than trying to work against them.
And remember that people are still clicking through to websites when they want more information. Again, it all comes down to knowing your audience and the search intent of each keyword you’re targeting.
Remember the Humans
Remember that Google’s goal is to keep its users satisfied. It does that by making it easy for them to find the content that answers their questions. If you create high-quality content that answers your target audience’s questions, Google will eventually figure out that’s what people are looking for, and it will show your content to those people. It will also give you a better chance of converting the people who find your content.
Need Help Getting Your SEO Strategy Ready for 2023?
The first step to getting your SEO strategy ready for 2023 is to see what worked and what didn’t work in 2022. That requires an SEO audit and consultation. Time on our calendar is limited, so if want to start 2023 on the right foot, claim your spot now.
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