Top 7 SEO Trends for the Year 2022 - DigiDir

The world of search engine optimization (SEO) is ever-changing, and 2022 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for the industry. 2021 saw several major Google algorithm updates, including the core Web Vitals update and Page Experience update, with more to come in 2022.

The search engine optimization trends of 2022 are focused on accessibility, mobile-friendly, machine learning and overall great experiences on Google Search.

2022 SEO Trends

1. Site Usability Metrics Will Matter More

Google is prioritizing site performance that creates the best user experience, as evidenced by their 2021 Pages Experience update. They've shown they're not afraid to penalize sites that don't meet the certain speed and UI/UX metrics (core web vitals), or those with poor accessibility.

One way or another, almost everything related to on-page search engine optimization involves UX and UI. You can have the best content in the world, but if users can't ingest it because of a bad web experience, it doesn't matter.

Which site capabilities should you prioritize for SEO in 2022?

Site Speed: If your site takes more than 5 seconds to load, you may lose 40% of your traffic. Site speed is an important part of any good web experience, and the right UI design elements and technical SEO can keep it quick.

Accessibility: The WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is a set of internationally recognized guidelines for digital accessibility that is managed by the W3C, the International Web Standards Group. Divided into comprehensibility, operability, comprehensibility and robustness, the organization and use of your site should be accessible to all users.

Mobile readiness: Most users access Google Search from a mobile device. As a result, Google now uses mobile-first indexing when indexing and ranking a page. This means that it is essential to properly calibrate your site's load on mobile and is easy for mobile users to read and navigate. Mobile-friendliness is part of many of these 2022 SEO trends.

Interstitial Experience: Interstitial ads (such as pop-ups, ads, etc.) should not reduce the reach of the page or appear in any intrusive manner. Especially when using mobile devices. I have seen these popups being increasingly penalized by Google.

Also Check:
How to Create High-Quality Backlinks

2. Content Creation with AI Machine Learning Algorithms

Artificial Intelligence is changing the landscape of almost every industry, and SEO is no different. With machine learning, AI technologies can consume vast amounts of data, analyze the information, and then use it to automate a variety of marketing tasks at a speed greater than is possible for humans. From chatbots to data analysis to content generation, using AI (like GPT-3) in marketing will be a top SEO strategy in 2022 and beyond.

Content generators like Growthbar and Copy AI debuted in 2021. Both tools are built on top of OpenAI's GPT-3, a natural language model that creates human-like written content based on inputs and algorithms in the form of a blog post, article. Title, short description, social media caption, or more.

AI-backed content generators are changing the SEO game, helping to save time and money, as well as beat writer's block and provide fresh ideas.

These tools will prove to be a huge boon for digital marketers everywhere. Data-driven software tools specializing in content creation and SEO will continue to grow in popularity in 2022.

3. The Continuing Importance of Backlinks

The election of 2020 and COVID-19 forever changed the way we consume information – and sometimes misinformation. To continue to win the trust of searchers, Google will place a greater value on backlink equity for SEO rankings. Link equity is the value a site provides by linking to your site, influenced by domain authority, current Google rankings, and other metrics.

Therefore, building (valuable) backlinks is fundamental to any good SEO strategy. They are one of the best ways for Google to understand that your website is trustworthy enough to send searchers through high rankings.

Backlinks have always been one of the strongest ranking factors for SEO. A link from another site pointing to your site can greatly affect where that page or your site ranks in search results, the best links are from sites that are in the same location or places as yours that have a higher DA Is. When such a site chooses to link to a portion of your content, it is sending a signal to Google that your content is being recommended.

So although the importance of backlinks has been debated over the years, having strong backlinks on your site is the 2022 SEO trend you want to follow.

4. Meaningful Search Opportunities

This phrase is often used and rarely explained well. Semantic search is the intent and contextual semantic-based search associated with machine learning. It uses past data and then uses trial and error to improve the search experience to make it easier to find what they are looking for.

Google is a business, and its job is to make it as painless as possible to get questions answered so that consumers keep coming back to using Google. And on your part, you want it to be as intuitive for your site to find and use so that consumers go back there too.

