With new trends coming in almost every day in the digital world, SEO is one area significantly influenced by these shifts. Keeping up with emerging trends and technologies has become more important than ever.
To get insights into such trends and technologies, StartupTalky reached out to several marketing and SEO experts to learn from them what the future holds for search engine optimization. From AI advancements to voice search dominance, these experts shed light on the key trends or technologies shaping the future of SEO.
Join us as we explore their insights and learn how you can prepare your SEO strategy to stay relevant amid such changes.
Chaitanya Kulkarni, Head, SEO and Analytics, Tring
Chaitanya Kulkarni, Head, SEO and Analytics, Tring
With the ever-emerging AI tools and technologies, it has become more important to focus on human-written and well-researched content. While an AI can write content with whatever keyword or topic it is assigned, understanding the intent is very challenging.
Major focus needs to be put in understanding the intent of a keyword or a phrase that has been searched. A certain keyword might have a particular meaning however the intent of its search might be very different. Content has to be an answering machine, that literally answers question phrases that are asked by end users. Such phrases often have very low search volume and are often neglected in a content strategy.
Kiran James, Global Head of Marketing & Product Development, Muthoottu Mini Financiers Ltd
Kiran James, Global Head of Marketing & Product Development, Muthoottu Mini Financiers Ltd
Emerging trends like voice search, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are poised to significantly impact SEOin the coming years. We’re preparing our strategy by optimizing for voice queries, implementing structured data markup for rich snippets, and leveraging AI tools for content optimization and personalization.
Additionally, we’re focusing on mobile-first indexing, as mobile usage continues to rise. Staying abreast of algorithm updates and industry developments allows us to adapt quickly and effectively. By prioritizing user intent, quality content, and technical excellence, we aim to stay ahead in the evolving SEO landscape.
Ritu Parakh, Digital Marketing Manager, GREP
Ritu Parakh, Digital Marketing Manager, GREP
Looking ahead, there are a few trends and technologies that will significantly impact SEO in the coming years from which few have already started but the impact will definitely increase in the coming years.
Trends like AI, pillar content, and voice search optimisation are a few which will impact SEO more in the coming years.
Artificial Intelligence: We have already started using the Google AI algorithm, RankBrain which helps in optimising the on-page content.
Voice Search Optimization: The popularity of voice-activated devices is growing and becoming essential. In the future, this will require us to change our keyword strategy to include more human and natural language phrases and question-based queries that align with conversational speech.
Pillar content: We are making sure we produce more pillar content and cluster content with related topics and keywords, focusing on building comprehensive content that covers entire topic clusters instead of isolated keywords.
This forward-thinking approach ensures that our SEO strategy not only adapts to current trends but makes sure we stay ahead in tech advancement too.
Pranjal Agarwal, VP-Brand Marketing, Mudrex, a Global Crypto Investment Platform
Pranjal Agarwal, VP-Brand Marketing, Mudrex, a Global Crypto Investment Platform
Google’s AI might start directly generating responses to user queries, skipping the usual search results called Search Generative Experience (SGEs). Our strategy has been creating comprehensive, informative content that anticipates user needs and goes beyond potential SGE responses.
With evolving search intent, user queries are becoming more nuanced and conversational. We’re using AI tools to understand this shift and tailor our content to meet user needs, going beyond just keywords.
Nishant Shah, Head-Digital Marketing, Blue Buzz
Nishant Shah, Head-Digital Marketing, Blue Buzz
Looking ahead, we anticipate several trends to impact the field of SEO. One major trend is the increasing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in search algorithms. We expect search engines to become more sophisticated in understanding user intent and delivering personalized search results.
As a result, we’re preparing by optimizing our content for voice search and natural language processing. Additionally, we’re focusing on creating more interactive and multimedia-rich content to enhance user engagement and satisfaction. Another anticipated trend is the rise of mobile-first indexing, where search engines prioritize the mobile version of websites for ranking purposes. We’re ensuring that our website is fully optimized for mobile devices to maintain our search visibility and rankings.
Omm Dev Sharma, Founder, Mavericks Global
Omm Dev Sharma, Founder, Mavericks Global
We anticipate several emerging trends and technologies to impact SEO, including voice search, visual search, and advancements in AI. To prepare our SEO strategy:
We’re focusing on optimizing for conversational queries and long-tail keywords to adapt to the rise of voice search.
With the increasing importance of visual content, we’re exploring strategies to optimize for visual search, including image optimization and structured data markup.
We’re keeping abreast of AI advancements and exploring how they can enhance our understanding of user behavior and inform our content creation and optimization strategies.
