Each year, SEO changes and updates with current trends. As users change how they search for something and the technology behind searches adjusts, website owners must change how they’re optimizing the site to make sure they keep up.

For 2023, there haven’t been any major changes to how optimization is done. Instead, there are many improvements and adjustments being made to account for how people are searching for what they need.

Some of the changes that have occurred include the following.

More Long-Tail Searches

Long-tail searches are still vital for local optimization. Searchers still need to be able to find products and services in their location.

However, long-tail searches are changing, as searchers are tending to use voice-based searches instead of typing what they’re looking for in a search engine.

Instead of typing “plumbing” and hoping to find local solutions, they’re saying “plumbing near me” or asking about plumbing services in their city and state. Website owners can get more information about how to use voice searches and long-tail keywords to boost the optimization of their websites.

Reviews Pay a Larger Part

Today’s website owners know they need reviews to make sure their website is visible, and that’s only growing in importance.

Not only do businesses need more reviews, but they also need to make sure that the reviews are positive.

When customers leave a review, business owners can reply to the review, which helps further engagement and helps to make sure the reviews are visible. Both having more reviews and responding to the reviews can help boost the website’s ranking in the search results, leading to more potential visitors.

User Engagement is Vital

User engagement is measured in a number of ways, and that will become more important throughout 2022.

Search engines want to make sure they’re sending searchers to a website that will be helpful, so the more users engage with the website, the more likely it is the search engines will rank the website higher so more viewers will see it.

Reviews aren’t the only way to engage with consumers, though that is an excellent way to boost user engagement. Other options include high-quality content that keeps them on the website longer or helpful videos that provide the information the user is looking for. In fact, videos are one of the leading ways to drive engagement.

Predictive Search Results are Improving

Right now, searchers don’t have to say or type anything to get search results. This is called queryless, proactive, predictive search. When someone gets ready to search for something on their phone, they’ll already see a list of websites that might interest them.

Most of the time, these are news-type articles, but they could be for any type of content the searcher may be interested in.

It is possible to have articles that appear in these types of searches, though they should be informative and should not be clickbait type of articles.

While 2023 might not have major changes from the last few years, a few things are gaining more importance in local SEO strategies.

The above techniques are something to pay attention to over the next year, as they’re going to have a big impact on how well your SEO campaign does and how well it might do in the future.

Speak with an SEO professional if you’d like to learn more about how to fully optimize your website for local searches and what techniques may have the biggest impact on your business.