For example, let's say you've read the last three books in the Dune series. Maybe you bought them online, left a review somewhere, or searched for information about them. You are now viewing "Vacation Good Book Ideas". A good book for you now will be very different than anyone else's, but using Semantic Search, you won't be surprised to see the next Dune book pop up first on that list, along with some other popular science fiction novels. . ,

For every site that pops up, they should actually be selling Dune Books, and buying and shipping this book to a searcher should be as easy as possible. Semantic search is all about taking the work away from the searcher and putting it in the backend.

For SEO professionals, growing Semantic Search means two things:

• Secondary keywords matter a lot. Since Google can understand the intent of searches and articles, the keywords you surround your primary keyword with are important. So instead of optimizing for just one or two key phrases, be sure to cover the different ways that searchers think and write about a topic. And think about it with voice search in mind. As more consumers become mobile-first, more consumers are becoming voice searchers. So for this post, have people speaking into their phones: "The biggest SEO trends for the year 2022," or "How SEO is changing in 2022," or "What I need to know about SEO for 2022"," Etcetera.

• And yes, provide accurate information by answering all these questions. Your content needs to answer Googler's primary question and every other question they might have about a topic. Not only does it help with number one, but it also provides a better experience for searchers and keeps them on your page longer. Long posts have long been ranking better on Google, and that's partly why. If you can't find an organic way to include important topic questions, you can try adding FAQs to your post.

5. Google will expand SERP features and knowledge graph

Many times, you don't even need to click on a search result to find the information you're looking for. Searches for songs, flight information, local businesses and many more begin and end in the Google search engine results page (SERP) through Google's featured snippets.

Google's Knowledge Graph and Passage Ranking uses algorithms to provide you with relevant information based on user data. Google's goal is to help searchers find the information they're looking for while providing a minimal amount of content, as well as the opportunity to go "deeper and wider" in their searches.

While this can be great for searchers, businesses working on lead generation may not like fewer users visiting their sites.

What to do about it? Titles, titles, URLs and quality content are all going to be very important to improve CTR when searchers can find what they are looking for without any clicks. And if you don't think your entire post will rank, try to rank a passage just above the SERP.

6. YouTube and Video Optimization

The number of channels earning $10,000+ per year increased by 50% last year. More and more Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are being taken up by videos, and I'm sure you've heard of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram videos and more using videos and more to improve consumer engagement and attract new customers. Companies are focused.

So if creating optimized video content is not yet part of your SEO strategy, you should act on it in 2022. In addition to using keywords in the title, URL, and description of your video, there are a few new ways. Add rich information to YouTube videos and increase their value. I like these three:

• Clip Markup: Clip Markup enables you to highlight the main points of your video so that users can access those parts directly. Basically, you can tell Google what timestamps and labels you want to use for your select moments, and these pop up on Google Search to provide an overview of what your topic covers. . You can do this with code, or use YouTube which does it automatically for you.

• Seek Markup: Seek markup tells Google how your URL structure works. This information is important because it allows Google to automatically display important moments in your video, rather than doing it yourself, like with clip markup.

• Closed Captioning: Closed captioning for YouTube videos enables you to make videos more accessible in all languages ​​and for the hearing impaired.

7. Eat Always

While this 2022 SEO trend is not new, EAT is fundamental to all parts of search engine optimization.

To have a good user experience, create great content, build your backlinks, and end up on the SERP- your content must have the EAT: expertise, authority, and trust. The more expert you are on a topic, the more authority you have on it, and the more Google and searchers can trust you. And then the more trustworthy you are, the more backlinks you get, the higher ranking you go, and the more authority you have, etc. All three elements form a high- or low-ranking feedback loop, so it is important to prioritize them all.

E-A-T has received more attention as a ranking factor for Google according to the Quality Rater Guidelines, and it will be no different in 2022.
Check: Google E-A-T Score: Why Does It Matter for Improving Website Ranking?

Conclusion

When it comes to SEO trends and strategies, it's important to stay up to date with changes to Google's algorithms every year.

While these updates and tips and tricks may seem complicated, SEO is actually something that all businesses should prioritize in some way: providing useful, accurate, interesting information to the people who are looking for it. And this is a trend that will never end.