SEO strategies are constantly shifting as SEO experts work to understand the intricate details of Google’s all-powerful algorithm — and as Google frequently shifts its algorithm to increase sophistication and deliver high-quality results to web users. The ever-changing nature of SEO is why so many digital marketing firms prefer to utilize SEO resellers, who are dedicated SEO experts with the knowledge and skill to keep up with Google’s constant algorithm updates. By taking advantage of SEO reselling, marketing agencies can keep their in-house costs low while continuing to deliver high-quality SEO results to their clients.
Yet, even when working with SEO resellers, digital marketers should have some SEO experience to pass along to their clients. Staying invested in the broad changes to Google’s algorithm is a good way to remain plugged into changes to the SEO landscape and ensure comprehensive and effective digital marketing services. To that end, here are a few of the more important attributes that Google’s algorithm is looking for in highly ranked search results in 2023:
Consistent Publication
Consistently the number-one most important factor in ranking, consistent publication of engaging content remains remarkably important — but slightly less so after the most recent update. Prior to 2023, publication rates commanded slightly more than a quarter of the ranking weight, but today, this factor constitutes just 24 percent of influence for Google’s algorithm.
Of course, this isn’t to say that companies can relax their content publishing calendar. Websites that consistently produce high-quality information continue to receive faster indexing, and thanks to the larger amount of content, these websites also benefit from a larger number of backlinks. Now and for the foreseeable future, consistent publication is the best way to rank highly in search results.
Trustworthiness
Recent years have brought a rash of inaccurate and intentionally misleading information to the web. Unfortunately, naïve web users have few tools for discerning the lies and false information from the truth — until now. Trustworthiness is the newest factor in Google’s algorithm, and it operates thanks to an artificial intelligence capable of evaluating the factual nature of online content.
To take advantage of trustworthiness, marketers should cite authoritative sources within their content and avoid making unproven claims. Though trustworthiness only accounts for 5 percent of ranking weight, it could increase in importance in coming years, so marketers should get into the habit of creating responsible and honest content as soon as possible.
Niche Expertise
Related to trustworthiness insomuch as it pertains to the accuracy of content, niche expertise is a ranking factor that has grown in influence in 2023. Niche experts have unique knowledge and skill in a specific field, which may be underserved online. To take advantage of this ranking factor, marketers are increasingly employing the hub-and-spoke SEO strategy, which involves creating a central high-level page with valuable content that links to secondary pages filled with related keywords. For companies in specialized industries, the hub-and-spoke model could be a revolutionary method of achieving SEO success.
Keywords
By no means are keywords a new concept in SEO; keywords are arguably the original SEO tools, and they continue to be indispensable in affecting a page’s ranking. Yet, Google is no fan of keyword-based SEO practices, and the search engine has long searched for ways to rank results without relying on keywords.
In 2023, Google has begun to filter out keyword ranking factors from its algorithm. Already, keywords in header tags are no longer effective ranking factors, so marketers can quit trying to stuff ungainly phrases into their content headers. Keywords in meta titles are also slightly less impactful, especially as the variation in different words — like singular versus plural versions of nouns — becomes less important to Google’s algorithm, thanks to the search engine’s efforts within natural language processing.
Linking
A fundamental aspect of SEO with comparable significance to keywords, linking is essential for indexing and ranking, alike. Companies need both internal links and backlinks to build a network that impresses the Google algorithm and generate a high ranking — but the recent update has slightly altered which types of links should take precedence in SEO strategy.
Internal links have dropped substantively in weight, from 5 percent to about 3 percent, as the algorithm shares less trust amongst webpages on a site. In contrast, backlinking remains as important as in recent memory, commanding 15 percent of ranking influence. Building out backlinks through content marketing and guest posting remains a valuable method of manipulating search results.
SEO practices are highly dependent on Google’s algorithm, which means marketers need to stay in tune with the latest Google updates to deliver high-quality SEO strategy to clients. Fortunately, changes to the algorithm are relatively slow and steady, even in 2023, so it is easy to stay on top of the best methods for achieving high search rankings.
