Top SEO Trends for 2022. What Should You Focus on to Conquer the Market?
The New Year is just around the corner! Are you wondering what the SEO trends are for 2022 or what to pay attention to when optimizing your website to ensure that you achieve the best possible results? Keep reading today’s entry to discover top SEO trends for 2022 and learn how to take your marketing activities to the next level!
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The world around us is changing and the situation is no different when it comes to SEO trends. If you haven’t started thinking about your strategy for 2022, it’s high time to get down to it. What’s in the cards for SEO, and what elements should you focus on in the upcoming year to make your company stand out from the crowd? If you want to know, what are SEO trends for 2022, and how to prepare for them, keep reading!
9 top SEO trends for 2022
There are only a few weeks left in 2021, which means it’s time to start thinking about your SEO and marketing strategy for 2022. Although it’s impossible to determine precisely what will happen in the SEO industry in the upcoming year, we can tell you that there are certain elements you should focus on, if you want to gain a competitive edge over your market rivals. Today, we’ll discuss 9 top SEO trends for 2022. Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a ride that will take your efforts to the next level!
1. E-A-T aka valuable, quality content
If you’ve been observing Google algorithm updates, you probably know that quality content is the key to improving your website visibility. Google loves the E-A-T principle, meaning:
- E – expertise
- A – authoritativeness
- T – trustworthiness.
If you want to rank higher in the search results, make sure that your texts answer users’ needs and at the same time are in line with SEO standards. Position yourself as an expert in the field to convince both users and Google robots that your website is a quality source of information.
2. The importance of voice search
Users love technologies like Google Assistant, Siri, or Alexa. We live in times when voice search enjoys enormous popularity. As you can guess, voice queries usually differ from the text entered into the search engine. If we need to type something into Google, we usually want to do it as quickly as possible. Therefore, we frequently shorten our queries and use verbless sentences or key phrases. On the other hand, when we speak to the phone, we usually aren’t so concise.
When preparing your website content in 2022, remember about both groups of users and create articles that will be displayed for both regular and voice queries. Since voice search is increasing in popularity, this is a very important SEO trend for 2022 and upcoming years.
3. Content isn’t only text
In case you didn’t know it, content isn’t just text. When preparing your SEO strategy for 2022, take into account various forms like videos, infographics, podcasts, or webinars. This way, you can attract a wider range of recipients and increase their engagement. If you provide users with different types of content that corresponds to queries entered into the search engine, Google will quickly notice it and improve your positions in the search results.
4. Users love convenience
The times when there was only one store in the area and you had to stand in a long line to buy the products you needed are long gone. The same applies to the online world – modern users love convenience. Therefore, if you don’t provide them with UX that meets their expectations, they’ll simply choose your market rivals.
Core Web Vitals introduced by Google in 2021 force website owners and SEO specialists to pay particular attention to:
- Page loading time
- Responsive web design
- SSL certificate
- Transparent layout
- UX
When talking about SEO trends for 2022, it’s impossible not to mention website usability and efficiency. Google values pages that care about users, their security and experiences. Optimize your site parameters and elements listed above, and the search engine will surely appreciate it.
5. It’s time for SXO = SEO + UX
Have you ever heard about SXO? Well, it’s a combination of UX and SEO. And, interestingly, it’s gaining increasing popularity. To provide users with quality services and positive experiences, first, you need to develop a website that is transparent and intuitive.
SXO aims to help users who encounter your website in the search results to easily benefit from its potential and find needed content.
6. Even more mobile-friendliness
Since 2016, we’ve been observing an increasing number of mobile searches. After all, it shouldn’t be surprising as we browse the net and shop when commuting to work or school, standing in lines, or even taking a hot bath.
The fact that more and more websites have responsive designs encourages users to choose convenient smartphones over heavy laptops or impractical desktops. Numerous algorithm updates such as the abovementioned and Core Web Vitals are proof that mobile-friendly, intuitive websites are ranked higher. If you want to generate more traffic, reach new recipients, improve your conversions and profits keep up with this SEO trend in 2022, and adapt your website to mobile devices.
7. It’s all about brand reputation
More and more companies offer their products and services online, which means that you need to fight for customers. Today, it’s not enough to sell items at attractive prices to win the hearts of buyers.
To reach new recipients, increase the organic visibility of your website, build relationships with customers and show them that your brand is reliable and that you care about every single customer.
Focus on elements like case studies, testimonials, or comments and use social proof to your advantage.
8. Cooperation with influencers? Why not?
When establishing your positions in the search results, Google takes into account the engagement of your page visitors. This engagement is estimated based on:
- Bounce rate – the percentage of users who enter your site and leave it without taking any action or visiting other subpages.
- Web session time – the time between when users click on your website from the search results and the time they leave your website.
- Returning visitors – the number of users who decided to visit your site again.
- Comments – the number of comments related to your business or content.
- Social media – the number of times users share your social media content.
Influencer marketing can have a very positive impact on your brand image and popularity. Users comment on content promoted by influencers more frequently, which means that they’re more engaged. This, in turn, informs Google that your company is trustworthy and meets users’ expectations, which translates into improved positions in the ranking.
9. Analytics is the future of SEO
Data analyzing your website quality and statistics is the cornerstone of effective SEO activities. Monitoring user behavior, conducting thorough keyword research and optimizing your page is crucial to achieve the intended results.
Apart from the possibility to troubleshoot errors and avoid potential mishaps, monitoring your page parameters will allow you to:
- Determine which subpages shouldn’t be indexed
- Identify abnormal sources of traffic
- Determine which URLs aren’t indexed
- Analyze elements like your website loading time, conversion rate, bounce rate, or redirects
- Get to know your recipients and their preferences
- Create campaigns tailored to the target group
- Test different solutions and devise a strategy that is the most effective.
SEO trends 2022 – the takeaway
2021 is almost over, which means that it’s time to get down to your SEO strategy for 2022. If you want to stay on the cutting edge and refine the experiences of customers, work on your website to make it an intuitive and valuable source of knowledge. Focus on being mobile-friendly and create for the users, not for the search engine robots. We hope that thanks to our entry the upcoming year will bring you greater benefits than this one.
Are you wondering whether SEO really improves sales? Check out our entry: How does SEO support each of the sales funnel stages?
