If you've been in the digital marketing industry for some time now, it should come as no surprise that many SEO trends continue to change year after year. Gone are the days when you could use a single keyword tool and a bunch of keywords for an SEO strategy to work. Nowadays there’s no cookie-cutter approach to SEO. It’s completely based on the dynamic SEO trends — relying on how people want to search and consume content. So here's a look at some of the SEO trends to watch out for in 2022, as well as some tips on how you can prepare your SEO strategy this year to further increase your authority and rankings.
5 SEO Trends to Include in Your Online Strategy in 2022
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Voice Search Optimization Will Be the Next Big Thing
Voice search is becoming more popular among users as they want to interact with their devices without being forced to type or tap away on their keyboards. Voice search queries will likely become even more popular as more people start using smart speakers such as Google Home and Amazon Echo Dot at home. In fact, 71% of consumers prefer voice searches over typing into the search boxes. This presents an opportunity for brands to optimize their websites for voice search queries, ranking higher in SERPs when users speak their queries into a search box on their smartphones or smart speakers.
As more people start using their devices hands-free while driving or doing other activities, it's important that your site can be easily accessed via voice search devices such as Google Home or Amazon Echo. And because these devices are getting smarter all the time, they'll be able to answer more complex questions than ever before – making them an increasingly popular way for consumers to interact with brands online. By ensuring your site displays well on these devices, you can gain an edge over competitors who may not be fully optimized yet.
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Mobile-First Websites Will Continue to Dominate the SERPs
It's no secret that more people are using mobile devices than ever before — so much so that mobile traffic now accounts for more than half of all internet traffic! To keep up with this SEO trend, Google announced that it would start ranking websites based on their mobile version rather than the desktop version.
Google announced mobile-first indexing back in 2017, which means websites that have been built with mobile users in mind will receive priority when Google crawls their pages for content and links. Sites that haven't been optimized for mobile won't be penalized outright — at least not yet — but they may not rank as highly as those customized for mobile users. This trend shows no signs of slowing down, so it's vital to ensure that your website is optimized for mobile users by 2022.
The best way to ensure your website is mobile-friendly is to use one of the many online tools to test your site for speed and page load time. It's also wise to make sure that you're using responsive design so that your website looks good on any device.
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Integrating Social Media for Relevancy Is Becoming a Thing
We've seen social media integration in SEO before — like Facebook's Open Graph protocol and Twitter Cards — but this is one of the SEO trends that's really starting to heat up. Some sites have been using social media data to target their content for years now, but this is only the beginning. In 2022, more companies will integrate social media into their websites to make them more relevant and engaging for users who visit from different sources.
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Video Optimization for SEO Is Going Mainstream It's no secret that video content is becoming more popular than ever — which means it's time to pay attention to video SEO! Video marketing is a great way to attract new customers, increase customer engagement, and share your brand message with the world — but if you don't optimize your videos properly, they won't rank as well in search engines like Google or Bing. Many businesses are already using videos to increase their SEO, but they are still not using them optimally.
In 2022, we expect that a lot of businesses will start using videos as a way to optimize their SEO. This is because Google has started prioritizing video content over text on its search results page. So if you want your business to be seen, you should start creating more video content that can be optimized for SEO, especially if your business sells products or services online.
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SEO Will Become More Personalized SEO is a long game and nobody can afford to play it with a single strategy. While some companies may thrive in the short term, they will likely not be able to beat their competitors over time. The best way to do that is by tailoring your content based on specific user needs, wants and behaviours.
As voice search becomes more popular, SEOs will need to shift their focus from keywords to intent-based searches. This means that instead of optimizing for specific keywords like "buy baby stroller" or "How do I use my iPhone camera effectively?" SEO specialists will instead optimize for "help me choose between these two strollers" or "Can you help me turn off my iPhone timer?"
Wrapping Up
The SEO landscape is always changing, so it can be difficult to track what's happening. If you want to stay ahead of the curve and ensure your website gets the best results possible, then you need to include these SEO trends in your 2022 online strategy to increase your exposure and, thereby, revenue,