5 SEO Priorities That Matter More Than Ever

 

Marketing and search trends come and go, but certain SEO strategies consistently deliver results.

Whether it’s the AI-driven search results or dealing with Google’s constant search updates, focusing on what truly matters is more important than ever. 

Long-term success doesn’t come from chasing the latest thing. Instead, it comes from investing in the foundational SEO strategies that build credibility, authority and user trust.

Whether you want to regain some of that lost visibility and traffic, or you just want to future-proof your site, these five SEO priorities will help keep you competitive no matter what changes come your way.

In this article:

• • 1. Deep-Dive SEO Audits
    2. Quality Content
    3. User Experience and Technical SEO
    4. Better Backlinks
    5. Continuing Education
  • Final Thoughts
  • FAQ: How can I ensure technical SEO aligns with the essential SEO priorities for better user experience?

 

1. Invest in Deep-Dive SEO Audits

When rankings or traffic drops, or maybe traffic is at a plateau, many organizations scramble to make quick fixes. But they often miss the mark.  

That’s why a technical SEO website audit is the first and most critical step in a solid SEO strategy.

You need to know things like: 

• Where does your site no longer align with Google’s evolving expectations? 
• Are there technical issues? 
• Content gaps? 
• Competitive weaknesses? 

A proper audit helps you find out.

The right audit shows you exactly where your site is lagging and where it’s doing great. 

And when you’re doing things like diagnosing a drop in traffic (maybe due to a core update) or figuring out how to compete in AI search, guessing doesn’t work. 

In fact, an audit is the only real way to know what may have gone wrong. 

It helps you:

• Diagnose technical SEO issues (crawlability, indexation, site architecture).
• Assess content quality (Is your content deep enough? Authoritative enough? Does it follow E-E-A-T?).
• Analyze user experience (site speed, mobile-friendliness, engagement signals).

That said, not all audits are created equal. 

SEO audits range from basic to technical. Here’s what that means in practice:

• The quick and dirty audit: The use of automated audit tools can flag surface-level issues like missing meta tags or slow pages. This gives you a starting point, but it won’t tell you why things are the way they are.
• The practitioner’s audit: An SEO expert can use tools but also layers on insights like  spotting content quality issues, backlink weaknesses and overlooked opportunities. It’s better, but there is one level up from this.
• The expert audit: This is a hands-on, highly technical review that dissects everything from site structure, crawlability, content authority, competitive positioning and algorithmic shifts. This takes deep expertise and should deliver prioritized, action-based strategies.

Which one does your site need? It depends on your goals and your budget. If you’ve been impacted after a Google update, or you’re dealing with a big traffic loss, a deep, technical audit is extremely helpful. 

You can learn more by reading SEO Audits and Tools: The Good, The Better, and The Best.

Related: How do I identify and resolve the exact causes of a sudden traffic drop?

Now that we’ve covered the audit approach, let’s talk about some of the more proactive things you can do to keep your site healthy, starting with content quality.

2. Take the Time for Quality Content

While Google continues to refine its approach to ranking content, the advice coming from the search engine is always the same: Focus on making the best, most helpful content for your audience.

Google prioritizes content that answers search intent, that provides first-hand expertise and keeps users engaged. 

Google provides a self-assessment framework that can help creators evaluate their content. This framework is especially important in the face of a Google core update. 

Take HubSpot as an example. HubSpot has long dominated search results with its expansive content strategy.

But in January 2025, Search Engine Land reported a major drop in HubSpot’s organic traffic, with many SEOs pointing to Google’s recent core updates as the likely cause. 

The theory is that HubSpot’s broad content strategy may have spread too thin. 

Instead of focusing on topics closely tied to its core products, it discussed too many topics outside its wheelhouse. 

If that Google update prioritized expertise over volume, it could explain HubSpot’s decline.

