The classic Pareto principle rings true for SEO activity – 80% of your SEO success can be attributed to 20% of your actions. We believe that the 20%, in this case, are the tried and tested SEO basics that have stood the test of time (and algorithm updates).
In our SEO trends for 2023 article, our number 1 trend was the return to SEO basics in 2023. But what exactly are these activities? We’ve listed 5 SEO basics that still deserve your time and attention in 2023 and will achieve the most bang for your buck when it comes to improving organic visibility and turning your website into a lead-generating machine.
Meta Title Optimisation is still important for SEO because meta titles are one of the very first things search engines assess when a page is crawled. The keywords used in the meta title are still a strong ranking factor in 2023 – even though Google currently changes 61% of meta titles in search results.
Meta titles inform search engines what the content on a web page is about, making it easier for them to determine if the content is relevant to the search query and rank it accordingly.
Meta titles also play an important role in improving click-through rate (CTR) when users search for related topics. Meta titles are prominently displayed in search engine results pages (SERPs), so creating Meta titles with relevant keywords and compelling copy can help to entice users to click on your web page instead of your competitors’.
Creating landing pages for each service your business offers is an effective way to leverage your SEO efforts. Each landing page should be tailored to a specific keyword associated with the service so that when a user searches using that particular keyword (or variations of the keyword), they are directed directly to the most relevant page.
Google wants to rank the most relevant page for any given keyword, so producing a specific page for each target group of keywords is a very effective strategy. This increases visibility and search engine rankings for your website.
Additionally, by creating individual landing pages for each service, you can guide visitors through the process of selecting the service that best suits their needs. Ultimately, this helps maximise conversions and turn visitors into customers.
Backlinks are still the most important off-site ranking factor because they indicate to the search engines that the content is reliable, trustworthy, and of high quality. Reliability and Trust are increasingly important in 2023.
Search engines use backlinks as a signal for how authoritative and relevant your website is on a particular topic. If a website has many high-quality backlinks from other credible (and relevant) websites, then it signals to the search engine that the website is credible and should be ranked higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Backlinks can also help to drive traffic to your website if you target the right publications. They’re a great way of gaining additional exposure should your site be mentioned in a publication or site that is popular with your target audience.
Furthermore, backlinks are a great way to build relationships with other websites and industry experts which can lead to more opportunities for collaboration, networking, and referrals.
Internal linking is an important, powerful and often neglected part of website optimisation. The links between your pages, and the text used for these links (anchor text), help search engines understand the structure and context of the content of your website better, which improves rankings and visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Additionally, internal links allow visitors to naturally flow through your site, making it easier to navigate and driving more users down the conversion funnel. Strategic Internal linking can improve user experience by providing users with additional / supplementary content that is relevant to their needs.
Internal linking also helps to channel authority from external links to the most important pages on your website, which can ultimately lead to a higher ranking in the SERPs.
Lastly, internal links also help to support better indexing of your pages and increase the chances of Google bots finding your content to be indexed.
User experience (UX) plays an important role in SEO because it can directly influence the success of a page on search engines. When users view websites and content, they expect to find what they need quickly and easily.
Google uses Core Web Vitals as an integral part of how it measures user experience on your web pages. Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics developed by Google to help measure how quickly and reliably users interact with a website. The main metrics used include CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift), LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) and FID (First Input Delay).
Now part of the ranking algorithm, Google uses the Core Web Vitals metrics to assess how well a website performs from the user’s point of view and how quickly it provides content that is relevant and helpful. The performance of a website directly affects how well it ranks in Google search results. Google rewards sites that offer a better user experience so in theory sites with higher scores on the Core Web Vitals metrics are likely to rank better (all things being even).
It’s important for website owners and developers to ensure their websites are optimised according to these standards. This includes optimising page loading speed, reducing how often content shifts on the page and how long it takes for users to be able to interact with the page.
There are a number of tools available to help website owners and developers track their Core Web Vitals scores, including Google’s PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse.
In summary, the basics of SEO are still important in 2023 and will remain so for many years to come. These basics provide an excellent starting point for businesses to reach more people online, attract more visitors organically, and drive more traffic to their websites.
These SEO basics can help businesses stay competitive in an increasingly crowded and competitive search landscape. By taking the time to understand the basics and implementing best practices, businesses can ensure their website stands out from others for the right reasons and has the opportunity to reach more customers than ever before.
If you have questions around SEO, please contact our team and we’d be happy to answer your questions.
Our bespoke approach means we will work with you to find the ideal solution to your challenges. Our extensive experience of working with companies of all types gives us the ability and insight to make proposals and recommendations that will take you to where you want to be.
