A few years ago, having a mobile-friendly website was considered a “nice-to-have”. Then, Google’s “Mobilegeddon” update prioritized responsive sites in search results, and businesses that didn’t adapt fast enough incurred huge drops in traffic, leads, and conversions, losing out to competitors who stayed abreast of changes.
Now, in 2023, the tech landscape is changing more rapidly than ever before, and websites are set to change radically once again.
This SparkLaunch guide separates signal from noise, breaking down the web trends that matter, and the website best practices to future-proof your business and stay competitive.
What Will NOT Change in the Coming Year
Before we delve into the biggest changes in the realm of websites, it’s worth grounding ourselves in the core principles that will continue to define online success.
Mobile optimization, website speed, and SEO remain enduring factors. Irrespective of other advancements, these will continue to dominate the digital landscape. Here’s why:
Mobile Optimization
In 2022, mobile devices accounted for more internet traffic than PCs and tablets combined, cornering a whopping 60 percent of all internet traffic. Now more than ever, it’s critical that your website be optimized for mobile devices — or you’re missing out on more than half of your potential audience. Mobile optimization isn’t just about resizing; it’s about restructuring your website so that it’s not just “mobile-friendly” but rather “mobile-first”.
Website Speed
Next in line is website speed. Data show that six out of ten mobile users leave a site that takes longer than three seconds to load. In fact, Google recently announced that they will soon be introducing a new way to measure how quickly your website responds when someone clicks or taps something on it. This new measure is called “Interaction to Next Paint” or INP. It’s replacing an older measure known as “First Input Delay”.
The idea is simple: if someone interacts with your website (like clicking a button) and the website takes too long to respond, it’s not a great experience for the user. To make sure your website offers a good experience, it should respond within 100 milliseconds (which is very quick – a blink of an eye takes about 300-400 milliseconds!) after someone interacts with it. This quick response time will make sure your website feels fast and responsive to your users.
And it’s not just about user experience; website speed is also a significant factor in search rankings. Google rewards fast websites. Slow speed? Lower ranking. That’s how the game is played.
Search Engine Optimization
More than 90 percent of all internet traffic originates from internet search engines. With numbers that huge, that’s a source of traffic, leads, and revenue that you just can’t afford to ignore.
And whether your business has a well-established presence in organic search, or you’re just getting started, SEO isn’t a one-time setup. And as we’ll explain in the next sections, the SEO landscape is going to get a whole lot more competitive than before, so staying on top of SEO is going to become more important.
The Rise of Generative AI: A Game Changer for Websites
There’s a lot more to generative AI than LLM chatbots. Here’s how this matters for your website:
Personalization and Interactivity
Generative AI isn’t just about personalizing search results—it’s about creating individualized experiences. For instance, it could enable a food delivery service to build a tailored website that recommends restaurants based on a customer’s past orders and browsing behavior.
Beyond personalization, generative AI is set to boost website interactivity. It opens the door to features such as chatbots, interactive maps, or virtual reality experiences. Imagine a real estate company using generative AI to offer virtual reality tours of properties.
Aesthetics and Content
It also promises to be a boon for website aesthetics. With AI, the standard template design gives way to striking, creative, and visually appealing designs. For example, a clothing retailer could combine a chatbot with visually dynamic designs to enhance both the functionality and appearance of their site.
Accessibility
Lastly, generative AI has the power to build more inclusive websites. By offering features like text-to-speech, closed captions, and keyboard navigation, it ensures that websites are more accessible to a wider range of users.
In each of these scenarios, generative AI does more than change the game—it elevates it. By making websites more personalized, interactive, creative, and accessible, it sets the stage for a future where the web is more engaging and inclusive for all users.
While generative AI is transforming web design, it is also playing a significant role in changing search behavior trends. As we explore the benefits of generative AI, it’s also important to understand its role in recent search behavior trends, such as Zero-Click Searches.
Understanding Zero-Click Searches
A zero-click search happens when a user’s query is answered directly on the search engine results page (SERP), eliminating the need for them to click through to a website. This trend is becoming more prevalent due to the increasing sophistication of search engines in understanding and answering user queries.
Generative AI is contributing to the growth of zero-click searches by creating concise, accurate responses for the SERP. This technology can generate answers to a wide array of questions, providing users with immediate information without having to navigate to another page.
Website Best Practices to Adapt to Zero-Click Searches
Given the rise of zero-click searches, businesses need to adapt their SEO strategies. Here are some best practices:
Optimize for featured snippets: These “position zero” spots on Google often supply the answers in zero-click searches. Ensure your content answers common questions clearly and concisely.
Leverage schema markup: This helps search engines understand your content better and increases the chances of your information being featured in a zero-click search.
Focus on branding: Since users may not always visit your site, it’s essential to maximize brand exposure in SERPs.
Monitor performance: Use analytics to understand how zero-click searches are affecting your traffic and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Key best practices: Optimize for snippets, leverage schema, focus on branding, and monitor performance
Navigating zero-click searches can be challenging, but with the right strategies and the power of generative AI, businesses can continue to thrive in this new landscape.
Staying Ahead: Adapting to an AI-Driven Landscape
To stay competitive in this evolving landscape, you can focus on several areas:
Focusing on Transactional Queries
As search patterns become more sophisticated, prioritizing transactional queries – those that demonstrate a clear intent to purchase or convert – is going to be crucial for successful websites. Generative AI can help identify these opportunities by analyzing user behavior and search trends.
Leveraging Other Channels
Diversification isn’t just for your investment portfolio. A multi-channel strategy can increase your reach and resilience. By leveraging AI, you can ensure consistent messaging and branding across all platforms, from your website and social media channels to email marketing campaigns.
Optimizing for Local Search
With the rise of ‘near me’ searches, local SEO has never been more important. AI can enhance your local search optimization by analyzing patterns in local search data, helping you target your content more effectively.
Developing AI-Powered Conversion Optimization Strategies
In the context of conversion rate optimization, AI can be a game-changer. It can help in various ways by analyzing individual user behavior to facilitate highly personalized experiences that increase the likelihood of conversion.
It can also radically dramatically speed up the process of A/B testing by predicting outcomes based on past data, and allowing for quicker and more effective optimizations.
Next Steps
In the ceaseless evolution of the web landscape, agility is your greatest asset. Embracing the potential of Generative AI and navigating new search patterns demand not just knowledge, but an adaptable mindset.
Get ahead of your competitors with our SEO guide on winning the top rankings in the EEAT era, brimming with in-depth analysis and actionable advice. You should also be hedging your bets by diversifying your marketing beyond SEO. Our acclaimed guide to PPC advertising has everything from bid strategies and keyword selection, to formulas for high-converting ad copy.
And of course, if you’re planning a site overhaul or new website, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly experts for a free consultation.