Taking these lessons to heart, evaluate the state of your content: 

• Focus on first-hand expertise. Does your content demonstrate direct experience or deep knowledge of the topic? Google’s E-E-A-T framework (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust) rewards content that shares real-world experience.
• Go beyond surface-level content. Generic, rehashed content won’t stand out. Add fresh insights, data and in-depth analysis to every piece as you can.
• Match the content to search intent. It goes without saying that you want your content to be among the best answers for a given query. And if someone lands on your page, ask: Are they getting exactly what they were looking for? If not, your competitors might be doing it better.
• Avoid search engine-first content. This is the type of content that is made solely for rankings, without regard to its helpfulness to your audience. Google explicitly warns against content designed primarily to rank rather than provide value. 

What about word count? Does that matter?

A common myth is that Google favors long content or specific keyword density, but Google has debunked this.

Their guidance states that content should be as long as it needs to be to satisfy the user’s intent. (See my take on this by reading: Is Google looking for a minimum word count on webpages?)

Similarly, AI-generated content isn’t automatically bad, but if it’s being used to manipulate rankings rather than provide real value, it’s a big problem. 

(You can learn more by reading my article on Google’s explosive updates. I also suggest reading our guide to the basics of E-E-A-T.)

Related: How do I write content that engages users and wins search visibility?

Next, we’ll dive into another very important factor: a site that performs well for users, which is supported by technical SEO. 

3. Prioritize User Experience and Technical SEO

When it comes to your website, you’re catering to two main audiences: your visitors and search engines. 

Both groups are crucial to your site’s success, and what pleases one benefits the other. 

When you focus on technical SEO, you make your site more accessible to search engines and create a smoother, more enjoyable experience for your human visitors.

Technical SEO creates an environment where search engines can easily crawl and index your content, and keeps website visitors on the site longer by providing a great experience. 

Site performance is a ranking factor and a way to build an audience who keeps coming back. 

When prioritizing technical SEO and the user experience, the key areas to focus on include:

• Mobile-friendliness.
• Site speed and page performance.
• Clear navigation and logical internal linking structure.
• Secure connections (HTTPS). 
• No intrusive interstitials. 

Related: How do I ensure my website is user-friendly and technically optimized for search engines?

4. Build Better Backlinks

Backlinks have long been a cornerstone of SEO. But their role has evolved over time.

An annual review of your backlink profile helps ensure that your SEO strategy is compliant with current best practices. 

But are backlinks really still important? Yes, but their significance as a ranking factor has diminished.

Google’s Gary Illyes mentioned all the way back in 2023:

“I think they are important, but I think people overestimate their significance. I don’t agree that they are in the top three. They haven’t been for some time.”

Nevertheless, no one disputes that high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites can still enhance your site’s visibility and search rankings. 

It’s just that the focus has shifted from simply amassing links to earning them through valuable content and real endorsements.

Here’s a quick rundown of link quality: 

Good backlinks: Links from credible, industry-related websites that will bolster the authority and trustworthiness of your site.

Bad backlinks: Links from irrelevant, low-quality or spammy websites that can damage the reputation of your site and potentially result in penalties from search engines (including certain guest blogging arrangements).

For more, read our free e-book The New Link Building Manifesto: How to Earn Links That Count

Related: How do I improve my website’s authority with high-quality backlinks?

5. Plan for Continuing Education

Google’s algorithm is always changing, and failing to stay abreast is a surefire way of falling behind in SEO. 

Successful SEO professionals don’t simply react to updates; they anticipate them! This helps you to adjust your strategy before rankings take a hit.

See, SEO isn’t static. Google rolls out thousands of updates per year, some small, some major. 

Core updates often shift ranking priorities, and what worked last month may not work today. 

If you’re not keeping up with changes in search, you’ll spend much more time and resources scrambling when something changes versus being proactive to address issues in advance.

The bottom line is that successful SEO programs are successful because they continuously adapt.  

