With the buzz about AI and replacing humans percolating throughout the industry, is SEO still relevant in 2023? Yes! And more so than ever. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is ever-evolving. As we step into 2023, it’s important for businesses to stay up-to-date with the latest SEO strategies to improve their online visibility and drive traffic to their websites. Although some of these strategies have shown consistent success over the past several years, it’s important to stay informed of the latest developments and trends in the industry to ensure that you’re optimizing your website to its fullest potential.

In this blog post, we’ll be sharing six SEO best practices that you should be implementing in 2023 to stay ahead of the competition and boost your website’s search engine rankings. So, whether you’re a seasoned SEO expert or just getting started, let’s dive in and discover what’s new in the world of SEO.

1. Use AI to Your Advantage

AI, or artificial intelligence, is an efficient tool for SEO for several reasons, but there are cautions to be mindful of. First, let’s talk about the advantages of using AI to help with SEO.

• Speed and Efficiency: AI can process large data sets and provide insights faster than humans can. This can save SEO experts and marketers a lot of time and effort.
• Accurate Predictions: AI algorithms can analyze patterns and predict future outcomes with a high degree of accuracy. This can help SEO experts and marketers make informed decisions about their strategies and optimize their efforts accordingly.
• Competitor Analysis: Knowing what your competitors are doing and what is working for them is an important part of any SEO strategy. AI can do the dirty work for you by keeping a digital eye on the competition and providing valuable feedback and analysis on strategies that are working. This can help SEO experts stay ahead of the curve and optimize their strategies for maximum impact.
• Keyword Research: Finding the right keywords has always been important for ranking a website for what people are searching. Keyword research can be a long a tedious process. However, AI can simplify this process by assisting in identifying the most relevant keywords, variations, and semantically related terms. Using AI can enable SEO experts to create highly focused and efficient campaigns that resonate better with the target audience.
• Automation: Routine tasks that take up a lot of time can be automated with AI. As mentioned, AI can automate keyword research, content optimization, and link building, freeing up time for SEO experts to focus on more strategic tasks.

Cautions When Using AI

With all of the great things that come with AI, there are some cautions to be aware of. Here are just a few.

• As advanced as it is, AI isn’t 100% accurate 100% of the time, it is still learning and can make mistakes. Therefore, it is important to review and verify the information, analysis, and recommendations that AI provides.
• According to John Mueller on Search Engine Land, Google considers AI-generated content spam. Mueller stated, “Content written by AI falls under the category of auto-generated content, which could lead to a manual penalty.” However, since Google heavily uses AI to improve user experiences, many SEOs argue that if you work through the content to provide a good user experience and don’t use it to spam content, then you should be fine. All we are going to say is, to proceed with caution.

2. Optimize for Your Clients

In the past, many websites were optimized to please search engines to achieve higher rankings on search results pages with the goal of generating more traffic. However, it is a far better strategy to optimize your website to meet the needs of your users. To create a good user experience, here are some tips to follow.

• Understand your audience: Before optimizing your website, gain as much understanding about your target audience. Use data analytics tools to gather insights about your audience’s demographics, interests, and online behavior.
• Simplify the navigation: Make sure your website navigation is easy to use and intuitive. Users should be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Use clear and concise language for navigation labels and organize content logically.
• Provide quality content: Provide valuable and relevant content that meets the needs of your audience. Use simple language, break up content into manageable sections, and use visual aids such as images, videos, and other graphics.
• Focus on speed: Website speed is critical for the best user experience. No one likes to wait for a page to load. Google considers a mobile site that takes more than 2 seconds to load as too slow. Google prefers a mobile site to load under 1 second and looks at metrics like First Contentful Paint (FCP), Total Blocking Time (TBT), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Ensure that your website loads quickly and doesn’t keep users waiting. Optimize images and videos, use caching, and minimize HTTP requests to improve website performance.
• Use responsive design: Over 60% of internet traffic comes from a mobile device. Make sure that your website is optimized for all devices, including mobile, desktops, and tablets. Responsive design ensures that your website looks great and functions well on any device.
• Use clear calls-to-action (CTAs): CTAs are an essential part of turning your site visitors into customers. Use clear and actionable language for your CTAs, and prominently display them in easy-to-find areas. It’s also good to use a few different types of CTAs.
• Test and iterate: Regularly test your website’s usability and user experience to identify areas for improvement. Use A/B testing and user feedback to continually refine and optimize your website for your users.

3. Write Content for Quick Answers (Voice Search)

Optimizing a website for quick answers, including voice search, involves making changes to the website’s content and structure to provide concise and relevant answers to users’ search queries. Quick answers are the featured snippets that appear at the top of the search engine results page, providing an immediate answer to a user’s question.

