Search engine optimization in 2023 is gonna get crazy, and if you’re not prepared for the changes, you’re gonna get left behind.
In this article, we are going lay out my seven SEO predictions for 2023, and most importantly, I wanna explain what you need to do to prepare for these changes so you can avoid Google penalties and instead get massive traffic on Google in case we haven’t met before, my name is Matt Digney.
I’ve been doing SEO since 2009. I’m the founder of SEO Business’ Dignity Marketing, the Search Initiative, the Affiliate Lab, and the Cheng.
My SEO conference last year, I made a prediction video and 100% of the predictions I made came true. So let’s see if I can pull it off again.
Please bear in mind what you’re about to hear isn’t gonna be the generic non-actionable SEO advice that you’re used to hearing in 2023.
You need to focus on quality content. What are you even supposed to do with that? My predictions are gonna be based on the trends I’m seeing in this industry and my personal experience managing over a hundred websites.
So let’s go ahead and get started.
Prediction 1: AI-Driven Content
My first SEO prediction for 2023 is that AI driven content generation will become standard practice.
And whether or not AI is something that you want to do for your own website, you should still know what your competitors are up to.
AI content isn’t just something that a few black hat SEOs are doing to cheat the system.
At the beginning of the year, people were just using AI for non-important content like e-commerce product descriptions or guest posts.
Now people are building full websites on pure AI content and sure not all of them survived. This site Con House skyrocketed to 6 million visitors per month and then was completely decimated.
But then you have more stable sites like mine that are growing 30% month on month and are completely avoiding all the Google update penalties.
Let me tell you what I’m doing differently.
My AI content process starts with creating a topical map of all the content you need to produce in order to become a topical authority in your niche.
If you’re blasting out five articles per day, you need to have a content roadmap, and once you complete that content roadmap, Google has no choice but to deem you a topical authority in your niche, and that’s when the traffic floods in.
In the next section, I’ll show you how to create a topical map, so stay tuned. Next, you need to create an outline for each of your content pieces.
You do this by Googling your topic keyword. For example, Google, do you need internet for Smart Home? Open up the first result and look at the H2 and H3 headings on the page.
See these headings, the internet of things and ecosystems. Why does your smart home need your wifi and the downsides of relying on wifi?
These are all required subtopics to the main question, do you need internet for Smart Home and they should be part of your outline.
You also wanna look at the word count to figure out how long your article needs to be. Now it’s time to start using an AI content writer and filling in the blanks between your outlines heading.
So far I’ve used Jasper for this, and if you signed up by using the link in the description, you’ll be helping to support the channel because you’ve created an outline, Jasper already has a framework to start from.
Just press the button and start filling in the gaps. Next, you want to do a quick editorial review of your content.
AI content tends to make two mistakes, grammar and facts.
Go over your content and check for repeated words or just straight up incorrect information.
Lastly, it’s time to scale. You want to hit five articles per day. I have a video coming out soon that goes over this process in extreme detail, so make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.
What will be the impact of more AI on the internet?
There’s definitely a case that can be made about it lowering the quality of the search results, but with people churning out content so fast, even if the content isn’t amazing, they’re going to become topical authorities, which is the most powerful ranking factor in itself.
Prediction 2: Topical Authority
Which brings me to my next prediction. Topical authority as a Google strategy will move from a secret strategy that just a few pros use to a requirement to compete on Google.
If you add a single article on smart homes to website, don’t expect Google to even notice, but once you cover every single smart home topic, Google now thinks you’re a topical authority and your traffic growth will be explosive.
Just like this case study I’m showing here, there’s two reasons topical authority will become a 2023 requirement.
First is because, as you know, AI is gonna be allowing people to flood the internet with fast and cheap content, and second is because of the concepts growing popularity due to folks like Corey, tug Burke and myself who live and die by it.
The problem is that many people think they’re doing it right, but in actuality they’re not creating a proper topical map that covers all the topics in the niche.
