The new year is coming, and by now you’re probably wondering if you are well on track with your website and SEO strategy. Or this year, you really want to make it happen to finally make it to the top of that first page…

In this guide, we’ll give you the ins and outs of content & technical SEO, our experts’ vision on how to set yourself up for success in the new year, what to pay attention to and what to avoid in 2023!

SEO is constantly innovating, and sometimes it remains difficult to assess the effect of the latest trends and updates. Even marketers often struggle to keep up with the Google algorithm that can make or break their efforts. Get ready! Because we have the Christmas present you’ve been longing for! Our SEO experts are going to give you their two cents about SEO in 2023, and will give you actionable insights to skyrocket your way to the top of the SERPs!

START OFF WITH AN SEO CHECK

Getting ready for next year also means completing the things you already wanted to finish. Perhaps there are still things you’ve forgotten or overlooked. Additionally, it’s always good to re-check some of your past optimizations; are there any actions that might need another freshening up, or you might have done differently now? Or you may be a beginner in the field of SEO and plan to start working on a brand-new strategy in the coming year. All of these cases have one main thing in common: it is of vital importance to make sure you start 2023 with a clean slate, so make sure to set aside some time in your schedule to go through and finish this SEO checklist.

CONTENT IS KEY IN 2023

It is becoming more important than ever to create original content and beat your competitors by showcasing your expertise. Especially heading toward 2023, it is an absolute no-go, to write content that does not add value to visitors. We’re going to discuss a number of updates that will be influential while optimizing your strategy for 2023. So, let’s kick off by talking about the launch of the Open AI chatbot!

Open AI chat

With the launch of the open AI chatbot, there is definitely something happening in the world of SEO. But what is this chat that everyone is talking about, and what will be the impact on the future?

The open AI (artificial intelligence) chat is a chatbot created to optimize interacting with humans as naturally as possible. The chatbot can take directions and accomplish tasks like writing content. I know what you’re, thinking… will this mean the end of man-made written content? Well, we don’t think so. The open AI chat is a tool you can use to make it a lot easier and more efficient to write content.

But enough about the future, let’s take a brief dive into the SEO-history books!

GOOGLE UPDATES & THEIR IMPACT ON CONTENT SEO

A few years ago, many webmasters used black-hat keyword stuffing techniques, such as hiding the keywords in invisible text or in the website’s code. At that time, it was less important to write powerful content that was truly valuable to readers. The content was written more from the perspective of getting the website to rank higher, then to supply a pleasant user experience. But times change, and so does Google! These unsavory methods of sneakily stuffing your website with keywords now not only don’t work, but even result in huge penalties! Because, as with all black-hat tricks, eventually Google found out and adjusted its algorithms. Now let’s go through a few of these big upsets in the algorithm!

THE BERT UPDATE

In 2019, Google implemented a significant update to its algorithm: BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers). This update brought with it huge improvements in Google’s understanding of natural language. Such as the context of language and the meaning of words and phrases. After this update, Google started paying more attention to a natural way of writing the content on your website. In response to the BERT update, Google again came out with another update that had even more of an effect. In the next paragraphs, we discuss the effect of this new update, and the transformation in SEO this update might bring in the future… but first the MUM update!

THE MUM UPDATE

The Multitask Unified Model (MUM) update landed in June of 2021. It entailed an algorithm created to break down language barriers and improve search experiences. This was a much more powerful tool, compared to less impactful updates like BERT. It not only understands language, but it also generates the language itself. The update also emphasizes video, audio, and image content. It will help Google gain deeper insights and find more useful information for user searches.

THE HELPFUL CONTENT UPDATE

In August 2022, Google launched the ‘helpful content’ update. Like the previous updates, this update is also about improving the usability of Google as a platform. In addition, this update was intended to better connect people with helpful information.

This already says a lot about the intent of the update and the importance of valuable content to Google. For this reason, many websites that were already doing a good job of producing valuable content were “safe” when this update hit.

Are you in doubt about whether your content is valuable enough? If so, take a look at these questions that google has put together, to make sure your content is “update proof.”

Helpful questions from Google to answer for your business:

  • Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?
  • Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
  • Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
  • After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
  • Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
  • Are you keeping in mind our guidance for core updates and for product reviews?

SEE, THINK AND CARE

The ‘see, think, care and do’ model is widely used in the marketing world as a guide to the customer’s stages. In conjunction with the new update, it is important that you are aware of a new shift in the intention of written content.

  • The SEE phase (awareness)
  • The THINK phase (orientation)
  • The DO phase (purchase)
  • The CARE phase (build a connection with the buyer)

Many people still write content with the “think and do” intention or in the “see and care” phase, but the conclusions still have commercial intentions. Due to the commercial intent of many websites, the helpful content update has caused a shift here. Content ranks better when the text is literally “helpful” and valuable. So be sure to refresh your old content with this “new” intent, if you haven’t already. By using long-tail keywords, combined with the new intent, you can reap many SEO benefits in the coming year!

What is helpful content?

  • Content that is made for the audience (helpful and valuable)
  • Content that answers searchers’ queries
  • Content written with expertise
  • Content that adds something new like facts, perspectives, or answers to questions
  • Content that responds to the phases: “see, think and care”

HOW DO THESE GOOGLE UPDATES AFFECT YOUR SEO?

Are you still stuffing your pages full of unnatural-looking keyword-variations? Then it’s about time that you stop those outdated practices, don’t you think? Simply make sure your content looks natural, includes the keywords (without stuffing), and has proper research behind it; and the content will do the ranking for you. With the MUM-update, we also see that Google is starting to focus on scanning content like videos and images. When you write content that makes the audience feel like their imagination is being sparked, and they feel very well serviced, then you know you’re well on track!

Now, you’re probably wondering how you can make sure that your content refresh has an impact in terms of SEO. Well, there is a very simple trick for that! It’s called: E-A-T. Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with food, but it does have to do with increasing your SEO score, which means plenty of reasons to continue reading! Let’s quickly dive deeper into it, with some knowledge you can immediately put into practice!