What is SEO?
If used properly, search engine optimization can be a powerful tool for drawing customers to your online platforms. Keeping up with the most recent changes in SEO can be difficult because it is constantly changing. But the effort is worthwhile: About 70% to 80% of users completely disregard paid listings in favor of organic results. Furthermore, about 28% of those searches end in a purchase.
In order to perform at the highest level in SEO, many metrics must be taken into account, including traffic, backlinks, and social media shares, to name a few. With the help of our guide, you can gain knowledge about some of the most important and timely search engine optimization trends to expect in 2022 and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.
Let’s dive into the trends.
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Artificial Intelligence in SEO Will Be More Important :
The way people interact with online content is changing as a result of artificial intelligence (AI). Particularly noteworthy is the AI algorithm used by Google. The RankBrain algorithm, which was unveiled a few years ago, is a key component of Google's ranking factors for search engine results pages (SERPs) results. The other signals are all based on discoveries and insights that people in information retrieval have had, but there is no learning, said Greg Corrado, a senior Google scientist who worked on the development of RankBrain. This suggests that RankBrain will continue to advance over time, making AI a key SEO trend to follow.
Determining how to optimize your SEO for RankBrain is therefore a major concern. Although the dominant search engine won't disclose specifics, experts concur that user experience signals are the key factor. These might range from time spent on the page to click-through rate. You must enthrall and keep readers' attention with insightful, effectively organized content. You can evaluate the strength of a page based on factors like readability, backlinks, and more with the aid of an on-page SEO checker. -
The Impact of Voice Search on Search Queries :
Voice search technology has advanced significantly as a result of innovations like Google Assistant, Apple's Siri, and Amazon's Alexa. Technology has improved and grown in popularity at the same time. In fact, 55% of households are expected to have a smart speaker by 2022.
Examine your keywords to optimize for voice search marketing. Identify longer words that are frequently used in conversation. Longer, more natural-sounding phrases typically perform better in voice searches. People frequently use abbreviations when typing. One might voice search "What are the new SEO trends for 2022?" but type "new SEO trends 2022," for instance. -
Search Rankings Will Be Affected by Mobile-Friendliness:
Google introduced mobile-first indexing in 2019, which refers to the search engine focusing primarily on a website's mobile version and treating it as the "primary" version rather than the desktop version. Given that by 2025, nearly 73% of internet users will only access the internet through mobile devices, this change makes sense. Google offers a free mobile-friendly test so you can see how effective your mobile site is.
Check out Google Search Console's "mobile usability" report after that. Make sure you don't have a "disallow directive" in place because you need to make sure Google can crawl your URLs in order for your page to be user-friendly. Be aware that content that requires user interactions, such as clicking or swiping, won't be loaded by Googlebot. -
Google EAT Principle-Compliant Content Will Rank Higher :
The importance of content quality for successful ranking has been emphasized by Google. What does "quality" actually mean to Google, though? Consider the EAT principle: knowledge, authority, and reliability. These elements aid in identifying whether the content on a webpage is of high value. This idea is particularly important in industries like health care and finance which are considered to be "your money, your life" (YMYL) businesses.
A few methods exist for ensuring high-quality content. Create buyer personas first, which will help you understand the types of content that your clients find valuable. The consumer journey can be mapped out using search intent research, which is the second step.
Third, make use of this knowledge to produce content that adheres to the preferred format of your audience. For instance, if you're targeting teenagers, video is probably best. Video might not be as appealing to an older audience you're trying to reach. -
The Use of Long-Form Content Will Boost SERPs :
Long reads of 3,000 words or more receive four times as many shares and three times as much traffic, according to our State of Content Marketing Report. Additionally, they generate 3.5 times as many backlinks as articles with an average word count of 901 to 1,200. Start putting more of an emphasis on long-form content to rise up the search results. Thus, the caliber of your content must be preserved. The objective is to give users shareable content that keeps them interested.
How can you accomplish this? To make your content easier to scan, first divide it into sections with H2 and H3 subheadings. Subheadings are crucial for mobile websites in particular. Second, make sure that the sources you link to are reliable, authoritative, and have a high authority score. Make sure your content is simple to share, and finally. Include clear sharing buttons in the headline and once more at the end of the article so that readers can share with just one click. -
The Visibility of Featured Snippets Will Increase:
Not to worry. If you want to move up the Google rankings, you won't have to produce only long-term content. A kind of shortcut to becoming well-known on Google, featured snippets were introduced in 2017 and are very succinct. You might occasionally see a box at the top of the SERPs, above the actual results, when typing something into Google. A featured snippet is a fantastic way to rank on the highly sought-after first page of results. Additionally, snippets steal a significant amount of traffic from rival websites.
