In the ever-evolving world of on-page SEO, we’ve distilled the wisdom of eight industry experts, including an SEO manager and a founder, to uncover the single most crucial factor to focus on in 2023. From the significance of prioritizing helpful content to the art of crafting content for search intent, these seasoned professionals provide a roadmap for dominating SEO this year.
- Prioritize Helpful Content
- Optimize Your SEO Titles
- Ensure Simplicity and User-friendliness
- Focus on Content Readability
- User Experience as SEO Cornerstone
- Leverage Semantic Keyword Clusters
- Adhere to Web Accessibility Guidelines
- Craft Content for Search Intent
Prioritize Helpful Content
If I could only focus on one on-page factor, the most important would be helpful content. With all of the recent updates to Google’s algorithm, adding “helpful content” to your website will significantly help your rankings and traffic.
Helpful content provides value and satisfies the user. It is original content crafted from a reliable source. “Unhelpful content” is content that regurgitates information that already exists; therefore, adding this type of content to your pages will not boost rankings.
Aaron Grimes, Strategic Sales and Global Product Manager, TYKMA Electrox
Optimize Your SEO Titles
If I could only optimize one thing for my clients websites, it would be their SEO Titles. The power of combining keywords with context to help them stand out amongst their competition is the magic sauce. You can and should write a unique SEO Title that uses keywords for every page of your website.
The secret to writing amazing SEO Titles is to first peek at what your competitor’s SEO titles look like. Which ones stand out? Which ones do you want to click on? How can you differentiate yourself in this space? Using the keyword is great, but you also need to stand out in a competitive environment and understand what your audience is searching for.
The equation I like to use is: Keywords + Context / Urgency + Brand (if space)
You don’t have to use your brand name in every SEO Title. I only recommend using your brand name in your homepage SEO Title. After that, the point of your SEO Titles is to attract people who don’t know about you yet. Use the space wisely!
Abbey Oslin, Co-Founder, Duo Collective
Ensure Simplicity and User-friendliness
If I had to pick one thing for on-page SEO in 2023, it would be giving users a good time on my site. From what I’ve seen, keeping things simple and easy to understand helps a lot. When people enjoy being on the site, it seems like search engines like it too.
So, my main aim is to keep it user-friendly and to make sure visitors have a good experience, rather than just worrying about what search engines want.
Harshul Aggarwal, Senior Associate Marketing Manager, Beatroute
Focus on Content Readability
The structure of articles and posts greatly impacts how easily search engines can index a page. It is often overlooked that easily readable content positively affects the user experience.
Making content easy-to-read means making it accessible to a broader audience. Keeping in mind how content will be perceived, you’re more likely to fulfill the user’s search intent. Consequently, your website will have more traffic and better dwell time.
To make it short, focusing on content readability is beneficial as it encourages more people to visit a website and spend more time on it, actually reading the content and perhaps exploring related articles, posts, or product pages, especially with a strong internal linking strategy. However, for the best results, it’s important to focus on several factors and how they complement each other.
Mayli Acevedo, Digital Marketing Manager, Dharma Corp Store
Centralize UX (User Experience)
In 2023, the most crucial on-page SEO factor to focus on is undoubtedly user experience (UX). Google’s algorithm updates have increasingly emphasized UX, making it central to SEO success. This encompasses website speed, mobile-friendliness, intuitive navigation, and engaging, high-quality content.
A site that loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and provides valuable content not only ranks higher but also keeps visitors engaged longer, reducing bounce rates. Moreover, with the rise of Core Web Vitals, Google explicitly measures user experience elements like loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.
By prioritizing UX, websites can satisfy both search engine algorithms and user expectations, leading to better rankings and increased organic traffic. Focusing on user experience is a comprehensive strategy that encapsulates various aspects of on-page SEO, making it the most significant factor to concentrate on in 2023.
Will Hawkins, Owner, Digital Business
Leverage Semantic Keyword Clusters
Focusing on semantic keyword clusters is a highly effective strategy in on-page SEO. This approach involves creating content that comprehensively covers a topic using several related terms and phrases, which align naturally with the content. The importance of contextual relevance cannot be overstated in today’s complex search engine algorithms that are designed to understand user intent. Semantically related keywords play a crucial role in connecting your page to a broader range of user queries.
By using semantic clusters, the reading experience becomes more natural compared to the insertion of single keywords, which enhances the appeal to both users and search engines. These clusters often function as long-tail keywords that are less competitive and more specific to user searches. Additionally, this type of content can increase the likelihood of securing a rich snippet, thereby boosting your content’s visibility. Adopting this method aligns with modern algorithms and has the potential to significantly improve your SEO performance.
Faizan Khan, Public Relations and Content Marketing Specialist, Ubuy UK
Adhere to Web Accessibility Guidelines
In 2023, focusing on accessibility will be the most important on-page SEO factor. Prioritizing accessibility compliance can improve user experience, increase inclusivity, and enhance website performance.
By adhering to web accessibility guidelines, businesses can cater to a wider range of users, potentially leading to better engagement metrics and search rankings. Optimizing page elements such as alt text for images, providing transcripts for videos, implementing proper heading structure, and ensuring keyboard accessibility can all contribute to a better experience for users with disabilities.
Moreover, accessibility compliance aligns with the ethical and legal obligations of businesses, strengthening their brand reputation and credibility.
Ben Lau, Founder, Featured SEO Company
Craft Content for Search Intent
When it comes to on-page SEO in 2023, the most important factor is content that is carefully crafted to cater to users and their search intent. The content should be informative, engaging, and relevant to the keywords.
The strategic use of SEO elements like title tags, meta descriptions, and proper HTML tagging can help search engines understand and index the content, which improves its visibility. Ultimately, the primary goal of on-page SEO is to offer users high-quality, well-presented content that adds real value to their experience.
Muhammad Nurul Afsar, SEO Manager, Trek Marketing Ltd