Kishore Acharya, SVP & Head of Marketing, Masai School
Kishore Acharya, SVP & Head of Marketing, Masai School
Emerging trends and technologies such as voice search, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are anticipated to impact SEO in the coming years. To align with these changes, we are investing in structured data markup, optimising conversational queries, and leveraging AI-powered tools for content creation and optimisation. We are also investing in upskilling ourselves about emerging technologies to stay ahead of the curve.
According to earthweb there are more than 600 million blogs on the internet, with over 7.5 million blog posts published per day in 2022.
As you can guess, there is just too much content for Google to rank.
Google was the one who told us that we need to create good quality content that helps people solve the problem to rank our articles on the search engine.
Although people took this to a next level.
Writers and SEO experts started creating content like crazy.
People are building new websites on niche topics every now and then and writing articles that may not help people solve their problems.
The focus went from quality to quantity and that’s where things started going wrong for SEO.
People are not getting any results from SEO because they are competing with millions of articles.
Most importantly, a lot of people know how to beat the algorithm so, they are ranking their articles even though they might not be the best ones.
92% of the traffic goes to the first page of Google Search Results
Due to this, you can see dozens of poor-quality articles ranking on the first page of Google.
At the same time, high-authority websites are ranking for most of the keywords.
For example, Wikipedia ranks for almost every other keyword.
All these things increase the competition.
The problem doesn’t end here because more and more articles will be published with the help of AI in the future.
AI-Powered Tools Can Also Write Articles
A lot of AI-powered tools like Ryter, Jasper, and many more can write long-form plagiarism-free articles within minutes.
This means that marketers can publish more and more articles on a daily basis on different topics.
Since Google’s algorithm cannot understand which articles are published by AI and which are written by humans, articles that are drafted by AI can also rank.
This means that Google will get more and more saturated in the future.
SEO for E-commerce Websites
Benefits of E-commerce SEO
E-commerce sites are using SEO in the most terrible way possible.
Let’s say you want to buy a digital watch.
You hop over on Google in the hope to find a blog post that tells you the best watch that matches your needs.
You need an article where they tell you the best watches with their pros and cons.
However, you eventually find yourself reading an article from a watch company where they describe some key characteristics of each watch and embed a link to their products.
Would you be able to buy yourself a perfect watch by reading such articles? Absolutely, NO.
To be very frank, social media sites sometimes work better than Google because there are real people on those sites providing genuine solutions.
Adapt Your SEO Strategy to Changing Trends
If you think that your articles are going to rank just because you are stuffing keywords in your meta title and descriptions and developing backlinks then you are completely wrong.
You need to tell yourself that things are changing and you need to adapt.
If you want to grow your reach and get organic traffic you need to pitch your product or service to the right audience.
On the other hand, if you are writing blogs then you must first define who reads your articles and why they are reading them.
Below, I have mentioned the top 6 effective SEO strategies that will work in 2023.
Top 6 SEO Strategies for 2023
Google’s Search Central Updated Guide
The strategies that I am mentioning here are not any guesswork.
Google’s Helpful Content Update was released in August 2022 which stated that helpful content that satisfies the needs of the readers and helps them solve their problems will rank well.
There are different questions in the document that guides you in writing better content.
I would be take the help of that document and tell you effective SEO strategies.
So, keep in mind that these strategies are mentioned by Google itself.
When you curate articles on a particular niche it shows Google that you have expert knowledge on your topic.
Creating a website with only blogs pertaining to video editing, for instance, would be a good idea.
If you create such a website you can write blogs on topics like:
10 best free video editing software for beginners.
Common video editing mistakes people make.
5 ways to edit video faster.
Target long-tail keywords and keep producing high-quality articles.
When the algorithm of Google understands that you have a deep knowledge of video editing you would start ranking for the keywords related to video editing.
So, instead of producing content on different topics choose one particular industry and niche.
Write on Exploding Topics:
Instead of writing articles on outdated topics, you should write on a subject that is creating a buzz in the market.
You can also write on topics that currently are not popular but will grow in the future.
To find such topics you can use tools like Google Trends and Exploding Topics.
Don’t Focus on Word Count:
You need to understand that people’s attention span is going down.
Thanks to Instagram and Tik Tok, people are habituated to consuming short-form content.
This is the reason why YouTube also introduced ‘shorts’ in its system.
Your readers want to solve their problem as soon as possible.
Instead of increasing the word count of your articles, improve the quality of your content and give people what they want as quickly as possible
Now, I am not saying long-form content doesn’t work.
The idea here is that if you can give an answer to a question in just 500 words then don’t write a 1000-1500 words article.