If you’re ready to focus on ongoing SEO education, here’s how you can stay ahead: 

• Follow Google’s official updates. The Google Search Central Blog and Google Search Central on X and Google on X share direct insights into search updates.
• Read the right industry blogs. Trusted sources like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Roundtable give expert takes on the search industry.
• Attend SEO conferences and webinars. Events like BrightonSEO, PubCon and SMX bring together the best minds in the industry to discuss changes to search and emerging trends and best practices.
• Take SEO courses and training. Investing in ongoing SEO education can be so helpful to elevating an SEO program. There are low-commitment options like Google’s SEO Starter Guide, and then there’s industry-led courses from Ahrefs, Moz and our very own SEO training (virtual and in-person).
• Engage with the SEO community. Follow and participate in SEO discussions (for instance, Reddit, LinkedIn, X, Facebook) to get insights from people experiencing search updates in real time, and who can offer expertise in understanding changes to search.

For more, you can check out my article on how to learn SEO, which has a lot of resources on where to stay connected.

And if you want more insights into the details of the most impactful algorithm updates, check out our up-to-date history of Google algorithm updates.

Related: How do I future-proof my SEO strategy through continuous learning?

Final Thoughts

SEO can be a roller coaster. But if you follow the steps outlined in this article, you have a solid game plan.  

Remember, SEO results aren’t instant. But if you focus on delivering genuine value and a great experience, you’re setting the stage for sustained success.

Ready to unlock your full SEO potential? 

Contact Us Today for an Expert Consultation!

Quick Solutions

• How do I identify and resolve the exact causes of a sudden traffic drop?
• How do I write content that engages users and wins search visibility?
• How do I ensure my website is user-friendly and technically optimized for search engines?
• How do I improve my website’s authority with high-quality backlinks?
• How do I future-proof my SEO strategy through continuous learning?

 

FAQ: How can I ensure technical SEO aligns with essential SEO priorities for a better user experience?

Technical SEO is about making your website perform smoothly for search engines and the people using it. 

When your site is technically sound, it loads fast, it’s easy to navigate and it communicates well with the search engines. That’s the foundation for a trustworthy site that can gain rankings and traffic. 

Think about it: If users land on broken pages, get stuck in confusing navigation or have to deal with slow load times, they’re not going to stick around. 

This is why technical SEO is non-negotiable. It not only helps you to rank better, but it protects the traffic that you earn as well. 

Remember that Google rewards sites that help users easily accomplish their goals. Technical SEO is the behind-the-scenes work that supports that. 

So how do you bring technical SEO into your overall SEO program? 

The first thing you want to do is get a technical SEO website audit. This can offer the insights you need to prioritize SEO strategies that will matter most, instead of just guessing.  

As your SEO program continues to mature, you can begin to integrate technical into the day-to-day, and not just as a one-time checklist. 

10-Step Action Plan

Here are 10 steps to making technical SEO the foundation for a winning SEO program: 

1. Partner with experienced SEO experts to help you implement technical SEO as a core part of your SEO program.
2. Get a technical SEO audit to understand how your site performs for both users and search engines, then use the audit to identify key issues that are harming SEO.  
3. Prioritize any technical fixes based on their impact on user experience and visibility/rankings.
4. Integrate technical SEO priorities into the broader SEO and content plan.
5. Align developers, SEO teams and content teams around website performance and usability goals.
6. Schedule technical improvements alongside content and campaign launches, and be sure that any site changes are reviewed for SEO and user impact before they go live.
7. Track how technical improvements influence rankings, traffic and engagement.
8. Re-audit the site as platforms, features and user behavior evolve, and adjust technical priorities as new search features emerge.
9. Make technical SEO a standing part of ongoing SEO planning, not a one-time project. 
10. Treat technical SEO as the foundation that supports every other SEO investment.

About Us

Bruce Clay is a pioneer in the search engine optimization field. With a long history of developing search marketing systems, tools and methods, Bruce Clay, Inc., has provided SEO services to some of the best companies in the world. Learn more about us.