I did a consultation for someone who was trying to rank for Best Smart Home thermostats, and just by running a site colon command on their competition, I was immediately able to see that they were missing dozens of articles on the topic.
Here’s all the places you should be gathering topics for your map:
Answerthepublic.com
Google Auto suggests in the search bar
the people also ask section
related searches
Ahref trusts questions report, Google’s NLP API
your competitor’s site maps.
Then you wanna use a tool like Keyword Cupid to group your topics into single articles or separate articles, or if you want me to create a topical map for you, you can use my service at lead leadspring.org/topical-map-service after you start producing content.
Next step in the topical authority process is Smart interlinking.
As a general rule, link relevant content together.
All your smart home thermostats should link to each other as opposed to linking thermostats to smart bulbs and link more to pages that have a higher traffic priority.
Prediction 3: Backlinks
Backlinks and link building are gonna be the key differentiator that determines who will be at the top of Google.
Since everyone is gunning for topical authority, backlinks will be the deciding factor on who wins.
The fact of the matter is that backlinks never went away.
Just look at the top three search results for best sexting websites.
Although you might be an expert on sexting, I highly doubt that Mashable, the Chicago reader and riverfront times are, but one thing these sites have going for them is backlinks.
Despite this recent quote from search liaison John Mueller who said that the wait on links will drop off quote a little bit, I just don’t see that happening.
After all, if two websites have similar content, how do you decide which one wins?
Plus Google has been really big on the need to establish E A T.
That’s Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust, and this tweet about a conversation with Gary Ilias from Google says that e a t is quote largely based on links.
Here’s a breakdown of all the back links I’m focusing on.
In 2023, 40% of the links I’m building are guest posts.
These are coming from both in-house outreach and using vendors like Authority Builders.
Now, the 30% of my links will be link insertions, getting links in existing articles that have links going to them, and I also do that in-house or outsource to Authority builders.
15% of the links will come from help of a reporter out Harrow, which we build in-house.
10% comes from digital PR where we’re creating newsworthy stories and outreaching to journalists.
For this, I’m using Ferry and the amazing team@searchintelligence.co.uk.
3% is coming from Business directory citations, which I outsource to Authority Builders, and the remaining 2% is from Link exchanges, just answering the inbox and working out some exchanges with high quality websites that are already reaching out to me.
Prediction 4: Parasite SEO Will Continue On
My next 2023 SEO prediction is at Parasite SEO will continue on via perfectly viable strategy at least throughout the year.
What is Parasite SEO? Go back to the search result for best sexting websites and open up the Chicago reader listing.
Right up here, you see the sponsored tag, meaning that someone paid Chicago reader placed this article on their site and piggyback off their domain authority to the top of Google.
It’s the same thing here on the Riverfront Times article.
Why do I think Google is okay with this?
In August, 2022, Google released the helpful content update in their release notes.
They call for things that Parasite SEO clearly can’t deal with.
Does your content demonstrate firsthand experience in a depth of knowledge at sexing?
Does your site have a primary purpose or focus? These parasite sites publish any topic your heart desires.
They also recommend you don’t quote, produce lots of content on different topics in hopes that some might perform well.
That’s the name of the game with Parasite SEO.
If the parasite SEO tactics survived the helpful content update, then it’s clear it’s just not on Google’s radar or the negative impact of what Parasite SEO fails at is completely offset by its ungodly link authority.
Sure, I’ve seen some parasite websites lose traffic since the update, like Riverfront sponsored section here, but for every loser I can find sites like Dallas News that are off to the moon.
So what kind of actions can you take here? Should you pull a, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em and start Parasite SEO right now.
Unfortunately, if you’re competing in the us I think the ship has sailed a long time ago.
Most of these topics have already been covered on these sites and exclusivity deals have been made.
However, there’s always content gaps.
You’ll always be able to find keywords that haven’t yet been touched by parasite.
Also, parasite ideal news sites haven’t been exploited yet in foreign SEO, so the promise land is on faraway soil.
