But in 2023, that's not enough for SEO. Not only should your website be user-friendly, but the content should also be useful to the user. In August 2022, Google released the Helpful Content Update and made changes again in December 2022.
The crux of these updates?
Your website should make "... visitors feel like they have had a satisfying experience...".
This is very subjective because it depends entirely on the reader at any given time, but here are some basic tips to improve the user experience of your website:
break up the content into smaller paragraphs
Use meaningful heading tags and bullets
simplify navigation
focus on page speed
prioritize mobile users
5. Keyword research will still be useful, but it is only part of the picture
It's a critical skill for any SEO expert, and it will be no different in 2023.
However, many professionals go straight to keyword tools without benin phone number data really understanding their target audience. This needs to change in 2023, as it is the only way to stand out from the plethora of content that reads almost identical in the top 10 SERP results.
Understand your target audience and start by defining their needs, preferences, and pain points. This knowledge will guide your keyword research and help you create content that appeals to your audience. Use search tools like GWI or SparkToro to learn more than just keywords.
Conduct user research surveys and listen to what your audience is saying online about you or your competitors.
6. Rich and featured snippets dominate search engines
Back in 2016, I was working with a client who was ranking #1 for a chosen term, but at the time, ranking reports didn’t take into account the coveted “position 0” of featured snippets . For three months, I wondered why traffic was plummeting until I looked at the SERPs, and that’s when I discovered that there was another website, not even a direct competitor, that was ranking for the featured snippet, stealing all of our clicks.