To optimize a website for quick answers, the website owner should first identify the most common questions their target audience is asking related to their business or industry. Then, they should create content that answers those questions in a clear and concise manner.

Some key strategies for optimizing a website for quick answers include:

• Identifying and targeting long-tail keywords that are commonly used in voice search and featured snippets.
• Structuring the content in a way that is easy to read and understand, with subheadings and bullet points.
• Including relevant images, videos, and other multimedia to enhance the user’s experience and engagement with the content.
• Ensuring that the content is up-to-date and accurate.
• Using schema markup to provide structured data that helps search engines understand the content of the page.

By optimizing a website for quick answers, website owners can increase the visibility of their website in search engine results, attract more traffic, and establish themselves as authoritative sources of information in their industry.

4. Optimize for Mobile First

Mobile-first optimization involves creating a website that is responsive and adapts to different screen sizes and devices. This approach takes into account that mobile devices are becoming the primary device for browsing the internet, and website owners need to ensure that their website is easily accessible and functional on mobile devices.

Some key strategies for optimizing a website for mobile-first include:

• Using a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes.
• Prioritizing the most important content and features for mobile devices and simplifying the user interface.
• Minimizing load times by optimizing images, videos, and other media for mobile devices (decreasing file size, specifying exact image size, and using a mobile-friendly file type).
• Using mobile-specific features such as click-to-call and location-based services.
• Ensuring that the website is easy to navigate with a mobile-friendly menu and clear call-to-action buttons.

By optimizing a website for mobile-first, website owners can improve their search engine rankings, increase engagement and conversions, and provide a better user experience for visitors accessing their website from mobile devices.

5. Include Short Videos About Products or Services

As popular social media apps regularly show us, short video clips get attention. Sometimes that attention goes viral. If a product or service brand is attached to the video, the advertising capabilities are priceless because of viral popularity. Short videos also help users gain a better understanding of products or services much more quickly than reading.

Some of the benefits of including short product or service videos include:

• Improved engagement: Videos are more engaging than text or images alone. By providing a visual representation of a product or service, videos can capture the viewer’s attention and keep them engaged longer, which may increase the chances of them making a purchase or taking action.
• Increased understanding: Videos can help explain complex products or services in a way that is easy to understand. This can be particularly useful for technical or complicated products or services that may be difficult to explain with text alone.
• Improved SEO: Including videos on a website can also improve search engine optimization (SEO). Videos can increase the time spent on a page, which can signal to search engines that the content is valuable and relevant. Additionally, videos can be optimized with keywords and tags to help them rank higher in search results.
• Better conversion rates: According to a study by Hubspot, adding a video to a landing page can increase conversions by 86%. Videos can help build trust with potential customers by providing a more personal and humanized view of a product or service.

6. Optimization for Conversions: Know Your Sales Funnel

A savvy marketer understands the complete customer experience and journey. This creates different sales funnel actions depending on where the customer’s journey is at a given time.

Optimizing a website for conversions means making changes to the website with the goal of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a specific action, such as making a purchase, filling out a contact form, or subscribing to a newsletter.

Conversion optimization involves analyzing website data, identifying areas that may be causing visitors to leave without taking the desired action, and making changes to improve the user experience and encourage visitors to take the desired action.

Some common techniques for optimizing a website for conversions include:

• Simplifying the website design and navigation to make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for.
• Using clear and compelling calls to action (CTAs) to encourage visitors to take the desired action.
• Creating landing pages that are specifically designed to convert visitors for a particular product or service.
• Using A/B testing to test different versions of the website and identify which changes are most effective at improving conversion rates.
• Making sure the website is mobile-friendly, as an increasing number of visitors are accessing websites on mobile devices.

The ultimate goal of conversion optimization is to create a website that is optimized to convert visitors into customers, subscribers, or other desired actions. By continuously monitoring and analyzing website data and making changes to improve the user experience, a website can become more effective at achieving its conversion goals.

Final Thoughts

A sales funnel is not a static effort to attract people to a store or website. Instead, it requires continuous and proactive optimization to keep up with current trends. Today, a successful sales funnel must capture and retain consumer attention throughout the entire customer journey. As marketers, it is essential to closely monitor and enhance the customer experience as they navigate the funnel.

Additionally, with the majority of sales funnels beginning on smartphones, creating mobile-first content is crucial to creating a memorable experience. Neglecting to optimize for voice searches can result in losing potential customers. To ensure a far-reaching campaign, keyword research is necessary to find the voice searches potential customers are using.

At Infogenix, we are passionate about search optimization and can improve your sales funnel’s effectiveness. Let us help you create memorable customer journeys. Contact us for a free consultation or visit our website for more information.

