SEO Strategy for Startups: Best Practices and Trends to Compete in 2023
Going into 2023, startups should be well prepared to optimise their SEO strategy. Whether it is growing traffic, generating leads or closing sales, nothing compares to SEO. Ongoing events and upcoming trends can help us predict the kind of SEO strategies that will be relevant in the coming year. SEO is all about adaptation; you must adopt new strategies to optimise your website and rank high among the millions that already exist. This is particularly important for startups who want to maximise results.
As a startup, the last thing you’d want is your website getting struck by frequent Google algorithm updates that focus on weeding out inaccurate SEO tips and tactics. This means you should stick to reliable and up-to-date SEO practices in 2023 to ensure your website’s foundation is secure.
To help you prepare for the new year, we have put together some effective SEO strategies that are bound to increase your website’s visibility and ranking.
Here are some updates on crucial SEO trends you should keep your eye on to compete better in 2023.
Focus On Informative Content
No SEO strategy is complete without good content. However, the latest update from Google, called the Helpful Google updates, stipulates that content should have the reader in mind; it must be helpful to the reader. Google has indicated over the years that it only wants websites to produce accessible, high-quality, and helpful content.
Quality, helpful content gives your website a primary purpose and will leave the readers satisfied with what they were searching for. As per recent Google updates, any content should provide first-hand expertise and in-depth knowledge of the subject matter.
In addition, there are other key benefits of having a website made up of quality, informative content:
- Helpful content will give you quality backlinks: Backlinks are an indication of trust, reliability, and credibility. The more quality backlinks you have, the higher your rank on Google.
- Increases CTR: CTR is considered a vital factor in determining how to rank websites. The more users that click on your link, the better your chances of ranking high on a search engine are.
Optimising Local SEO
SEO for local searches is becoming more prevalent than before. It refers to optimising a website to ensure that content runs predictably in the search results of a particular locality. Optimising SEO locally, helps businesses to increase their traffic and compete with international brands worldwide.
The benefits of optimising local SEO include
- Increased local user experience: Targeting using local SEO helps your site become more relevant and accessible to local users, increasing experience.
- Increased local customer base: Using local SEO services will help you to build a well-optimised site that will grow the local customer base for the target locality.
Voice Search Optimisation
Voice search is the new trend and the future of online search. In 2023, voice search is expected to grow even more significantly as people are quickly adopting the easy way of searching and are abandoning the tedious traditional typing method.
While doing SEO for startups, you must ask yourself if your website is ready for voice-only searches. 58% of consumers are now searching for local online businesses through voice search. While these numbers are expected to grow, adding voice search optimisation to your to-do list will give you a competitive edge in 2023.
Here are some overall tips on how to optimise your site for SEO:
- Use specific long-tail keywords: Using long-tail keywords that are specific to your business and mirror what people will be typing into the search bar will be incredibly beneficial to boosting your SEO.
- Include a FAQ section: A FAQ page or the inclusion of FAQ questions on each page is an essential tool in site optimisation. An FAQ section helps you to answer the user’s questions and improve user experience.
- Create a mobile-friendly site: Voice search accounts for over 20% of mobile queries. A mobile-friendly site includes creating a place with no intrusive advertisements/images, easy readability, and a responsive design.
Core Web Vitals
This ranking factor has become increasingly important in SEO. It involves three metrics to evaluate the user experience when they visit a site: interactivity, visual stability, and loading time.
Core web vitals is an important consideration that will soon become a ranking factor for websites. As Google is focused on giving the best user experience, these metrics will be an objective measure in ranking the websites.
The most crucial issue to look at is:
- Creating a mobile-friendly design.
- Safe browsing with HTTPS.
- Non-intrusive interstitial.
Don’t forget, you can contact Online Path for local SEO services to help you with on-page and off-page optimisation of your site!
Pay Attention to SERP Features
These features include:
1. Featured Snippet
It is an excerpt that provides the exact answer to the search query and appears at the top of the search result before a link to a web page. They are taken automatically by Google from pages to provide the answer to the question asked. A featured snippet is an essential tool that makes content more prominent while doing SEO for startups.
2. Rich Snippet
This is a usual search result but has additional information besides the meta title, meta description, and URL. The most used rich snippet includes recipes, reviews, and FAQ items.
Video Content Marketing
There is no better time to develop a video marketing strategy than now. This is one of the newest SEO trends you need to keep an eye on. By 2023, statistics show that most content created globally will be in the form of videos.
Your video marketing strategy will matter most in 2023 because of the following benefits.
- It increases the time spent on your website page.
- It increases the online visibility of your startup.
- Videos appeal more to most users.
The increasing number of people using video content will grow even more in 2023. When building a site, ensure that you use video to enrich your content to rank higher.
Conclusion
Google is continuously updating its algorithms. However, with proper practices and SEO strategies, it is becoming easier and easier to rank even higher. Stay up to date with the latest Google trends and updates, and your site will be competitive in 2023. You can reach out to us to optimise your website. Online Path offers on-page and off-page optimisation along with local SEO practices, which enhances the visibility of your startup.