If you are in the search engine optimization industry, either as a specialist or a blog owner, take a deep breath and relax. SEO is not going anywhere in 2023 or in the foreseeable future. As the coming of different AI tools rocked the first quarter of 2023, many SEO specialists wondered whether this was the beginning of the end of SEO. It is not. It can be the beginning of the greatest things in SEO, just yet. But to understand this, first, you have to know how SEO works. Learn Is SEO relevant in 2023 in the digital landscape, driving organic traffic and boosting your online success?
How does SEO work?
SEO – (search engine optimization) means to make something visible on the search engines. When you need to know something, you head over to your browser and type your keyword or search phrase.
The search engine (which you can select on the browser) crawls over billions of web pages. It looks for the pages with the best answers to the query. It then ranks all the pages, starting with the most relevant to the least relevant ones. The search engine (let’s use Google, shall we?) thinks they meet all or almost all its ranking factors.
The pages that rank top for your query do not get there magically. Rather, they rank because someone has worked on them so that they meet many of the Google ranking factors.
The person who has done this work to make the pages rank is the SEO master or specialist, such as Oregon Web Solutions Bend Services.
Long story short; SEO is not dying anytime soon. However, it is undergoing tremendous change. Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex, among others, keep serving helpful pages to searchers, meaning SEO is still very useful.
Google processes up to 99,000 searches per second. The pages it displays have a lot to do with SEO.
People will keep using Google, but the way they use it will change
Daily, over 12 updates are happening to the Google algorithm. Most people only know about the major (broad core) algorithm updates because of how disruptive they are. With the updates that happen every day, Google makes its search engine as searcher-friendly as possible.
The reason for making these updates is that people constantly change how they search for things! For a long time, Google was a sort of middleman, linking people to the stores, product pages, informational pages, images, and videos when they searched for something. Google has never sold anything directly on their platform, you know, unlike Instagram, which has a shop tab.
This does not look like it is going to change. Therefore, Google will still refer searchers to online stores, niche blogs, and other sites that have what they want. This means SEO is not going to die. By knowing what Google focuses on, you can build a profitable website.
SEO is changing fast but not dying
While SEO is not dying, it is undergoing a serious rebirth. Google has constantly tightened its reins, making it harder to manipulate ranking results.
Google wants to give searchers a web page that fulfills their search intent in the most satisfactory way possible, meaning very helpful content.
Please note: This does not mean that SEO strategies such as link building do not work anymore. On this, Google has been very wishy-washy.
You will still see sites with good backlinks ranking at the top for most searches. But … Google consistently indicates that it cares more about the searcher’s fulfillment and experience.
Good user experience (UX) and satisfaction make sites rank faster. The best idea is to create very helpful content and build a good backlink profile.
So, get down to writing those guest posts. They are still very important. If you publish the best content and get backlinks from sites, your site will be unbeatable.
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The Top Search Engine Offers Better and More Fulfilling Results
Google is not the only source of data on the web. However, rather than rely on its data spots only, it pulls data from many sources including social media platforms.
As user patterns, demographics, and other factors change, Google also changes the way it ranks pages. For instance, for more youthful queries, you can see social media pages ranking high.
When Google is ranking pages, it will look beyond its data areas. It will reach out to more data areas, and this makes it the best for the most reliable results.
As more sources of information keep coming up, Google keeps extending its reach. This is how it gives the most reliable results to searchers. You can use the same strategy to build a community for your website.
As an SEO, your niche content is one of the top data spots for Google. This is proof that SEO is not dying.
1. Focusing on niches will still work
Even beyond 2023, the best SEO results will come from niched-down sites. Therefore, general niches might not be able to do well. Narrowed-down niches will do well.
If you want investment information, you don’t want to get it from a site that deals with scuba diving.
You also don’t want to get that information from a site that deals with sewing, keeping rabbits, and so on.
Mostly, you will trust information from a site that specifically deals with your query. Since people love niche sites, Google also loves them (the sites!) and it keeps ranking them on top.
Focusing on one niche does not only make you seem like an expert, it eventually turns you into one. Imagine dealing with a single niche site for years, researching and writing content for it. It makes you an expert.
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2. Organic traffic to keep on rewarding SEO efforts- Is SEO relevant in 2023
If you are targeting organic traffic, be ready to put in the time and the work. The payoff will be incredible. SEO is the gift that keeps on giving.
Organic traffic is free, and it keeps coming whether you have money. Paid-for traffic is good and fast, but as soon as your budget runs out, it stops coming.
To get organic traffic, you need well-coordinated SEO efforts from the beginning. This means doing everything right from scratch. From the time of designing the website, you must have SEO in mind.
Using the right keywords (with low competition), and writing informative and helpful content is going to get you organic traffic.
Using other methods such as backlinks, internal linking, and relevant long-tail keywords can get you more free traffic. If you employ a good strategy and review your content often, you will keep on enjoying free traffic.
Also Read: Paid marketing VS Organic marketing: What do you choose?
3. Combine SEO with other strategies- Is SEO relevant in 2023
Since traffic is traffic anyway, do not forget to look for it from other places, in addition to the search engines.
People spend hours a day on social media, and it does not hurt to market your content there. Also, remember to create an email list so that you can reach many people with your promotional messages.
Conclusion
Stuff those second thoughts about SEO in 2023 and the long future ahead. It is going to be around for a long time. In fact, 2023 is the time to speak to an SEO expert to re-check your strategy. This specialist will turn your website into a low-cost lead generation place. In 2022, the SEO industry was worth $62.75 billion. In 2023, it grew to $74.76. In 2024, it is going to grow bigger. There is a lot of pie to go around, so employ the best SEO strategy for your website, and in good time, you are going to start seeing the ROI.
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