Bruce Clay Inc. is a digital marketing agency that has been at the forefront of search engine optimization (SEO) since the early days of the web. Founded in 1996, the company has helped countless businesses worldwide improve their online visibility and achieve their business goals.

Recently, the team at Bruce Clay Inc. sat down to discuss the latest SEO trends and strategies shaping the industry in 2023. Here are some of the key insights they shared:

1: User Experience Is Key

As search engines continue to prioritize user experience, it’s more important than ever for websites to provide a seamless and intuitive experience for their visitors.

This means paying attention to things like:

• A secure website
• Site speed
• Helpful content
• Intuitive, search-optimized navigation
• Google’s “core web vitals”

By providing a smooth and enjoyable user experience, businesses can improve their search rankings and enhance user engagement and conversions.

2: Content Is Still King

While there’s no denying the importance of technical SEO, high-quality content remains a crucial factor in achieving good rankings.

According to the experts at Bruce Clay Inc., search engines have a multi-faceted approach to evaluating the quality of content. This includes things like how helpful the content is as well as if the content creator has the experience and expertise to be a trustworthy authority on the matter.

Therefore, businesses must focus on creating standout content that always puts the user first. It’s even more important now that AI tools like ChatGPT have lowered the barrier to entry for content generation. When anyone can produce articles with the click of a few buttons, applying your own expertise, voice, and other human elements becomes essential to creating quality content that can rank.

Not only does great content attract links, traffic, and social shares, but it also keeps visitors on your site longer, which can improve your bounce rate, user experience, and conversions.[1] [2] 

3: Voice Search Is Growing

As more people use voice assistants like Siri and Alexa to search the web, optimizing for voice search is becoming increasingly important.

To achieve this, businesses must use natural language in their content, focus on long-tail keywords, and provide quick answers to common questions[3] [4] .

This strategy can improve a company’s chances of being found in voice search results and generating more from this rapidly growing source (see this CMO’s guide to voice search for details).

4: Backlinks Are Essential

Backlinks are links from external websites that point to your website, and search engines still consider them a key factor in determining a website’s authority and ranking.

Backlinks have always been important and they remain so today, though the way website owners get them has evolved. Gone are the days of “link building” and trying to obtain as many links as possible, regardless of their relevance or quality.

Today, links must be earned through high-quality content and modern strategies to put that content in front of the right people—and the team at Bruce Clay Inc. advises looking for quality of links over quantity.

This is important because high-quality backlinks (i.e., links from authoritative and relevant websites) can help businesses improve their search rankings, attract organic traffic, and establish their online reputation.

5: Optimize for Featured Snippets

Featured snippets (aka “position zero” when featured above the search results) are short answers that appear at the top of Google search results and are extracted from websites’ content.

This is a coveted position that website publishers can optimize for. To start, website publishers must create high-quality, informative content (video, text, etc.) that answers users’ queries and is optimized for keywords.

For webpages, how website owners format their content can help it rank for featured snippets.

The world of SEO is constantly evolving, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends and strategies is essential for any business that wants to succeed online.

By following the advice and insights of experts like those at Bruce Clay Inc., businesses can stay ahead of current trends and achieve their marketing goals in 2023 and beyond.

Bruce Clay Inc. also provides SEO tools and training that are gold mines for businesses aiming high in the digital world. Contact the company or visit the website for the latest on all things SEO.