As we near the end of a year with two major updates and some other algorithmic tweaks from Google, marketers should now consider the challenges and opportunities SEO will bring in 2023. What kind of content should brands prioritize to ensure potential customers discover early and often in their searches? How should Google’s actions inform online visibility strategy?

Marketers should embrace three trends:

With fierce competition in transactional search, Google’s preference for informational and visual content increasingly plays a central role in the customer’s search journey. Here’s what marketers need to know about the three trends and how they can turn each to their advantage. Deal search becomes more competitive

Last summer, Google continued to experiment with popular products, a feature that was first introduced on mobile devices in 2020. Now also integrated into the desktop user experience, This integration is an organic billboard showcasing the best-selling products and brands on the site. It displays product photos and details in a way that allows users to compare goods quickly without visiting the supplier’s website.

The growing popularity of popular products could very well lay the groundwork for a world where users not only browse but also purchase directly on the SERP without having to navigate to branded websites. The integration with Google Pay will make this appealing to users looking for convenience. And Google will find ways to capitalize on that, whether it’s turning popular products into a paid placement or charging every time a buyer buys something through Google’s live interface. Over time, popular products will likely take up more space on the SERP, acting as a central feature of the user experience.

Things to know about popular Google products:

The dashboard gives shoppers an easy way to browse multiple brands without going to the vendor’s website

This feature is expected to take over more and more real estate SERPs
This represents Google’s attempt to own more end-to-end traffic Popular products underline Google’s attempt to compete with Amazon as an e-commerce site. Collecting schema data from brand websites and organizing information in an easy-to-use one-stop store is convenient for customers, but what does it mean for brands? How can brands prepare for a world where Google holds more and more transactional traffic?

Between the push of Google-sponsored ads and a rapidly growing panel of popular products, the competition in organic search deals is strong. It will continue to grow, especially as transactional search traffic is expected to decline as Google aims to give users everything they need with a single search. Brands can adapt to stiffer competition for transactional searches by focusing on ranking high in informational searches.

Sources of information that bring advantages to the brand

As Google seeks to own more traffic, brands can speak out with high-quality, high-level informational content. The difference between these two categories grows as Google aims to monetize its transactional traffic as much as possible, leaving educational resources as a great way for brands to move forward.

For example, if you’re in the business of selling guitars, chances are you’ll get a rich, informative blog post about “how to choose your first guitar” or “learn to play the guitar.” guitar” to rank high on the SERP charts. then you will get a link to your product page for a high ranking. Indeed, the latter is competing with paid ads from Google, Google Shopping and other popular products today. Users are more likely to find your site through a high-level link to a useful resource that can inform their purchase or research process.

Prioritizing useful content is a long-standing practice of Google. He started evaluating E-A-T (Expertise, Authority and Trust) websites in 2014 to connect his users with useful and valuable content. In 2022, Google even released its first “helpful content update,” encouraging brands to focus on creating human-centric web content to give readers a great experience. valuable experience. The update also introduces new methods to prevent content created with the express purpose of ranking high (which will also degrade AI-generated naked content). Google promotes people-generated content for everyone. Key steps for creating informative content:

Google will reward brands that publish high-quality resources that shed light on the customer journey. Brands are in the best position to improve their online visibility by continuously sharing authoritative knowledge to answer many customer questions.

Google wants to connect its users with rich, varied explanations of products, services, and industries.

Google’s slow merger in traffic, combined with search engines prioritizing content to help users, means brands can gain visibility by growing their web resources. surname. Comprehensive ownership of the customer journey through content that drives direct visits to a branded website will be key to building direct buyer relationships and capturing first-party data. as purchases increasingly take place in search results. Since Google includes more activities at the bottom of the funnel, it is up to brands to include the customer experience at the top of the funnel.

It will also help brands overcome recession fears. When shoppers engage in extensive research before making major purchases, brands can provide them with product-focused in-depth content that addresses their concerns. In fact, data from Semrush shows that informational queries are on the rise, a trend that is likely to continue into the new year as people spend more cautiously.

The image takes center stage

Along with increasing traffic ownership and prioritizing informative content from brands, Google is also making strides toward becoming a more visual platform. Pinterest’s rapid rise during the pandemic proves that users want visual content and heralds a shift to visuals in the online experience. TikTok’s popularity also highlights the importance of visual content.

Google’s advancement to the Popular Products table is driving this trend, curating and displaying images on the SERP as a way to drive users to complete a transaction. The space taken up by images on the SERPs will continue to increase. For brands, the call to post useful, high-quality content extends beyond written material and extends to images. Brands can participate in visual trends by displaying high-quality media on their websites, which increases the likelihood that Google will feature graphics on the SERP and that users will be drawn to the page.

The brand’s web is through these elements. In addition, with a brand website featuring a rich media environment of images, infographics, videos, and written content, brands are well-positioned to reuse each of these elements in a creative way. individually and use them on platforms like Instagram, Youtube, TikTok and others. Indeed, building a brand has to go beyond Google.

How to enter the picture game:

Include high-quality media on your site that Google can feature on its SERPs
Leverage image popularity in an effort to attract new customers Perfect your brand visual identity to stand out to customers and Google As the new year approaches, Google will widen the gap between content deals and information so that brands publish as much of this content as possible. In-depth, authoritative resources and high-quality images will prove invaluable as marketers look to increase their visibility in search results and beyond.