On the other hand, if you feel that your topic needs to be discussed in depth then by all means write a long article.
Take the example of this article, since there was so much to tell this article is a bit long.
However, everything that is written here will assist you in developing a potent SEO strategy.
Don’t Just Summarize:
Don’t just summarize what others are saying without adding any value.
Instead of paraphrasing write something unique which has not been mentioned in other articles.
Before you start writing answer yourself: What is the USP of my article?
Add Your Personal Experiences:
To make your articles stand out from the crowd you can add your personal experiences.
When you write something which you have experienced in real life it increases the trustworthiness of the article.
At the same time, personal experiences give an emotional touch to your article.
So, if you have something to share don’t hesitate to write it.
Create Executable Content:
This is a very important point. After reading your articles your readers should be able to do something.
They should be able to achieve their goals.
For example, if you are writing a guide on how to select the best bicycle then after reading your article your readers should be able to buy a bicycle for them.
At the very least, your readers should learn how to choose a bicycle that suits their needs.
You must always write an article that clarifies the doubts of your audience.
If people get confused after reading your articles then your piece of content is useless.
E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
This concept was laid down by Google itself in its Quality Raters’ Guidelines.
Expertise: What is your level of expertise and knowledge on the topic?
Authority: Do the industry experts link back to your content?
Trust: Does your organization protect user information and provide accurate information?
Since everyone was pushing content on Google like crazy, this metric was developed to evaluate the overall quality of the article.
Using this metric Google is trying to understand if the content is valuable to readers and whether it should rank well or not.
Here’s an example from Google that highlights what they mean by E-A-T:
“High E-A-T news articles should be produced with journalistic professionalism – they should contain factually accurate content presented in a way that helps users achieve a better understanding of events. High E-A-T news sources typically have published established editorial policies and robust review processes.”
Is E-A-T a Ranking Factor?
Google’s Ranking Factors
E-A-T is technically not a ranking factor but, it can impact your rankings. I know this sounds very confusing but, listen to me.
E-A-T determines if the content is helpful or not and Google only wants to rank content that helps people solve their problems.
So, using this metric if Google thinks that your content is not helpful they won’t rank your articles anyways.
As a result, even though it’s not a direct ranking factor, it can indirectly affect your search rankings.
5 Ways to Improve Your Website’s E-A-T
Tell About Yourself:
Tell your visitors who you are and why you are the right person to speak on a particular topic.
You should also tell your readers your name, profession, number of years of experience, and why you are writing on that specific topic.
If you have a website where a lot of writers publish content regularly just like our website StartupTalky you can include the name, pic, and bio of the writer.
Work With Experts:
Google wants to rank articles written by experts who know what they are talking about.
Since anyone can publish a low-quality article on Google, it is very important for the search engine to make sure only the highest quality content ranks.
So, rather than hiring ghostwriters who don’t have any expert knowledge about your niche you should only work with experts who can bring something new to the table.
Link To High-Authority Sources:
Back your information with facts and link your article to other high-authority websites, official sources, studies, and research papers.
You can also link your article to tweets by industry experts. Linking to high-authority websites increases the trustworthiness of your article.
Get Backlinks From Other Authority Sites:
When big websites that are experts in their domain link back to your article, it tells Google that you are also an expert in your subject.
In this way, the chances of your article getting ranked on the first-page increases.
Update Content Regularly:
The content that you have written a few months back or a year ago might become outdated today.
At such times, you should always update the content with new and accurate information.
Conclusion
Don’t just stuff keywords and build backlinks. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers.
Think about different ways your customers could discover you.
Then ask yourself if are you building your SEO strategy around those ways.
You must understand that apart from Google there are so many other ways to increase your reach like Instagram and YouTube.
If you are new to the industry first build your audience on social media sites.
Once you have built a name in your industry and people are searching for your brand name on Google you can then start writing content.
Or you can produce content both on Google and other social media sites.
The key thing to remember is to focus on quality and not on quantity.
FAQs
Will SEO exist in 10 years?
I can’t give you an accurate answer to this question but there is a very high chance that SEO will exist 10 years from now.
This is because search engines use SEO to rank websites.
Without SEO, the search engine won’t be able to understand which articles to rank so, SEO would be there in the future.
Although, the way people perform searches will change.
For example, instead of typing their search query on Google, they would rather ask Alexa or Siri to find answers to their queries.
If this happens Google will bring chances to its algorithm and you need to change your strategies as well.
The complexity of search queries would increase if people use virtual assistants to conduct Google searches.
This means that your keyword research strategy would also change.
What’s replacing SEO?
SEO has evolved into Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).