Prediction 5: More Niche Algorithm Updates
The next SEO prediction is that we’re gonna get more of these specific niche algorithm updates.
Just a few years ago, Google will release a handful of core algorithm updates per year, so you only had to crap your pants every season, but just take a look at this list of Google ranking updates.
June 15th, 2021 page experience update for mobile. Okay, that’s new.
December, 2021, Oswell a product reviews update just for affiliates. Fantastic. February 22nd page experience update for desktop.
Two more product reviews updates, the helpful content update in August than a core product reviews and a spam update.
Each of these updates has a different goal and know it’s not to give you a heart attack.
Google is trying to optimize for different sections of its algorithm at a time.
He is refining his methods, he is evolving, And what you’ve already noticed is that 90% of your gains or your losses occur on these specific update dates.
So when I’m doing now is, is focusing particularly on these updates themselves. How can I position my website to get beast mode gains in the next update?
I have a video coming out on this exact topic next month, so make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.
Prediction 6: Fast Answer To Search Query
The next SEO prediction is that Google’s gonna award content that gives a fast answer to the search query. Last year, I predicted that Google would increase the weight of user metrics into their algorithm this year.
I’m doubling down on that prediction, but specifically the metric of goal completion. Google wants its users to get their answers as fast as possible, especially on mobile.
In June, one of my Facebook group members was searching on mobile, looked at a result, then hit back on his browser.
He then found this underneath the result that he previously visited, he found this quick survey. How easy was it to find what you wanted on this site and in this age of distraction and attention economy?
Easy means quick. How quick did you find what you wanted? So how do you give your readers quick answers? If you’re producing review content, give a list of your top rated products immediately.
If you’re writing informational content, create a key takeaway section to summarize the answer to the search question, or you can even use special fonts to highlight your quick answers.
My next s e o prediction will come true, whether it kills me or not, this channel will hit 100 K subscribers do or die.
If you want to be part of this journey, it would mean a lot to me if you would subscribe. In turn, I promise to continue putting my heart and soul into delivering the best free s e o content on the internet.
6 SEO Predictions for 2023 and How to Prepare
Search engine optimization in 2023 is gonna get crazy, and if you’re not prepared for the changes, you’re gonna get left behind.
In this article, we are going lay out my seven SEO predictions for 2023, and most importantly, I wanna explain what you need to do to prepare for these changes so you can avoid Google penalties and instead get massive traffic on Google in case we haven’t met before, my name is Matt Digney.
I’ve been doing SEO since 2009. I’m the founder of SEO Business’ Dignity Marketing, the Search Initiative, the Affiliate Lab, and the Cheng.
My SEO conference last year, I made a prediction video and 100% of the predictions I made came true. So let’s see if I can pull it off again.
Please bear in mind what you’re about to hear isn’t gonna be the generic non-actionable SEO advice that you’re used to hearing in 2023.
You need to focus on quality content. What are you even supposed to do with that? My predictions are gonna be based on the trends I’m seeing in this industry and my personal experience managing over a hundred websites.
So let’s go ahead and get started.
Prediction 1: AI-Driven Content
My first SEO prediction for 2023 is that AI driven content generation will become standard practice.
And whether or not AI is something that you want to do for your own website, you should still know what your competitors are up to.
AI content isn’t just something that a few black hat SEOs are doing to cheat the system.
At the beginning of the year, people were just using AI for non-important content like e-commerce product descriptions or guest posts.
Now people are building full websites on pure AI content and sure not all of them survived. This site Con House skyrocketed to 6 million visitors per month and then was completely decimated.
But then you have more stable sites like mine that are growing 30% month on month and are completely avoiding all the Google update penalties.
Let me tell you what I’m doing differently.
My AI content process starts with creating a topical map of all the content you need to produce in order to become a topical authority in your niche.
If you’re blasting out five articles per day, you need to have a content roadmap, and once you complete that content roadmap, Google has no choice but to deem you a topical authority in your niche, and that’s when the traffic floods in.
