Organic SEO has been and remains one of the leading marketing techniques in the digital marketing landscape. Every year, Google rolls out hundreds of changes to its ranking algorithm, which ultimately determines site positions in organic search results; however, some updates are significantly more impactful than others. These major updates establish new industry trends or reflect broader shifts across marketing, advertising, and the web. For example, with the surge in smartphone usage and mobile accessibility across devices and screen sizes, Google elevated the importance of mobile responsiveness. In this article, we will review several key trends for 2023 that could impact organic promotion on Google, followed by core parameters that remain essential for any successful SEO project.
What are Core Web Vitals?
As part of Google’s effort to prioritize user experience, it launched the Page Experience update in mid-2021, closely tied to the Core Web Vitals framework. This metric focuses on three core parameters that Google considers most impactful for loading and visual stability, directly shaping the on-site user experience.
The three core performance metrics are LCP, CLS, and FID.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) – Measures visual stability and unexpected layout shifts. It is recommended to keep CLS below 0.1.
FID (First Input Delay) – Measures the time from when a user first interacts with a page to when the browser responds. A good FID score is under 100 milliseconds.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) – Measures loading performance of the main content block. It is recommended to keep LCP under 2.5 seconds.
You can access Google’s Core Web Vitals report within Google Search Console at the following link.
Google's BERT algorithm
Google developed an AI algorithm designed to better comprehend search queries and natural language nuances. This algorithm, known as BERT, continues to play a pivotal role in search rankings. It operates across more than 70 languages and processes nearly all Google queries. This highlights the necessity of ensuring that your page TITLE and main headers accurately reflect the content throughout the page. For instance, if your title reads “Guide to getting rid of ants at home” but instead of offering practical steps you immediately sell exterminator services, the content fails user intent, potentially resulting in higher bounce rates, reduced dwell time, and lower rankings due to perceived irrelevance.
Keyword research and long-tail phrases
Building on the previous point, the evolution of Google’s AI capabilities highlights the importance of thorough keyword research to build durable, long-term SEO foundations. Simply selecting the top 10–20 high-volume terms from Google’s Keyword Planner is no longer adequate. You must analyze longer-tail phrases, search intent, and prioritize terms strategically.
Various keyword research tools exist, ranging in depth and features. I personally recommend starting initial research with Google’s Keyword Planner.
Original and authoritative content
Google has always attached great importance to the uniqueness and quality of content. Google’s goal is to present users with the best, most relevant, and most accurate results, and to do so, it places emphasis on several important parameters in its algorithm that assess uniqueness and authority. Among other things, it evaluates site authority based on the type of business and the author of the article. For example: if the content is from an HMO or a highly authoritative health website and the author is a medical doctor, the content will receive greater added value in Google’s eyes than an average article offering health tips written by a general content writer and published on an article directory.
Content uniqueness means that there are no copied sections within the text. It is likely that a lot of content is recycled on the internet. Even if you are professionals with unique expertise in your field and write the articles for your site yourself – some of the content you write will probably include information already shared online in one way or another, with similar phrasing, or at a certain level of detail. Still, you want to verify using tools like copyscape or another tool – to ensure your content contains no duplicated sections, since Google’s crawler is a computer bot that detects duplicate content by comparing it against other indexed sites in its system.
Voice search and its importance in 2022
Recently, Google has placed greater focus on voice search across its engine. Voice messaging is already widely adopted on social platforms and messaging apps like WhatsApp. While user preferences vary, over 25% of the global online population uses voice search features periodically. Voice queries are generally more specific and conversational (long-tail), altering keyword strategy, content integration, conversion dynamics, and the layout of SERPs. Accounting for voice search is crucial as conversational search technology continues to evolve rapidly.
Video marketing
One of the fastest-growing content types in recent years is video. Besides the fact that YouTube is one of the largest and most popular websites in the world (and the second most popular search engine by usage after Google), most people are visual and easier to engage through images and videos. Videos make it easier to build trust with customers, entertain them, or convey a clear message. A short promotional video can improve website performance by hundreds of percent. Put simply – you should start incorporating videos on your website and YouTube channel. Why on your YouTube channel as well? Because Google frequently displays direct YouTube video results in search queries when it determines that video is the most relevant format for that specific search. Consequently, your video can appear directly in Google search results, not just on YouTube. Regarding your website – adding videos to blog posts can increase user dwell time and enhance the overall user experience, which is a key ranking factor, as many users prefer consuming information through a short video rather than reading text.
Properly embedding videos on your site in a search-engine-friendly manner is achieved using the Schema Pro plugin.
Online influencers
A defining trend of recent years is the power of social platforms, YouTube, and digital media to build personal brands and reach targeted audiences – known as influencer marketing. Influencers can effectively boost site awareness and indirectly support organic growth. Influencer collaborations enhance brand reputation, drive immediate referral traffic, create high-quality promotional content, and valuable mentions or links from high-authority accounts are evaluated positively by search engines.
About the author
Daniel Master, SEO specialist for over a decade, owner of Masa Media, guest lecturer at leading digital marketing institutions in Israel, and certified court expert.
