SEO: What you should expect in 2022

What you should expect in 2022

SEO Trends 2022

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is essential for businesses to reach their online target audience. Trends in SEO are continuously changing to fit several algorithms adopted by search engines for page and website ranking. Although some trends in the past year will remain the same, you need to understand which trends are more likely to give a better ranking in 2022 to enable higher conversion and customer retention.

Achieving continued online recognition requires knowledge of the latest SEO trends. Relying solely on older SEO strategies, such as high keyword usage, can become counterproductive, negatively affecting your SEO. This underlines the importance of updating your site in adherence to the latest SEO strategies.

Keeping up with SEO may seem like a daunting task. However, it plays a significant role in your search engine ranking. Even with a limited SEO strategy, the following trends are more likely to have a huge impact in 2022.

Find out how to write Seo articles for your website

AI and automation

SEO Trends 2022

Artificial intelligence continues to impact different industries, and our pattern of interaction with online content is definetly among them. The rising impact of AI on SEO is due to the personalised data it gives search engines. For example, Google has introduced RankBrain to give searchers the result they want even before completing their query.

Some experts are still uncertain how this will affect SEO since Google is yet to reveal all the details of how the algorithm will affect rankings. Most experts however have stated that ‘users experience’ will be a vital ranking factor this year. The impact of this is reduced ranking for sites where users spend less time and have a lower click-through rate.

In 2022, optimising content to give users useful, organised and relevant content will likely result in a better ranking, remembering AI plays a significant role in ranking on SERPs.

voice-search-seo-2022

Voice searches

Research shows that over 20% of online users now use voice searches from mobile devices. These voice searches have given rise to long-form keywords. Voice searches are gradually becoming more common. Users are keen for specific answers to queries from voice searches. This makes SEO optimisation to include long-form keywords important to rank higher on SERPs.

Search Engine Optimisation SEO Trends 2022

Mobile-friendliness

Since 2015, mobile-friendliness has been a criterion for ranking on SERPs, but it has become even more important due to Google’s mobile-first indexing introduced in 2019. This is largely due to an increase in searches through mobile devices, with the projection that internet users using mobile devices for searches will increase to about 75% by 2025.

The mobile-first indexing means that the search engine will first consider the mobile version of websites to rank the content, unlike the previous ranking based on desktop versions of sites. The free mobile-friendly test from Google can help you check your mobile site’s effectiveness.

Featured snippets

Features snippets are content that appears in a rectangular box in result pages. They give useful information needed by the searches, serving as bait for searchers to click on the site for the information. The introduction of featured snippets has also given rise to more zero clicks.
The workings of featured snippets are not fully understood, but experts believe that tailoring your content to answer specific queries and structuring the content properly increases the chances of getting a featured snippet on the result page.

Optimised user experience

Google introduced the Core Web Vitals to measure user experience based on leasing, interactivity and visual stability. These three metrics used in ranking measures page loading speed, stability while loading and how quick the site becomes stable to allow optimum interactions. Search engines aim to satisfy users’ needs, and these factors are necessary for a better user experience. Optimising your site for these metrics gives your target audience a better experience and helps you rank higher on SERPs.

Keyword searches

With more information available on result pages through features like Google Business Listing with contact details and menu, featured snippets, related questions and answers, searchers can get the answers to their query without clicking on any site.

To achieve a high ranking on initial search engine pages, your content needs to contain the right keywords searched by users. Investing in keyword searches to get the right keywords is important to get more visibility.

Getting the right keywords requires understanding the users’ search intent. You can also use tools like the Google Search Console to get unique keywords used by your target audience.

Long-form content

Research shows that long-form content gets more shares and traffic than short-form content. The idea is to get your readers engaged with useful content, reduce bounce rate and improve your ranking on search engines.

Getting readers to stay longer on a page with long-form content may seem difficult, but with original, sectioned and engaging content, more users are likely to stick around the page longer. Using H2 and H3 headers can make the content easy to scan through.

Videos optimisation

Research shows that YouTube is the second most common search engine, amassing more than a billion users. Video content is becoming a preferred option, and SERPs like Google now show videos for queries.

An optimised video description and title can increase the visibility of video content. However, keyword stuffing in video titles can negatively affect SEO. Using features like the YouTube autocomplete can help to optimise videos for higher ranking and visibility.

Optimised content

Original, quality and relevant content remain primary factors in SEO. Several pages are available in every niche, with most ranking for the same keywords and having similar topics. Creating authentic content does not only gives the users value but also makes your brand stand out and give you a higher ranking.

Content with case studies, testimonials, verified data and facts can make you stand out from others, giving your target audience what they need and a higher ranking on SERPs. The EAT (expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness) principle introduced by Google is important for a higher ranking.

SEO Trends 2022

SEO-What-you-should-expect-in-2022

Conclusion

Considering these SEO strategies in 2022 and beyond while preparing your website for better visibility and ranking will ensure you reach your target audience and achieve your goals, whether through brand recognition or a higher conversion rate. Google seems to have an answer for every question you ask, for every topic you are interested in as well as being able to put you in touch with the business that seems to be the best match for your search query. If you are interested in SEO services, please contact us today for no obligation free quote.

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