If you follow the everchanging world of Google search, you may have noticed something interesting in you search results recently.
Let’s call it “continuous scrolling search results.”
Searching something like “men’s jeans” gives you a list of results that continues to populate rather than the traditional page one, two, three, etc. When you reach the bottom of the results, more results populate!
This does not happen all the time – which is interesting.
Searching “cool men’s jeans,” the results default back to the traditional page-by-page results.
What does all this mean? It means that Google is testing new features that, once again, will impact your search results. So, it’s time to check out what you can do in 2023 to ramp up your ability to show up in the ever-powerful Google search.
Here are the 10 most important SEO ranking factors you should be thinking about for 2023:
1. Your Quality Content
The content on your website should be informative, well-written, and provide value to your visitors.
Search engines will reward websites with high-quality content by giving them a higher ranking in search results. Remember that your content should be written with your specific end user in mind—be sure you are using the right lingo and target audience focus.
2. Your Mobile-Friendliness
With more and more people accessing the internet and searching on their mobile devices, websites need to be mobile-friendly, if not mobile, first.
This means your site should be easy to navigate and read on a small screen, and it should load quickly.
Customers constantly access information on the go, and your message needs to be accessible from that handy device in their pocket.
3. Your User Experience
Search engines want to provide their users with the best possible experience, so they will reward websites that are easy to use and navigate.
This includes page load speed, clear and intuitive navigation, and a clean and modern design.
If your user experience is causing visitors to bounce off your site before taking any action, Google will notice and may drop your rankings.
Google wants to serve up content that users are engaging with, so if your engagement is low, Google may default the search to competitors that have a more user-friendly website.
4. Your Page Speed
The speed at which your website loads is a crucial ranking factor. Not only do slow-loading pages frustrate visitors, but they can also hurt your search engine rankings. Ensure your site is optimized for speed by compressing images, minifying code, and using a fast web hosting provider.
You can use tools like Google Lighthouse to better understand your load speed and how to improve it.
5. Your Domain Authority
The strength and history of your domain name can affect your search engine rankings.
A domain that has been around for a long time and has a good reputation will generally have a higher ranking than a new and untested domain.
Like everything in SEO, improving your DA takes time.
So keep an eye on your DA every few months to see where you are making headway. But don’t be discouraged if you are not shooting up 10 points over a quarter—slow and steady wins this race.
6. Your Backlinks
The number and quality of other websites that link to your site can affect your search engine rankings.
These links act as votes of confidence in the quality and relevance of your content, so having a lot of high-quality backlinks can improve your rankings.
Remember, not all backlinks are created equal! Nearly every website we audit for SEO has many dead or even toxic backlinks that need to be removed.
You can use tools like Screaming Frog to see the health of your bank of backlinks.
7. Your Focused Keywords
Including relevant keywords in your content is still an important ranking factor.
However, it’s important to use keywords naturally and avoid keyword stuffing, as this can actually hurt your rankings.
This goes back to the user experience.
Suppose users land on your site and your keywords are not organically folded into your content. In that case, it can just feel spammy—which can lead people to bounce out of your site and hurt your user experience (and rankings) even further.
8. Your Social Signals
The activity and engagement on your social media profiles can also affect your search engine rankings.
This includes factors such as the number of shares, likes, and comments on your posts and the number of followers you have.
Don’t get too hung up on your follower count, though.
It is better to have fewer highly engaged followers than 100,000 “followers” that never interact at all. Focus on building your following and engagement over time and you will be good to go.
9. Your User-Generated Content
Allowing users to leave comments, reviews, and other types of user-generated content (UGC) on your website can improve your search engine rankings.
Search engines see this content as a sign of a lively and engaged community.
UGC also “cross-pollinates,” so to speak, across your SEO rankings as well as social signals. But integrating UGC into your website content can also build a greater authentic affinity between customers and your brand.
Customers prefer authentic content to overpolished content every now and then.
10. Your Schema Markup
Schema markup is a type of code that you can add to your website to help search engines understand the content on your pages.
This can include information such as the type of content, the author, and the date it was published. Adding schema markup can help your website rank higher in search results.
The SEO Game Has Changed
Every year the world of SEO does some pivots and left turns. While everything still matters, as shown in this article, the weight each SEO ranking factor holds continues to shift. Five years ago, it was all about keywords and video. Now, the user experience and EAT content hold more weight.
Ready to get your eCommerce SEO on point to convert more customer traffic? Use our contact us page to drop us a line, and we will connect you with a specialist to get your SEO strategy ready for 2023! And be sure to subscribe to our blog for weekly updates delivered right to your inbox.