In the next section, I’ll show you how to create a topical map, so stay tuned. Next, you need to create an outline for each of your content pieces.
You do this by Googling your topic keyword. For example, Google, do you need internet for Smart Home? Open up the first result and look at the H2 and H3 headings on the page.
See these headings, the internet of things and ecosystems. Why does your smart home need your wifi and the downsides of relying on wifi?
These are all required subtopics to the main question, do you need internet for Smart Home and they should be part of your outline.
You also wanna look at the word count to figure out how long your article needs to be. Now it’s time to start using an AI content writer and filling in the blanks between your outlines heading.
So far I’ve used Jasper for this, and if you signed up by using the link in the description, you’ll be helping to support the channel because you’ve created an outline, Jasper already has a framework to start from.
Just press the button and start filling in the gaps. Next, you want to do a quick editorial review of your content.
AI content tends to make two mistakes, grammar and facts.
Go over your content and check for repeated words or just straight up incorrect information.
Lastly, it’s time to scale. You want to hit five articles per day. I have a video coming out soon that goes over this process in extreme detail, so make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.
What will be the impact of more AI on the internet?
There’s definitely a case that can be made about it lowering the quality of the search results, but with people churning out content so fast, even if the content isn’t amazing, they’re going to become topical authorities, which is the most powerful ranking factor in itself.
Prediction 2: Topical Authority
Which brings me to my next prediction. Topical authority as a Google strategy will move from a secret strategy that just a few pros use to a requirement to compete on Google.
If you add a single article on smart homes to website, don’t expect Google to even notice, but once you cover every single smart home topic, Google now thinks you’re a topical authority and your traffic growth will be explosive.
Just like this case study I’m showing here, there’s two reasons topical authority will become a 2023 requirement.
First is because, as you know, AI is gonna be allowing people to flood the internet with fast and cheap content, and second is because of the concepts growing popularity due to folks like Corey, tug Burke and myself who live and die by it.
The problem is that many people think they’re doing it right, but in actuality they’re not creating a proper topical map that covers all the topics in the niche.
I did a consultation for someone who was trying to rank for Best Smart Home thermostats, and just by running a site colon command on their competition, I was immediately able to see that they were missing dozens of articles on the topic.
Here’s all the places you should be gathering topics for your map:
Then you wanna use a tool like Keyword Cupid to group your topics into single articles or separate articles, or if you want me to create a topical map for you, you can use my service at lead leadspring.org/topical-map-service after you start producing content.
Next step in the topical authority process is Smart interlinking.
As a general rule, link relevant content together.
All your smart home thermostats should link to each other as opposed to linking thermostats to smart bulbs and link more to pages that have a higher traffic priority.
Prediction 3: Backlinks
Backlinks and link building are gonna be the key differentiator that determines who will be at the top of Google.
Since everyone is gunning for topical authority, backlinks will be the deciding factor on who wins.
The fact of the matter is that backlinks never went away.
Just look at the top three search results for best sexting websites.
Although you might be an expert on sexting, I highly doubt that Mashable, the Chicago reader and riverfront times are, but one thing these sites have going for them is backlinks.
Despite this recent quote from search liaison John Mueller who said that the wait on links will drop off quote a little bit, I just don’t see that happening.
After all, if two websites have similar content, how do you decide which one wins?
Plus Google has been really big on the need to establish E A T.
That’s Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust, and this tweet about a conversation with Gary Ilias from Google says that e a t is quote largely based on links.
Here’s a breakdown of all the back links I’m focusing on.
In 2023, 40% of the links I’m building are guest posts.
These are coming from both in-house outreach and using vendors like Authority Builders.
Now, the 30% of my links will be link insertions, getting links in existing articles that have links going to them, and I also do that in-house or outsource to Authority builders.
15% of the links will come from help of a reporter out Harrow, which we build in-house.
10% comes from digital PR where we’re creating newsworthy stories and outreaching to journalists.
