Google processes more than 8.5 billion searches every day. That’s a lot of potential eyes that could be looking at your website.
Staying on top of SEO trends can be tricky, but it’s a vital part of any marketing strategy. SEO for businesses is as commonplace now as hiring an accountant or investing in HR.
Here’s a look at some of the key areas you need to be aware of in 2022 to make sure you’re on top of your SEO game this year.
1. Content Quality and Search Authority
There are plenty of types of SEO, but Google seems to be implementing various tools specifically for long-form content in 2022. That means that content quality has never been more important.
With news publishers, blogs, business websites, and more all competing for the top listings on Google, creating top-quality content could be your path to the top. Google rewards websites that consistently create excellent content that serves Google users.
The more you create good content around similar topics, the more likely you will build up search authority around that theme. When you write more articles in this field, Google will then be more likely to push this fresh content to the top of the search results, believing you to be an expert in the area.
2. Understand Natural Language Processing
Google’s natural language processing (NLP) technology has been steadily improving over the last few years. It analyzes the words in your content to categorize it and serve it up in relevant Google searches.
As the technology has gotten more advanced, it has changed how SEO services should approach keyword targeting. Instead of optimizing your web pages and articles for single keywords, keyword clustering should be your new goal for 2022.
Already, Google scans web pages for multiple keywords. You can take this another step further by identifying multiple keywords with a similar search intent. Finally, you can use those clusters to build content around and raise the profile of your website.
For example, if you were writing an article about the Instagram hashtag strategy, you need to think about keyword phrases that reflect the same intent. If your starting key phrase is ‘Instagram hashtag tips,’ some other ones to fill your cluster might include:
- How to improve Instagram hashtags
- Instagram hashtag ideas
- How to go viral on Instagram
Now that you’ve got your cluster, you can fill out your content with all of these keyword phrases. Hopefully, Google will reward your effort with first-page results.
3. How To Use Rich Snippets
Google loves rich snippets or snippets that have a higher click-through rate. They help Google users to find the exact content they’re searching for, creating a better experience.
Google is putting more and more updates into their snippets, including support for in-snippet video, shopping, and even integration of TikToks. Keeping an eye on what’s possible for your snippets will be essential for SEO in 2022.
Every year, the importance of SEO grows. However, it can be tricky to stay on top of all the information out there. SEO podcasts can be a fantastic way to get the latest SEO trends.
Final Thoughts
The benefits of SEO are that you can get your business or content in front of more eyes. In the busy world of the internet, being able to rank higher than your competitors is what can make the difference between success and failure.
Now that you know the top SEO trends for 2022, you might want to dig into other areas of digital marketing. Have a browse through our Internet Marketing section for similar posts that you might be interested in.