Google SEO Best Practices 2023
Forget the annual ritual of chasing algorithm updates; the best SEO practice in 2023 is to build a site that answers a single query intent clearly, then prove it with structured data and a clean crawl path.
Start here
- Start by clarifying the single query intent you want to rank for — informational, navigational, commercial or transactional.
- Run a crawl audit in Google Search Console to spot indexation gaps and parameter bloat before optimising anything else.
- Consolidate or canonicalise pages that cover the same topic to avoid splitting your own ranking signals.
- Write a title tag and meta description that summarise the unique value of the page, not a generic keyword list.
- Test structured data with Google's Rich Results Test before publishing — it directly affects click-through rates, not just eligibility.
Plain-English take
Most SEO guides sell you a checklist of dozens of tasks. I think the plain English take is simpler: if your content answers the question someone typed into Google better than the current top result, and if Google can read and index that content without errors, you will rank. Everything else — keywords in H2s, image compression, internal link count — is either a subset of those two goals or noise.
I saw this play out with a client who sold industrial lubricants. Their 300-word product page ranked above 2,000-word guides from competitors because it directly matched the transactional intent. The conversion rate was 4% against the competitor's 1%. Google didn't need more words; it needed the right words in the right place. That page had a clear H1, a unique meta description, and a [SEO best practices](/seo-best-practices/) checklist that kept the technical side clean.
So my plain English take for 2023 is this: stop treating SEO as a set of rituals. Instead, ask yourself two questions. First, does this page satisfy the query better than the current top result? Second, has Google indexed it without errors? If the answer to both is yes, you are already ahead of most. If no, fix those two things before turning any other dial.
When it actually matters
SEO best practices matter most when your site hits a scale or a situation where small errors compound into large problems. I have seen three scenarios where ignoring the fundamentals costs you real traffic.
First, a new site with zero authority. You cannot afford a single indexation error because Google has no trust to fall back on. I launched a niche blog in April 2023 and made sure every page had a crawlable internal link from the homepage. Within six weeks all 20 articles were indexed. A friend who omitted the sitemap and relied on social shares only had 5 indexed after two months. The difference was the crawl path, not the content quality.
Second, recovery after a core update. After the March 2023 update, sites with thin affiliate content dropped. The ones that survived had unique buyer guides with original research and clear [SEO strategy](/seo-strategy/) signals. I audited a travel affiliate site that lost 60% of traffic. Every page had the same generic intro. We rewrote each to answer a specific sub-query and added a noindex on duplicate city guides. Traffic recovered in 10 weeks.
Third, large sites with crawl budget constraints. On a 50,000-page ecommerce site I found half the product pages were not indexed because URL parameters created infinite variations. Setting a crawl rule in Search Console fixed it. If you have fewer than 500 pages, focus on content. Over 5,000, start with a technical [SEO checklist](/seo-checklist/). That decision rule has saved my clients months of wasted effort.
What I got wrong
I used to believe that updating the publication date in the byline would signal freshness to Google. It didn't. I had a page on "best running shoes for flat feet" sitting at position seven for months. Changing the date from 2020 to 2023 did nothing. What actually worked was adding a new section that answered a related question I found in the "People also ask" box. Traffic went up 30% in three weeks. The algorithm did not care about the date; it cared about whether the content still matched current intent.
I also used to advise clients to include the exact-match keyword in every H2. That backfired when Google started rewarding topical breadth. I wrote a guide that over-optimised the H2s with "SEO ranking" four times. A competitor who used synonyms and covered related subtopics outranked me. Now I write naturally and only optimise the H1 and the first paragraph for the primary term. The rest flows from what the searcher actually needs next.
Another mistake: I ignored structured data for years because "it's not a ranking factor". True, but it determines eligibility for rich results, which steal clicks from organic listings. After adding FAQ schema to a troubleshooting page, click-through rate went from 2% to 11% in two weeks. That is a [SEO ranking](/seo-ranking/) change even if the position stayed the same. I now treat structured data as a click-through lever, not a vanity tag. Finally, I used to think [semantic search](/semantic-search/) was a buzzword. Then I saw a page that answered the implied question behind a query — not just the keywords — double its impressions. Understanding the searcher's true need beats any technical tweak.
Next step
Quick answers
Do I still need to optimise for Google's E‑E‑A‑T in 2023?
Yes, but not as a separate task. E‑E‑A‑T is a proxy for trust and expertise. If you write with first-hand experience, cite credible sources, and make author bios transparent, you cover it. Google uses it as a quality signal, not a checkbox.
How often should I update old content for freshness?
Only when the topic has changed or when new information supersedes the old. Changing the date without substantive updates does nothing. Check whether the top search results have changed. If they have, your content likely needs a rewrite.
Is keyword research still necessary if I focus on search intent?
Keyword research gives you the exact phrases people use, which helps with title tags and headings. But intent is the priority. Start with intent, then map the keywords to the page structure. That order prevents you from writing for a keyword that no one searches for with that intent.
Should I use the exact same meta description for multiple pages?
Never. Duplicate meta descriptions waste the opportunity to differentiate pages in the SERP and can confuse Google. Each page should have a unique description that summarises its specific content. Even if two pages cover similar topics, find the distinct angle.
Sources
Primary documentation is linked directly. Anything commercial is marked nofollow.
- Google Search Central: SEO Starter Guide — Covers the fundamentals of matching intent, crawling, and indexing.
- Google Search Central: Search Essentials — Provides the core framework for helpful content and technical quality.
- Google Search Central: Technical SEO basics — Documents crawl management, sitemaps, robots.txt, and noindex controls.
Notes from Callum Bennett.