rtunities in SEO for 2023: E-E-A–T, Helpful Content, People Also Ask //

The hottest topic in digital market right now is AI search. I am concerned that new SEO professionals might believe they can “get rich quick” by using an AI chatbot. I resist the temptation to get too excited.

Focusing on the basics – creating content, optimizing your website and attracting links – is still the best way to drive SEO results.

If you’re looking to improve your game and stay ahead of the competition, I will share with you SEO opportunities that are worth considering.

Opportunities for SEO in 2023

I chose to not join the AI bandwagon and instead looked to Google’s resources.

What was Google focusing on more at the end 2022 and beginning of 2023? What is prominently displayed in Google search results and causes an increase in analytics, but it’s not too hyped?

These are some of the things that I’ve noticed.

1. Google’s new focus is on helpful content

The disappointing was the result of the helpful Content Update (HCU). It was soon declared a permanent search ranking system by Google, and not just a single event. Since then, more -related updates have had notable effects on websites.

Automated websites did not suffer from the HCU at first.

A paradigm shift is to emphasize helpful content rather than just “quality content”. Google has been focusing on quality for many years. This is a major shift in their philosophy.

Google was always clear in its guidance: “Just create great content, and the rest will follow.” They have gradually become less dependent on external links and are now able to determine the usefulness and quality of content algorithmically.

Your site should be filled with high-quality content if you have been following Google’s recommendations. Bravo! It’s not enough these days.

We are used to quality content which provides context, cites sources, or provides additional links. This is not all that helpful content can be.

To be really helpful, you must display these characteristics in your content:

Displays expertise

Subject-matter experts are responsible for creating helpful content. They have first-hand knowledge of how things work.

AI content, or any other cheap, mass produced content, is a different story. It simply summarizes information from other sources. It is not based on any experience and it’s not a summary of other sources.

Solves particular problems

Journalism is more important than quality content. To get more context, you must verify sources and follow links.

On the other hand, helpful content solves specific problems right from the beginning and:

• It does not distract, but provides what people need when they are needed.
• Content is not for the sake of content.
• It is not meant for virality.
• Specific use case.
• This article explains how to solve a common problem, or deal with an existing issue.
• This standalone solution does not require you to click back to Google.
• If the user wishes to learn more about the topic, they will be able to access additional resources and links.

Provides practical advice

Helpful content describes a solution in general and provides step-by-step advice for implementation.

Many “How to Start a Blog” guides don’t explain how to install WordPress, even though it comes pre-installed with many hosting providers.

However, these “blogging guides” will not tell you how to create a blog, get ideas (beyond keyword search), or how to get people to link to your site (it’s more than just outreach).

These guides are not meant to show you how difficult it is to keep a blog up-to-date and maintain it.

This is where actionable advice is required. Not what the site owner wants (make money), but what the visitor wants (learn to blog).

It is a helper in itself

Helpful content doesn’t require a signup, payment, or form fill. The page should contain all information required by the user, and not just a link to another site or transit point.

It is not intended to attract attention, distract or sell products or services. You can improve your content by making it more useful.

• Answer specific questions.
• Make the body text easily readable/scannable.
• List and/or provide solutions.
• Optimize for a specific user’s intent

Recognize the potential in your existing content. You can invest resources to make them useful pieces, solving the problems people want (see last section).

2. Google’s ranking criteria for people-powered search: E-EA-A-T

EE-AT is another significant change in Google’s guidelines for search quality. The popular notion of expertise, authority and trustworthiness is enhanced by the addition of experience.

At first I thought Google meant user experience. But I was wrong.

They are not opposed to a clean UX, particularly for pages that are uncluttered by ads and optimized for site speed. However, UX is not an element of E-E–A-T.

The new in EE-A-T refers the actual experience of the people who created the content. Google wants to reward first-hand experiences. It’s evident that Google wants to reward first-hand experience and not auto-generated content.

AI tools don’t have the experience to deal with manual tasks. AI cannot cook, practice yoga, or play basketball. It can only read existing content and study theory, and then paraphrase it.

Although AI can drive an automobile, launch missiles, and chat, it is not always the same AI that creates content. There is no benefit to your Tesla AIbot if you don’t start blogging about your daily commute.

You can gain a competitive edge by hiring the right people to write for you. These experts in the subject matter are also authoritative online and have earned considerable trustfrom audiences.

You can either invest in yourself and your team, or reach out to others who have the same capabilities.

This is a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd of mediocre, mass-produced content.

Google is determined to empower people who are passionate about the topic they cover in an age of AI content. The E-E-A–T is a clear example of this.

3. Google’s most favorite SERP feature is ‘People also ask questions’

Respond to real demand in order to ensure that you are providing useful content. It is easier than ever to respond to people asking questions (PAA). They are already shown below the majority of search results for most major queries by Google.

When I began getting thousands of traffic for one of my most popular navigational queries, I discovered that PAA questions were beneficial to my SEO. It wasn’t [google] and [facebook], but it was [twitter].

Because I have experienced bugs and traffic spikes that were worthless, I was skeptical. This time, it was different. I discovered that PAAs were a great option.

PAAs are not a new concept. They’ve been around for some time and saw a surge in 2019. The PAA feature was not as prominent in July 2022, but it has rebounded since.

According to Semrush and RankRanger data, PAAs were present in 64% to 70% search results as of January. PAAs are now the second most important feature in SERPs after site links.

Traffic-wise, enjoy their benefits while they are still around. We used to have to use third-party resources in the past.

• Forums (Facebook groups and LinkedIn groups).
• Q&A sites (Quora and StackExchange as well as Reddit AMAs).
• Keyword research tools

These are still possible. It’s best to get to the source. You can simply visit Google and search for the most common, or even broad, one-word industry queries. Then, look up the answers.

The next big thing was featured snippets. However, had 10x more PAAs on Google than snippets by 2022. and featuredsnippets often lead to zero-click search results. Schema markup is often required to rank for snippets. This requires additional work.

Different PAAs exist. They can boost traffic to sites that were not as well-known (including my now-dormant SEO site). A PAA was awarded to me for my Twitter resource post, which compared the pros and cons of Twitter in a table.

It’s possible to do the same. You just need to provide a useful resource using common sense text formatting (tables and lists), and then you’re good to go.

For a deeper dive into PAAs, check out Jason Barnard’s article, Google brand SEOs: Why You Must Rule People Also Ask.

Google’s suggestions should be taken with a grain. But don’t ignore them

We don’t want Google to be the only source of information and we won’t believe all they say. You might miss important details or find difficult to understand language. When it comes to documentation and official announcements, read between the lines.

Use long-term SEO strategies. These SEO tactics may not be as flashy as the most recent AI-powered tool but they will keep you in business for many years.

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