Just as the numbers in a year change so do SEO tactics and best practices. The new year is a great time to catch up with what is new and get your site ready for the upcoming year. Here are 10 SEO tips to get you going in 2023.
Check Your Core Web Vitals
What are Core Web Vitals? Core Web Vitals are a set of user-focused metrics designed to measure a page’s “health” in terms of providing a smooth and seamless user experience. These metrics are split up of three components: content loading speed, interactivity and visual stability. Core Web Vitals play an important role in your Google rankings. Making sure everything is up to par will help you rank higher.
Internal Linking
Internal linking is a great way to link to other pages or blog posts on your website using relevant keywords. Internal links help your ranking as it helps Google understand the structure of your website. Look for missed opportunities in posts or pages to link related content together.
Checking Your Titles Against Google
Google has a habit of rewriting your titles. Maybe your title was too long or maybe it didn’t have a relevant keyword in it. Either way it’s a good practice to see what Google is using for your title so you can go back and rewrite a more effective one.
Update Old Blog Posts
Want to breathe new life into an old blog post and get new traffic? By updating your old blog posts you let Google know that the content is “new” and you can receive a nice bump of new traffic. Rewriting content can also help you fix issues your blog post had previously thus making it more effective and eventually rank better.
Turn Your Blog Posts into Videos or Podcasts
It can be a hassle to writing scripts for videos or podcasts. Why not take your old blog posts and repurpose them into a video or podcast? Give yourself a head start by finding blog posts that performed well and making those into videos or a podcast.
Long Tail Keywords
Long tail keywords are keywords that are comprised of 3 or more keywords. They’re more specific than just a general keyword. Instead of ranking for sneakers as the keyword, using long tail keywords you would use Red Nike Running shoes. Long tail keywords also have a lower search volume and competition so you have a better chance of ranking high with a long tail keyword.
Securing Your Site with HTTPS
Google has a preference for HTTPS over HTTP in terms of rankings. It may not be a major boost in rankings but having HTTPS also lets your users know that your site is secure. People who use Google Chrome as their browser get a message saying websites that aren’t using HTTPS are unsecure and that can be a turnoff for users. When moving from HTTP to HTTPS make sure all your redirects are updated and make sure that your SSL certificate is up to date.
ALT Tags
ALT tags were intended to be used to improve accessibility by describing what an image is showing to visitors who do not have the ability to see them. Google uses alt text along with computer vision algorithms and the contents of the page to understand the subject matter of the image. It stands to benefit you that you add ALT tags to your images and use keywords in your ALT tags to help boost your rankings.
Checking for Keywords in the URL
Incorporating your target keyword into the URL of a website page or a blog post helps Google understand what the page is about. Go through your blog posts and make sure that all your URLs have the relevant keyword for that page in the URL.
Fix Broken Links
Broken links signal a poor user experience and they can also effect your negatively in Google rankings.. By running an audit and seeing what links are broken you can either update the broken link or remove them entirely.
These are my 10 SEO tips for 2023. What are some other SEO tips you have?