SEO Strategy in 2022

SEO (Search engine optimization) is an effective way to attract visitors to your online website or application — if you use it right. SEO algorithms are constantly changing, and staying on top of the latest updates can be a challenge. However, it’s worth the effort: 70% to 80% of users focus mostly on organic results and ignore Google paid listings. What’s more, some 28% of those searches convert, resulting in a purchase.

Top-ranking SEO performance requires attention to many aspects, including backlinks, traffic and social shares — to name just a few. This list of SEO factors gives you insights into some of the most relevant and timely search engine optimization trends to anticipate for 2022, allowing you to prepare your SEO strategy. Here are some SEO trends to watch for in 2022:

• Mobile-Friendly Approach Will Impact Search Rankings
• Google Artificial Intelligence Will Play a Larger Role in the future
• Voice Search Will Impact Search Queries
• Content That Fulfills the Google EAT Principle Will Rank Higher
• Long-Form Content Will Help Improve SERPs
• Featured Snippets Will Become More Important
• Predictive Search Is Set to Improve
• An Effective SEO Strategy Will Need to Include Videos
• Image Optimization Will Play a Larger Role in Search
• There Will Be More Importance Placed on Semantically Related Keywords
• Local Search Listings Will Play a Larger Role in SEO Strategies
• Data and Analytics Should Become Your Priority If You Want to Remain Ahead in Rankings

Mobile-friendy approach

In 2019, Google announced mobile-first indexing. The search engine looks primarily at the mobile version of a website first, considering this the “primary” version instead of the desktop version. This change makes sense, given that nearly 70% of internet users will access the internet primarily using mobile devices by 2025. You need to check how effective your mobile site is with Google’s mobile-friendly test and take a peek at the “mobile usability” report in Google Search Console.

To ensure your page is user-friendly, you have to make sure that Google can crawl your URLs to ensure you don’t have a “disallow directive” on the website. Also, beware that Googlebot won’t load content requiring user interactions, like clicking or swiping. You have to make sure Google can see this so-called lazy-loaded content. Finally, ensure you use the same meta robots tags on the desktop and mobile sites.

Artificial Intelligence in SEO

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how people interact with online content. Google’s AI algorithms are especially worth noting. Unveiled a few years back, the algorithm — called RankBrain — plays a vital role in Google’s ranking factors for search engine results pages (SERPs) results.

Senior Google scientist Greg Corrado who helped develop RankBrain, has previously highlighted the tool’s unique ability to learn: “The other signals, they’re all based on discoveries and insights that people in information retrieval have had, but there’s no learning.” This presumably means that RankBrain will only improve with time, making AI a top SEO trend to watch.

So, the big question is, how do you optimize your SEO for RankBrain? While the search engine giant won’t share details, experts believe that user experience signals are the primary determinant. These could include factors from click-through rate to time spent on the page. You need to captivate and engage readers with practical, well-organized content. An on-page SEO checker can help you assess page strength based on points like readability, backlinks, and more.

Voice Search will impact SEO

Thanks to innovations like Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and Amazon’s Alexa, voice search technology has made a long way. As technology has become better, it’s also gotten more popular. The percentage of households predicted to own a smart speaker by 2022 is 57%.

To optimize for voice search, consider your keyword strategy. Identify longer text phrases that people use in everyday practice. Voice searches tend to work more efficient with longer, more natural-sounding words. When people type, they tend to abbreviate. For example, a person might voice search, “What are new SEO trends for 2022?” but type the words, “new SEO trends 2022.” That is a difference between speaking and writing strategies.

We will publish more detailed information related to this subject in the following articles.