Featured snippets display a section of the text, frequently organized as a Q&A or succinct how-to guide with bullet points. Additionally, there are rich snippets that include pictures, reviews with stars, prices, and other data. Focus on question-based queries and pertinent keywords when creating snippets. For ideas, use the "people also ask" search option on Google. -
Predictive Search Will Become Better:
In 2017, Google Discover went live, unleashing a brand-new type of search that doesn't even require a user query. Another AI-powered tool from Google is called Discover. Over time, the content recommendation tool recognizes and gradually picks up on user behavioral patterns. Discover can determine the most accurate content that is most likely to pique the user's interest using this information.
There are currently more than 800 million active users of Google Discover. You don't have to do anything special to appear. Your page will be incorporated if Google indexes it. Rankings of content are determined by algorithms that examine user interest and content quality. Despite the fact that Google has not disclosed any specific factors, it appears that location history, browsing history, app usage, calendars, and search history are involved. -
Video Must Be Integrated Into An SEO Strategy:
The future seems to lie with online video. More than 1 billion people use YouTube. The time is now to start producing video content if you aren't already. Not persuaded? Here are some ideas to consider: Cisco predicts that consumers will consume more video than any other type of content. But how can you optimize that video material? Make sure to optimize the name and description of your video channel. Instead of stuffing the description with keywords, try to give readers a clear idea of what your channel is all about.
In addition, keywords are very important. For instance, the auto-complete function on YouTube can serve as an inspiration if you're optimizing for that platform. Start typing the subject of your video to see what appears in the search field. This is essentially a list of suggested keywords that reveals the most popular searches on YouTube. -
Image Optimization Will Be More Important for Search:
Visual image search has significantly changed. People used to be able to simply view images. People will soon be able to use images to make purchases, get information, and more. Since Google has long insisted that images be properly marked up and optimized, it makes sense that this is a component of their long-term strategy.
If your website's images aren't optimized, fix it right away. Use appropriate, high-quality images, and be sure to label the photo file with a name that is specific to the information on the corresponding page. Use alt tags to help crawlers categorize your images. -
Semantically Related Keywords Will Be Given More Weight :
Priority keywords were the sole focus of SEO experts in the past. We now understand that secondary keywords are equally crucial. Intent optimization and the semantic search will become more important in the future. Google now considers more than just word combinations.
It examines the context of the search query and attempts to determine the user's search intent, so the more pertinent information offered through logically related primary and secondary keywords, the better. To help you prioritize which queries you want to target first, we provide a comprehensive keyword tool that helps you find semantically related keywords and keyword difficulty.
Create content that is intended to respond to queries put forth by your target audience in order to effectively address semantic search. Instead of concentrating only on keywords, optimize your content for topic clusters. Use structured data when it makes sense, to finish. Most importantly, write for people rather than bots. -
Local Search Listings Will Be More Important in SEO Plans :
People frequently consider the internet's global reach when they think of it. The majority of people do, in fact, use search engines to locate nearby goods and services. For instance, they might be looking for a nearby restaurant. Local SEO is crucial and constantly changing. The increase in zero-click searches, which some SEO marketers are referring to as the "new normal," is partly to blame for this evolution. In a zero-click search, the SERP itself responds to the user's query. As a result, they choose not to click on any of the ranking results. The increase in featured snippets is one factor contributing to the rise in zero-click searches.
Numerous zero-click searches are for local information, and the results are displayed on the SERP in a section known as the "local pack." How can you compete with the neighborhood's other businesses? Make a Google My Business page first. A solid backlink profile is also crucial. To get ideas, look at the backlinks your rivals receive and focus on those yourself. -
If you want to stay on top of rankings, make data and analytics a priority:
You can use data science to create targeted messages, visualize campaigns, and understand customers. Analytics can assist you in a number of ways, including confirming which URLs are being crawled, identifying referral sources, examining bounce rates, indexing, redirects, and more. Additionally, you can use data science to locate unusual traffic sources, such as potential spam sites, and identify pages that you do not want crawlers to index (which will hurt your EAT credibility).
How are you going to collect all of this data? There are many tools available for analyzing the SEO industry. You can see where you are succeeding and, more importantly, where you are failing if you keep track of these details.