Today’s hot topics revolve around the future of SEO as the race to AI-powered search heats up. Bing will use ChatGPT and Google has Bard. I’m not saying all the buzz is unwarranted.
These developments simply highlight the nature of research where change is constant and inevitable. Seasoned SEO professionals know that everything could turn upside down tomorrow.
However, in a practical sense, SEO should not be affected by new ranking factors, algorithm updates or constant changes. There is a way to do this sustainably while reducing risk and focusing on priorities.
Below, I’ve outlined eight strategic aspects that have stood the test of time and are still worth investing resources into.
1. Clean code
Gone are the days (for most) of static, lightweight HTML and CSS websites. Now we can push the functional and design boundaries of UI and UX. In many cases, search engines can see this.
In some cases, we’re seeing a return to simpler code outputs with headless apps and sites. What hasn’t changed is that the cleaner our code is, the more confident we can be that it will be found, indexed and ranked by search engines.
Whether your content is long, interactive, or visual, making it easy for a search engine to consume and render is critical. It’s just as important today as it was when search engines first started crawling the web.
2. Security
We don’t want our target audiences to see broken sites or embarrassing messages from a Canadian pharmacy on our home page. Loss of trust, revenue and overall credibility from any visible security issue can be damaging.
Even a behind-the-scenes security issue flagged by search engines can cost you dollars or time at the very least. More importantly, it can cost you Google’s trust and lead to a drop in rankings or visibility.
Have a security and control plan. Use the tools available to you through Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
3. Site performance
I still remember when site speed, page load times and basic web vitals weren’t ranking factors yet. Back then, we already had performance reporting in Google Analytics. We knew that slow loading pages had higher bounce rates and could do basic analysis and correlation.
Better UI and UX generally meant better traffic stats. This aspect has not changed, although performance measures are now explicitly part of search algorithms and expected experiences. This is not going away and has been and will continue to be fundamental in SEO.
4. Quality contents
This may seem obvious and it should be. Having quality content isn’t going away anytime soon.
Google and other search engines have put it at the forefront of many algorithm updates released over the years.
Whether it’s removing thin content, filtering results to reduce duplicate content, or any other factor to put searchers first, quality has been the primary focus.
The debate will continue as to whether AI can meet the standard required by search engines. Google and Bing’s own use of AI could make it rank higher.
This is not a problem as long as a quality standard is met that matches a searcher with unique, rich and engaging content tied to their search and site visit goals.
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5. Amount of content*
*More content is usually better, but the asterisk here is that it has to be quality content, per the point above. If your funnel or customer journey is education or education, you need to have some depth.
Yes, you can rank for terms that you don’t explicitly target because of the context and related terms that search engines associate with your pages and your site in general. However, if your audience needs a lot of help, you’ll need it.
We still do a lot of gap analysis work to find areas where customers want to rank for topics, but we lack much or no content to support their authority position for that topic.
6. Elements on the page
Beyond the content, the basics still apply and aren’t likely to change. Yes, Google will adjust the on-page impact of certain tags up or down, or choose to ignore them entirely if they are duplicated or misspelled.
However, other than the meta keywords tag that Google ignored a long time ago, there are only small changes to best practices such as character count or debatable elements such as the impact of heading tags (H1, H2, etc.).
In general, the structure of an optimized page still includes consistent use of topics and keywords along with all tags and page elements that we have control over.
Attention to:
Alignment and context with the page’s theme. Links to broader level and sublevel content based on the section the page is in.
Yes, this can fall into clean code and overlap with content. Even so, it is important to note that on-page aspects have been a constant must in SEO.
7. Competitive approach
Much of what I’ve talked about so far is focused on the internals (ie our own technical setup and on our site page). Much of this falls into best practices and checklists or audits of some sort.
Here’s the curveball. It’s not enough. Search results vary from query to query.
While best practice might say that you need a certain amount of words on a page and that you have to do certain things to have a high-performing, fully optimized page, all of that can be thrown out the window if all of your pages classification are biasing the norm.
Whether all pages are just a few words, a few thousand, or a wide range and heavily driven by external factors (more on that in a moment), staying in tune with competitors and their performance is key.
Often, these aren’t necessarily traditional competitors, but those who own the top of the search results page for the terms you’re an authority on. You have your checklist and best practices, but don’t ignore the competitive landscape. This has always been important and will continue to be so.
8. External credibility
Over the years, I’ve been involved in conversations with colleagues who wonder if we’ll ever see the end of the importance of inbound or backlinks. While this is very possible, it hasn’t happened yet.
Inbound links are important and still send “votes” or give credibility to a site from external sources. Yes, we don’t have the same PageRank visibility that we used to, but we know that links are still important in a balanced SEO strategy and approach.
The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same specifically in this category.
Don’t get too distracted by shiny objects
Admittedly, this item (or parts of it) may not age well. I’m fine with that.
This has created a great professional development opportunity for my colleagues in the SEO industry and for me. It’s hard to get bored!
Constant change and the pace of keeping up are critical. However, establishing strategic processes is just as important. We have a lot of shiny objects and things that distract us.
Staying true to things that have evolved but have remained fairly constant over the years creates a great foundation and consistency for SEO approaches for your own site, your clients’ sites, or those that consult
The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
