2020 and 2021 brought about crazy changes in the personal and professional lives of many. As time goes on, industries are evolving and adapting with the ever-changing world, and SEO is no different. To understand the direction of SEO in 2022, it’s important to keep track of the new trends and phenomena that have brought success to other professionals. Our search engines and mobile devices keep on getting smarter, so staying on top of changes in technology and culture is a key path to amazing SEO in 2022!
Optimize for mobile, ASAP
If you’re doing SEO in 2022, you absolutely need to cater to mobile users.
Thinking from the average user’s perspective, if a brand is polished, reliable, and relevant, you’re more likely to engage with or buy from them. Over 50% of search engine visits in the US happen on mobile devices.
By optimizing your mobile UX, you are presenting a better brand to potential customers. Mobile optimization gives you a boost in conversions, as you reduce the chances of a customer giving up on navigating through your pages.
There’s another reason why prioritizing mobile is essential for crushing SEO in 2022 – Google is not going to rank your mobile and desktop pages separately anymore. Mobile sites are going to be prioritized, so you’ll want to make sure your mobile score is where you want it to be. There are plenty of examples of mobile-friendly websites for extra inspiration.
Nail SEO in 2022 by E-A-T-ing
Google stores massive amounts of information, including user search behaviors. This is how it learns and offers what it thinks to be the most helpful solution when presented with a specific string of keywords.
It’s helpful to know what is popping up with every popular search, and why specific SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) come up.
By studying and analyzing SERPs, you may find that Google is becoming smarter. Sneaky and repetitive SEO keyword tactics are dying out. Top search results have something called E-A-T – Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
The way you can get those things is by creating your online content to serve your audience. Avoid any forced registrations, purchases, and pop-ups. Don’t stumble into self-promotion territory: keep your posts informational and in the best interest of the audience. There are plenty of things you can do to improve your E-A-T rating.
Keep this in mind as you target demographics and choose your keywords based on what your audience is looking for.
Get the data
Behavioral analytics will be an amazing tool to help you get amazing SEO in 2022 and measure ROI more accurately. It’s not about how many times the keyword shows up anymore: UX, engagement, and conversion will be looked at more closely for SEO rankings in the future. Does your website make it easy for a user to engage or purchase? Refer to your own data and analytics to make sure you’re providing an experience that makes people stick around.
What do you bring to the table?
Google uses its knowledge graph to bring specific search results to its users. For example, if someone searches “Mona Lisa”, Google will bring up everything it knows about the Mona Lisa from a wide variety of different sources. To nail SEO in 2022, you’ll want to establish your brand in the knowledge graph.
That means you’ll need published information that thoroughly explains who you are as a brand and what you bring to the table for your audience, as well as who that audience is. Tell your brand’s story by linking every channel you use and unifying your image. You can find your brand’s knowledge graph API score, and use that to inform what actions you take. Some of those actions could be setting up a Google My Business profile or establishing a presence in Wikidata.
Long-form is king
Long-form content improves E-A-T rankings, makes room for more search result possibilities, and can feel more natural, as long as it’s not filled with repetition and fluff. Posts with a higher word count have been outshining those with a smaller one.
We’ve also seen this apply to YouTube videos. Longer video content on YouTube is pushed higher up in the algorithm because it keeps users on the site longer, and allows more advertisements to be shown. However, as stated before, the content needs value. The toughest part about producing long-form content is that it can’t be full of feathers. All the way through, the content must have relevance and quality. In 2022, feel free to challenge yourself to produce longer, high-quality pieces of content.
Recruit the robots…
… AI, that is. Industry professionals have stated that AI-created content will be on the rise in numbers and in quality. Search engines will have to work hard to keep all the junk out and keep their results pure.
AI is not necessarily our enemy. Using automation, brands have been able to swiftly update and make changes to their websites, provide quick answers for customer questions, and generally improve their site’s performance. Check the video below for more on how tech is changing marketing.
Be ready for change
While you’re making tweaks to your SEO in 2022, stay flexible to any changes that can occur. If 2020 and 2021 taught us anything, it’s definitely to stay on our toes! Be ready to think fast and solve problems creatively. Stay on top of researching your market in addition to behavioral analytics, and remember that your SEO ranking depends on your brand being the best that it can be. Nurture a strong foundation that could weather any storm! 🐢
