10 Lessons From 2022 To Grow Traffic in 2023 and Beyond

Keeping on top of what makes Google happy when driving traffic to your website takes a lot of work. The SEO world is constantly evolving, with updates and algorithm updates making pleasing the search engines a full-time commitment. As we look forward to welcoming the New Year, we’ve put together 10 tips we learned this year to help you boost your organic website traffic in 2023. The best thing about these is that they are all quick wins to boost your rankings and increase your website traffic. Let’s get stuck in!

1. Search Intent

Google’s goal is to produce search results that answer the user’s query and match their search intent – the purpose of their query. If Google considers that your website content fulfils this, then it will rank you higher in the SERPs, sending quality traffic that is likely to convert your way.

There are 4 types of search intent:

• Navigational
• Informational
• Transactional
• Commercial

Search intent is beneficial for you because:

• You will fulfil the user’s needs
• It will keep people on your page
• It boosts brand awareness
• It shows Google that you are an authority figure

To match search intent, you must conduct effective keyword researchKeyword research helps websites unearth the best keywords to drive traffic and visibility. This research is supported by a number of powerful web-based tools, the best of which we’ve listed here. to understand the purpose behind search terms.

For example, if someone was searching for ‘how to care for a leather handbag’ and you own a handbag shop, you could create content that answers this question. In that sense, it is not helpful for you to produce content on different handbag styles if your audience is searching for leather handbag care guides. Whereas, if you wrote a blog post titled ‘How to care for a leather handbag’, you will rank higher for this search term and drive search traffic to your website. This is an important tip to take into 2023.

2. Get A Google Business Profile

This next tip is an easy hack to boost your visibility in local searches and gain trust with Google. With a Google Business Profile, you can manage your online presence and be included in search results and on maps.

Claim your business profile at google.com/business and fill in your company information, including name, address, phone number, and relevant categories. Without this, Google will try to fill in the data, which can sometimes be incorrect or misleading to potential customers. It will take up to 2 weeks for your business to appear in local map searches, but it will give your website traffic a boost and increase your business’s authenticity and trust.

3. Refresh Your Content

The Google algorithm change everyone was talking about in 2022 was the Helpful Content Update. It worked by weeding out irrelevant content that would be ‘unhelpful’ to users and promoted the material that put people first. If your content is outdated and no longer has the most up-to-date information in it, Google will start to rank you lower down in the SERPs.

Updating your existing content is a fast way to see your rankings improve. Using Google Search Console’s Search Analysis feature, you can see which pages have dropped and need an update. Adding additional words, audio, images, and video can push your pages to the top. Ensuring old content matches current search intent will boost your rankings. For example, if search results for a query bring up listicle-style articles, you may wish to tweak your content to match this.

Once your updates are completed, resubmit your web pages to be crawled in Google Search Console, so your refreshed content is indexed quicker.

4. Focus On High-Quality Content

Remember Google’s E-A-T? Standing for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust, this update will be just as important in 2023 as it was when it was first launched. Google rates unique content with long-term relevance and values this highly when it comes to rankings.

If you can show Google that you are an authority figure with knowledge in your field, this also builds trust with the search engine, meaning your content will be ranked more highly. So focus on this type of long-form content in 2023.

5. Ensure Mobile Friendliness

According to Sistrix, 64% of search queries happen on a mobile device. The mobile-friendliness of a website is a big ranking factor as it is a key determiner of user experience. Websites that aren’t optimised for mobile will not appear in the SERPs simply because they will not provide a smooth experience for the user, which is likely to increase bounce rates.

The future is mobile, and in 2023 you cannot afford to miss out on almost two-thirds of all Google searches simply because your website is not geared toward mobile. Google has a handy Mobile-Friendly Test feature that can help you to determine which elements to focus on to improve this.

6. Update Page Titles And Headings

With so much competition, you cannot afford to neglect your page title tags and headings in 2023. Relevant page titles tell Google what to expect from your page and give searchers an idea of what information will be available. Getting this aspect of your SEO right could be the difference between someone clicking on your page in the SERPs or scrolling past it.

Your H1 or heading tag appears at the top of your webpage and might be a blog post headline, for example. Ensure your title tag and heading tag include target keywords to get them climbing back up the SERPs. Double-check that every page has a title tag and heading tag, and you will see quick improvements, which is the goal, after all!

7. Don’t Overlook Meta Descriptions

Skipping on the meta descriptions is a big no-no for your SEO. These helpful 160 characters sum up what your page is about. It’s the first thing users see in the SERPs. After all, why should people click on your page if they don’t know what it is about?

Writing meta descriptions for your pages is simple and something you can easily implement to see growth in 2023, be sure to:

• Keep it snappy – 160 characters max
• Write in active voice
• Include target keywords naturally
• Make it unique
• Include a call to action

8. Run A Technical Audit

So, you’ve been investing in your SEO efforts and following the best practices throughout the year, but you do not see results? If you’re doing everything right but not climbing up the SERPs, your site’s technical SEO might be holding you back.

This will identify slow-loading pages, broken linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages., and incorrect code that might be holding your site back from being functional in Google’s eyes. Fixing these problems will greatly impact your placement in the SERPs.

9. Be Voice Search Ready

According to Microsoft, more than a quarter of the world’s population uses voice search on their mobiles. Just look at the popularity of smart speakers to see how much this form of search is growing.

In 2023 you need to ensure your website is geared towards voice search, meaning it is written in a conversational tone and includes long-tail keywords and phrases that people are likely to speak while searching with their voice.

10. Don’t Shun Linking

One of the most tried and tested SEO techniques to drive organic trafficOrganic search traffic (sometimes called natural or unpaid search) is the traffic that's driven to a website because of unpaid placement on a search engine results page. is link buildingLink building is a process of acquiring links pointing to your website. These links are obtained by creating content, participating in social media or commenting on other blogs.. The more high-quality backlinks you can get to your site, the more likely Google will trust your website and rank you highly. Sure, link building isn’t a quick fix, but when you implement an effective strategy alongside the tips above, you will see an increase in your website traffic over time.

Internal linking on your own website to other useful content is also important. It keeps visitors on your site and boosts your authority when Google crawls your site. Run a health check on your existing internal links to ensure they’re not broken and that they go to existing pages on your site.

Final Thoughts

The above 10 tips aren’t a definitive list of everything you can do to improve your organic traffic strategy in 2023. However, most of them are quick tricks you can use to conquer the SERPs. If you’re unsure where to start or think you might need a helping hand to increase website traffic next year, reach out to our friendly team of experts today!