In times of economic hardship, small businesses often have to make tough decisions about where to allocate their limited resources. One area that is often considered for cutbacks is search engine optimization (SEO) services. However, in this blog post, we argue that small businesses should continue with SEO even, and especially when the economy is down.

The Importance of SEO

SEO is a digital marketing technique that involves optimizing a website’s content and structure to increase its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages. This visibility can translate into increased website traffic, leads, and sales.

In today’s digital age, where the majority of consumers start their buying journey with a search engine, SEO has become an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy. In fact, a study by BrightEdge found that organic search drives 53% of website traffic, making it the most significant source of website traffic.

SEO is a Long-Term Investment

One of the most significant benefits of SEO is that it is a long-term investment. Unlike other marketing strategies that provide short-term benefits, SEO can continue to drive traffic and leads for months and even years after the initial investment.

For example, let’s consider a small business that invests in SEO services for six months. During that time, the business sees a significant increase in website traffic, leads, and sales. However, if the business stops investing in SEO, that traffic and revenue will likely begin to decline over time.

On the other hand, if the business continues to invest in SEO, that traffic and revenue will continue to grow and compound over time. In this way, SEO is a long-term investment that can provide significant returns for small businesses.

SEO is Cost-Effective

Another benefit of SEO is that it is cost-effective. Unlike other marketing strategies that require a significant upfront investment, SEO can be implemented at a relatively low cost.

For example, a small business can invest in keyword research, content marketing, webpage optimization, and local search, all through a digital marketing agency. These investments can have a significant impact on the business’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages, leading to increased website traffic, leads, and sales.

SEO Helps Small Businesses Compete

Small businesses often find themselves competing with larger, more established companies with bigger marketing budgets. However, SEO can level the playing field by providing small businesses with the opportunity to compete with larger companies on a level playing field.

For example, a small business that invests in SEO can rank higher on search engine results pages, or SERPs, than a larger company that does not invest in SEO. This visibility can lead to increased website traffic, leads, and sales for small businesses, giving them a competitive advantage.

Conclusion

In conclusion, small businesses should continue with SEO even when the economy is down. SEO is a long-term investment that can provide significant returns for small businesses. It is also cost-effective and can help small businesses compete with larger, more established companies.

Search engine optimization has been around since 1997. Since then, it’s evolved into a very intricate system that includes algorithms from major search engines, particularly Google. There are three primary considerations when you’re trying to improve the SEO value of your website – widespread searches, local searches, and map pack placement.

For the most part, small businesses and those that only offer goods and services to limited geographical areas don’t have to worry about widespread searches. Instead, their SEO budget should include a primary focus on local searches and map pack placement.

Contrary to what some individuals believe, you can’t just throw in the cities your company tailors to and rank well in search engines. Each page of your website presents a unique opportunity to appeal to local searchers and to place better in local searches on different search engines.

Core Elements of Local Search Placement

There are three primary factors that Google considers when determining the ranking of a local business.

• Relevance: Relevance deals with how your website relates to a specific search.
• Proximity: This has to do with how close your company is to the searcher’s actual location based on their GPS or their targeted search area.
• Reviews: Customer reviews are largely factored into the placement of your business among similar businesses.

Developing your local SEO strategy requires that you consider all these factors and determine the most effective and impactful manner to weave them into your website. Each page of the website is a chance to increase the SEO factors that will move your company higher in the rankings when targeted searches occur.

Online Review Management

Online reviews about your company play a huge role in building your virtual reputation. While it might be tempting to just leave those alone, it’s never a good idea to allow reviews to stagnate. Instead, use every review to boost your company’s online brand.

Companies that answer every review are viewed as more customer-focused and responsive. This gives some searchers a sense of security about your company. Even a couple of sentences acknowledging a positive review can be just as valuable as that review.

Negative or neutral reviews might initially seem like a bad thing to have posted online. Instead of looking at them in that manner, use them as a way to show that you want to make your customers happy with their experience. Reply to those reviews with concern. Contact the reviewer and try to correct the problem. Once the matter is resolved, follow up on the review thanking the reviewer for the opportunity to make things right.

Secondary Signals for Local Search Placement

Several secondary signals work together to affect search engine placement. While these don’t have as big of an impact as the three core elements of local search engine placement, they can mean the difference between staying stagnant in the searches and moving your company up higher in the rankings.

Review signals

Review signals are more than just how many favorable reviews your company has. Instead, it has to do with how diverse the reviews are, when they were submitted, and how many reviews the company has.

