5 Tips to Improve your SEO in 2023

Search Engine Optimisation is an ever-evolving process that needs constant attention and holistic strategy. Organic marketing has been one of the most crucial parts of the marketing ecosystem for the last few years and according to a recent report by BrightEdge, SEO drives 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media. With the fast-changing world, even SEO strategies need to change and evolve over time.

Let’s have a quick look at some of the tips that can improve your SEO in 2023 and help you improve your website ranking: –

1) Optimising and updating your landing pages

Before jumping into creating new content, you should ensure that all the current pages and content on your website are updated. There can be a post that you published long back and the content is outdated now. Ensure that all the data on your web pages are updated and optimised.

Follow a structured way of organising data in your website and make sure that your website is optimised for mobile users since people are using phones to access the internet more often these days. You also need to ensure that the website has a fast-loading speed for the users. The website also needs to have relevant meta tags which we are going to discuss in detail further. Try getting the attention of the user and build a credible relationship with them to make them engage with the content that you are publishing.

2) Publish Relevant Content

A good writeup/content plays an extremely important role in the performance of the website. It is a testament to the fact that you are an expert in the industry. The first step of content creation starts with a detailed keyword analysis which gives an idea of what people are searching for. It is also worth analysing which pages of yours are performing well and then making a decision to decide the topics that you are going to talk about in your posts. However, there are certain things to keep in mind while deciding your keywords and topics: –

1) Search Volume – This gives you an idea of how many people are searching for the keyword that you are planning to write about. It gives you an idea of the overall audience and the opportunity you have.

2) Traffic Potential – Don’t mistake the search volumes to be the actual traffic of the keyword. Users get answers to some queries on the search engine without visiting any website as well. Such acts are classified as Zero-Clicks and they don’t help the website at all hence you need to avoid all the keywords that have a high search volume. The traffic potential is the real reflection of the number of visitors you can expect from the keywords.

3) Search Intent – It is very important to understand why people are searching for the keyword that you are planning to target. If you can fulfil the need of the customer then it would be easier for you to build a relationship with them. There are four types of search intent:

a) Informational – This is where the customer is looking for information about a keyword. Writing a blog on such a topic can be beneficial. Example: “What is SEO”

b) Navigational – This is when a customer wants to look for a specific site or page. For example, someone searches for Instagram on Google. You should never target these keywords with informational content.

c) Commercial – These keyword help searchers look for a brand or a product and investigate the same. This can be a product or service comparison of one brand to another and it reveals that the searcher is looking for information to make a final decision in the future. Example: – “Best Car brand in the UK”

d) Transactional – These keywords have the strongest intent of all. These keywords can be targeted through paid advertisements as they have the highest conversion chances. Example: – “Cars on sale in Birmingham”

4)Keyword Difficulty – This metric tells you the difficulty of ranking your content on search engines. This is mainly because of the other top-ranking pages that have excellent content and very strong/authoritative backlinks to their website.

3) Customise Metadata

Metadata refers to the informative and descriptive details about a webpage that are embedded in the HTML code of a webpage. It is extremely crucial to have updated and optimised metadata in SEO since it provides information to the search engines and helps improve click-through rates, engagement and rankings. Customised metadata ensures that your webpage has a higher chance to appear in the search results. It is also important to ensure that metadata truly reflects the content of the webpage. The two most important types of Metadata are: –

1) Meta Title Tags – It is the main title and the first thing that appears in the search results when the users search for a keyword. It should be clear, concise and have the relevant keywords that you are targeting.

2) Meta Description – As the name suggests, Meta Description is a summary of the webpage content which is displayed below the title in the search results. It provides an overview of the page content and what can a user expect from it. The description has to be engaging and catchy to improve the click-through rate.

4) Google My Business (Local SEO)

In this fast-paced world of paid Google ads and other forms of marketing, it is very important to stick to the basics and have an online presence on Google. Google My Business (GMB) is a tool that allows businesses to be present on Google Search and Maps. It acts as a listing platform where businesses can update information about their company which includes address, contact details, website, opening hours, customer reviews etc.
Through “Local Pack” whenever a user searches for any product or service near his/her location, Google displays all the options near the user with the details with a location on Google map. This increases the chances of a company being noticed in the local search results and increases its visibility to the potential customers in their area. For example: If someone searches “Furniture companies in Birmingham” it will display a list of all the furniture companies on a Google map. A well-optimised GMB profiles are much more likely to appear in the search results.

5) Build Authoritative Backlinks

Even after following all the steps mentioned above and creating relevant content, there is no guarantee that you will be ranked on Google and appear in search results. Hence it is very crucial to get backlinks from high-authority websites. Backlinks from reputable sources improve your website authority and help you rank better. Some of the ways to get authoritative backlinks are: –

a) Publish high-quality sharable content – Create content that is more likely to be shared by the people in your niche. The content should be relevant and highly engaging so that it compels people to share it on their profiles.

b) Write on trending topics – It is very important to be up-to-date with all the industry news and events in 2023. If you publish an article that talks about the latest trend in the industry, it has a higher chance to be picked up and promoted on the search engine result pages.

c) Use of Infographics and Data-Driven Posts – Infographics can explain highly complex topics with much ease. At the same time, Data-driven reports/posts explained through infographics increase the likelihood of featuring you and crediting you back.

d) Guest Posting – Guest posting means that you write an article on other sites of your niche as a collaboration. Links from these posts help you to improve your ranking and establish yourself as a thought leader in the industry. However, you also need to ensure that you don’t guest post on all the sites. You have to be extremely cautious while choosing the sites you are going to post on.

All in all, there are hundreds of ways to improve your SEO. However, it is just a matter of time and a constant learning cycle. Capturing the SERPs gradual process and the tips mentioned above will help you to start building a strong foundation in your SEO journey.

If you are unsure of how and where to start your SEO Journey, Make sure to get in touch with our team of experts at Smart Web Design which will help you build a personalised SEO strategy and get you ranked on the search engine result pages.