Over the past five years, the SEO landscape has experienced a dramatic transformation. In an interview with renowned SEO consultant Paul Hoda, we delved into the seismic shifts that have been rocking the industry, such as the increased focus on user experience, the importance of mobile optimisation, and the rise of voice search. SEO expert Paul Hoda highlighted how Google’s algorithm changes have kept everyone on their toes, with businesses constantly striving to keep up with the ever-evolving standards for high-quality, relevant content.
As Paul Hoda rightly noted, “The SEO of today is a far cry from the keyword-stuffed era of the early 2010s.” The essence of SEO has moved beyond simple keyword optimisation, and the industry has seen a shift towards a more holistic approach. This includes factors like content quality, site speed, mobile-friendliness, and the ever-increasing importance of local search. Now, as we venture further into 2023, it’s time to predict the future trends of SEO that businesses across Britain will need to embrace.
The Preeminence of User Experience
Google has always maintained that the user comes first, and in 2023, this will be truer than ever. The future of SEO lies in providing a superior user experience. Google’s Core Web Vitals initiative, which measures the quality of the user experience in terms of loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, will play an integral role. Websites will have to ensure that their loading times are quick, the layout is stable, and interactivity is smooth to perform well in the SEO game.
The Rise of Voice Search
With the increasing use of digital assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, the importance of optimising for voice search cannot be overstated. As voice recognition technology becomes more sophisticated, more and more users are expected to use voice commands to perform their online searches. This shift will demand a more conversational tone in content, and SEOs will need to focus on long-tail keywords and phrases that people use in everyday speech.
Video Content Dominance
Video has been on the rise for several years, and in 2023, it’s expected to dominate the web further. In fact, Cisco predicts that by 2023, 82% of all online content will be video. Hence, incorporating video content in your SEO strategy will no longer be optional. Video SEO, including optimising video titles, descriptions, and tags, will be crucial for improving your website’s visibility on search engine results pages.
Artificial Intelligence and SEO
Google’s use of AI in its search algorithms is no secret. RankBrain and BERT have already shown how machine learning and natural language processing can revolutionise search. In 2023, we can expect AI to play an even larger role in SEO. AI will help search engines better understand and interpret the context of content, making the need for high-quality, contextually relevant content more important than ever.
The Future is Mobile
Mobile-first indexing is no longer a prediction – it’s a reality. With over half of all web traffic now coming from mobile devices, websites that aren’t optimised for mobile will struggle to rank high in search results. As we progress further into 2023, businesses will need to ensure their websites are not just mobile-friendly but designed with mobile-first in mind.
Conclusion: Embrace the Changes
SEO is an ever-evolving field, and businesses that want to stay ahead will need to adapt quickly to these changes. User experience, voice search optimisation, video content, AI, and mobile-first design are not just buzzwords – they’re the future of SEO. As Paul Hoda aptly put it, “The only constant in SEO is change.”