Linking signals

Inbound links to your website and outbound links from your website are important. The anchor text other websites use to link to your website is important. Your outbound links should be to high-quality domains. Some of the outbound links should be to other local websites for relevance.

Business listing signals

Business listing signals don’t have anything to do with your company’s website. Instead, it deals with where your company is listed online, most importantly, on popular local business listings, including:

• Google Business
• Bing Places
• Yelp
• Facebook
• Apple Maps
• LinkedIn
• Better Business Bureau
• Local Chamber of Commerce
• InfoUSA
• Local Directories
• 411.com
• CitySearch.com
• Foursquare.com
• MerchantCircle.com
• Other similar directories, including industry-specific ones

It’s crucial that you have the NAP (name, address, and phone number) for your business prominently displayed on your website because NAP is used to cross-reference these business listings with your company. Without this information, the search engines won’t include the information in your online search placement score. It is also important to make sure that the NAP is constant across the web. You don’t want to confuse customers or search engines that associate your address with your business.

Social media signals

Interactions with the social media accounts you have linked to your website are important. Search engines crawl things like votes, posts, links, and reviews on those social media profiles. Follower engagement on these profiles is important because search engines perceive good engagement as a sign that the company is relevant and has a high value.

Visitor behavior signals

The way visitors interact with your website also impacts search engine placement. The location of people who click through your website, how many clicks to call occur, and the number of check-ins at your company all play a role in how the search engine algorithm perceives the website.

Appealing to Local Searchers

Appealing to local searchers requires you to do several things. The goal is to have people in your target area view your company as an authority in your chosen industry. It should show visitors that you’re a local company that cares about the area and is investing in the community. Visitors to your website need to know that your company is reputable and authentic.

• Claim your Google My Business account: This enables you to take control of the information in the search engine results. You can add features, including photos that enable searchers to take a look at your company. There’s also an option to upload a 30-second video to introduce your company.
• Localize your social media profiles: Complete the location information and stay active on the profile. Add pictures. Tag local landmarks when you can. For example, if you take your team out for lunch, tag the restaurant. This adds authenticity to the profile.
• Include local keywords: Local keywords include things like your proximity to popular locations, such as major attractions, airports, and similar points. Some localized content, such as neighborhood names and similar information can be sprinkled in but shouldn’t be overwhelming.
• Create city pages: Each page should have different content, so the pages aren’t flagged as copies of each other. This strategy is best for companies that have multiple locations.

Importance of a User-Friendly Interface

Your entire website must be user-friendly. This includes the overall layout and the information you present. The days of keyword stuffing to boost search engine rankings are long gone. Instead, you must provide valuable information that’s directly related to the topic of the page.

Content should be broken down into chunks of content that are easy to digest. Remember, visitors to websites often skim content so having long paragraphs on a page is pointless. Bulleted lists, subheadings, infographics, and pictures can break up information as long as they aren’t intrusive or distracting.

The website should be easy to navigate for all users. It can’t be cluttered and all text should be easy to read. Using elements like alt text for pictures enhances the experience for visitors who may have vision challenges. This also helps to ensure that your website is compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines.

Inclusion of Core Web Vitals

You have to consider how your website’s pages perform when you’re developing your company’s website. These have to do with the page experience of visitors to a website. The page’s responsiveness, loading performance, and stability are all factors in the page experience, but these are difficult to quantify for the purpose of website evaluation and search engine placement.

Google introduced the Core Web Vitals to address the quantification difficulties. These three values include:

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This is a measure of how stable your website is as it’s loading. Elements shifting as a page load has a negative impact on this metric.
• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This is a measure of how fast a website loads based on the largest element on the page. All elements, including text and graphics, are considered.
• First Input Display (FID): This is a measure of website responsiveness. All page interactions, including clicks and scrolls, are factored into this score.

Google uses red, yellow, and green visuals to help website owners know what their scores are for the Core Web Vitals. Having all three in the green range is necessary for the website to receive a boost in the rankings.

Conversion Optimization Increases Return on Investment

The conversion of either visits-to-sales or visits-to-clicks is important because a better conversion rate means that you’re getting the best return on investment possible. Your business’ website can be one of the greatest advertising tools you have, as long as it’s kept current and relevant to current needs and trends. Optimizing the website to encourage visitors to make a purchase or contact your company is highly beneficial, especially when it’s done in a friendly, non-intrusive manner.

Contact Infogenix to Improve Your Company’s Local Online Presence

Search engine algorithms often change, which makes it difficult for most business owners to stay on top of what their company’s website needs. The professionals at Infogenix keep track of the most current algorithm components to ensure our clients can place well in search engine results. Contact our team for a free estimate for our personalized local SEO service by giving us a call or submitting our convenient online form.