For this, I’m using Ferry and the amazing team@searchintelligence.co.uk.
3% is coming from Business directory citations, which I outsource to Authority Builders, and the remaining 2% is from Link exchanges, just answering the inbox and working out some exchanges with high quality websites that are already reaching out to me.
Prediction 4: Parasite SEO Will Continue On
My next 2023 SEO prediction is at Parasite SEO will continue on via perfectly viable strategy at least throughout the year.
What is Parasite SEO? Go back to the search result for best sexting websites and open up the Chicago reader listing.
Right up here, you see the sponsored tag, meaning that someone paid Chicago reader placed this article on their site and piggyback off their domain authority to the top of Google.
It’s the same thing here on the Riverfront Times article.
Why do I think Google is okay with this?
In August, 2022, Google released the helpful content update in their release notes.
They call for things that Parasite SEO clearly can’t deal with.
Does your content demonstrate firsthand experience in a depth of knowledge at sexing?
Does your site have a primary purpose or focus? These parasite sites publish any topic your heart desires.
They also recommend you don’t quote, produce lots of content on different topics in hopes that some might perform well.
That’s the name of the game with Parasite SEO.
If the parasite SEO tactics survived the helpful content update, then it’s clear it’s just not on Google’s radar or the negative impact of what Parasite SEO fails at is completely offset by its ungodly link authority.
Sure, I’ve seen some parasite websites lose traffic since the update, like Riverfront sponsored section here, but for every loser I can find sites like Dallas News that are off to the moon.
So what kind of actions can you take here? Should you pull a, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em and start Parasite SEO right now.
Unfortunately, if you’re competing in the us I think the ship has sailed a long time ago.
Most of these topics have already been covered on these sites and exclusivity deals have been made.
However, there’s always content gaps.
You’ll always be able to find keywords that haven’t yet been touched by parasite.
Also, parasite ideal news sites haven’t been exploited yet in foreign SEO, so the promise land is on faraway soil.
Prediction 5: More Niche Algorithm Updates
The next SEO prediction is that we’re gonna get more of these specific niche algorithm updates.
Just a few years ago, Google will release a handful of core algorithm updates per year, so you only had to crap your pants every season, but just take a look at this list of Google ranking updates.
June 15th, 2021 page experience update for mobile. Okay, that’s new.
December, 2021, Oswell a product reviews update just for affiliates. Fantastic. February 22nd page experience update for desktop.
Two more product reviews updates, the helpful content update in August than a core product reviews and a spam update.
Each of these updates has a different goal and know it’s not to give you a heart attack.
Google is trying to optimize for different sections of its algorithm at a time.
He is refining his methods, he is evolving, And what you’ve already noticed is that 90% of your gains or your losses occur on these specific update dates.
So when I’m doing now is, is focusing particularly on these updates themselves. How can I position my website to get beast mode gains in the next update?
I have a video coming out on this exact topic next month, so make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.
Prediction 6: Fast Answer To Search Query
The next SEO prediction is that Google’s gonna award content that gives a fast answer to the search query. Last year, I predicted that Google would increase the weight of user metrics into their algorithm this year.
I’m doubling down on that prediction, but specifically the metric of goal completion. Google wants its users to get their answers as fast as possible, especially on mobile.
In June, one of my Facebook group members was searching on mobile, looked at a result, then hit back on his browser.
He then found this underneath the result that he previously visited, he found this quick survey. How easy was it to find what you wanted on this site and in this age of distraction and attention economy?
Easy means quick. How quick did you find what you wanted? So how do you give your readers quick answers? If you’re producing review content, give a list of your top rated products immediately.
If you’re writing informational content, create a key takeaway section to summarize the answer to the search question, or you can even use special fonts to highlight your quick answers.
My next s e o prediction will come true, whether it kills me or not, this channel will hit 100 K subscribers do or die.
If you want to be part of this journey, it would mean a lot to me if you would subscribe. In turn, I promise to continue putting my heart and soul into delivering the best free s e o content on the internet.