7 SEO Trends to Look Out for in 2022
SEO: it’s one of the most important parts of your website.
Even the best digital marketing strategy will not be effective without the right SEO methods. You’ll need the right balance between great content and staying up-to-date with evolving trends in digital marketing.
To learn more about what SEO is and the SEO trends to look out for in 2022, continue reading.
What Is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It refers to the practices of improving your website to make it more visible and easier to use.
The better your website is optimized for SEO, the higher it will rank on search engines. This is important because 75% of web searchers never click past the first page of search results.
Some factors of SEO remain the same: it’s always important to have a visually pleasing site, well-written content, and local SEO content based on your target audience. But some factors of SEO evolve as technology advances and trends change, which is why 2022 has a few of its own SEO recommendations to try out.
Video Content
If you haven’t noticed TikTok’s popularity or the introduction of reels on Instagram, short video content is the new way to connect to viewers. Of course, nice pictures and quality writing will always have their place in SEO.
But if you want to make your SEO stand out in 2022, you need to start including video throughout your digital platforms. This could look like 10-second clips on your social media, a YouTube channel, or including videos of you discussing your services on your website.
Online video has exploded in the past few years as one of the most popular new forms of content, and it is necessary if you want a competitive edge.
When you post content, make sure to optimize your video. On video channels, including user-friendly overviews of what your channel is about. Video content on your website or social media should have keywords that make it easy to find.
Long-Form Content
But despite videos’ rise in popularity, written content isn’t going anywhere – especially long-form content.
Long-form content is text that’s about 3000 words or longer. It’s widely believed that long-form content is effective at getting more traffic and shares than shorter content, sheerly because of the amount of helpful information.
Long-form content can greatly improve your search rankings – if it keeps users engaged. Make sure that you’re breaking your content into multiple sections with short paragraphs.
With content that’s a few thousand words long, H2 and H3 sections will break down information into comfortable lengths for the reader. And if the user loves your content, make sure that it’s easy for them to share with sharing links!
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a popular topic as its use becomes more widespread. It already affects the way that people interact with online content, and this influence is only continuing to grow.
AI works to suggest content to users based on their history and preferences. If you’ve ever seen ads for a product after you’ve looked it up on a search engine, that’s AI at play.
Especially noteworthy is Google’s AI algorithm RankBrain. RankBrain is a machine learning-based engine algorithm that helps Google process search results and provides even more relevant content for users. It’s likely that RankBrain will become a crucial component for your SEO ratings in the future.
Omnichannel Digital Campaigns
The trap for many digital marketers to fall into is to compartmentalize different parts of your digital strategy. For example, many digital marketers will have their own branding and goals for each platform: Instagram, the website, etc.
The problem with this is that consumers are everywhere, all the time. The average person will have multiple social media pages, from Tiktok to Facebook. They’ll also be visiting websites and conducting research of their own on products.
If you aren’t working with an omnichannel strategy, your SEO efforts won’t be as effective during 2022.
Your branding strategy needs to be consistent across all of your platforms. This means that your social media content needs to have the same vibe and vision as your Google advertisements and your website design. Users should be able to connect the dots between all of your content.
Interactive Content
Another trend to focus on for this year is interactive experiences. These can include elements like quizzes, guides, videos, or anything besides text that will encourage a visitor.
This makes the user experience even better because it makes the content easier to navigate and more memorable.
One way to use an interactive element accurately is to create a quiz or survey for new visitors to the website. This can help to identify what they need and help to personalize their content.
Mobile-Friendliness
A mobile-friendly website has been the cornerstone of Google SEO rankings for years. But going into 2022, it is more important than ever that you are using it for your website.
Google rolled out mobile-first indexing in 2019. This means that a website will look at the mobile version of a website when it ranks content, not the desktop version. This is no surprise, as more and more internet users are using the internet solely with mobile devices.
Unsure of whether or not your site is mobile-friendly? Google has a free application that you can use to test your live URL and crawl your website.
If your website is not mobile-friendly, the test will tell you the issues you need to fix. Examples of issues include content wider than the screen, text that is too small to read, and clickable elements too close together.
Leverage These SEO Trends in 2022
Improve your website’s popularity and rankings by leveraging the SEO trends of 2022. With a forward-thinking SEO strategy, you can distinguish yourself from competitors.
Curious about learning more? Contact our team to find out how we can work together to boost your SEO.
