SEO
2022 might have been a year of changes, yet digital marketing remains as important as ever before.
Now, the key to a successful search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy is to stick to the basics and shift with the times and Google’s algorithm. Even though local SEO is paramount, mobile optimisation and other strategies are equally important. As you keep up with them, you stay in touch with new developments and ensure the best possible SEO results.
5 SEO Trends You Should Know
Trend #1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI has changed the way many industries operate, including SEO. In fact, using AI, also known as machine learning, search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, and so on, can provide a more personalised experience to web users. In other words, machine learning improves search queries by better understanding the search intent (the reason the user has typed in a question in search engines).
The question, though, remains: “How does AI help with SEO?”
The answer is simple. Thanks to AI and machine learning solutions, businesses can decode search engine trends and algorithms and include relevant information in the form of frequently asked questions (FAQs) or keywords into their content. This way, when users search for something in search engines, they will arrive on your page instead of someone else’s.
The reason for this is that thanks to your FAQs, you’ll most probably have answered their query; Google will pick this up and include your website in the first pages of the search engine results, boosting your traffic.
Trend #2. Page Experience Optimisation
SEO and user experience have always gone together, but this ranking element seems to have become even more important since Google’s introduction of Core Web Vitals. So, what now also plays a crucial role in ranking is how your website looks and how smooth the user experience is.
Google looks at a set of factors that determine the quality of user experience when a visitor explores your site and landing pages. Among these factors are loading speed and time, browsing safety and security (I hope you’re using an SSL certificate and Cloudflare), mobile-friendliness, interactivity, and how the website looks, to name a few.
So, to be on top of the SEO trends, aim to provide users with a pleasant and smooth experience.
Trend #3. Voice Search
Considering that more than half of smartphone users engaged with voice search in 2020, it’s no wonder that Google considers voice search technology a vital SEO ranking factor.
Moreover, more and more users use voice commands daily, meaning businesses would do well to optimise for it. The only issue is that optimising your content for voice search is different from the standard keyword optimisation for text searches. The main difference is that voice search includes queries that use long-tail phrases and super-specific keywords.
The simplest way to optimise your website for voice search is to write in a conventional, everyday language. Simply put, aim for content with a high readability score.
Trend #4. Long-Form Content
Content is the king in SEO, and this will never change.
Yet, in 2022 the key seems to be long-form content instead of just SEO-optimised content. For some reason, some people believe that shorter content is better, but that’s not always true. Sure, shorter content is better when it comes to fluency and snappiness, but many users want to find the information they need in one secure place without having to navigate to multiple websites left and right.
According to the latest SEO trends, blogs with over 2,000 words outperform content with a thousand words or less. The most popular types of long-form content are listicles, guides, step-by-step tutorials, and articles that approach complex topics.
Long-form content takes a lot of work, yet, you don’t need to do this for everything you publish. Instead, focus on the most important topics or most common queries in your industry.
At the same time, keep in mind that your content should be valuable and not mumbo-jumbo. To create such content, always remember to follow the EAT principle: expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
Trend #5. Video Marketing
The fact that video marketing is important in SEO shouldn’t be surprising, considering the growth of YouTube and similar platforms. Lots of people prefer to digest information via videos instead of written text. So, if your business doesn’t have a video marketing strategy, perhaps it’s time to implement one right away instead of risking trailing behind the competition.
Videos are a fantastic way to reach new audiences because they’re easy to share and entertaining. A well-made and well-advertised video can even go viral, drawing the attention of millions of prospects to your brand.
Video marketing, however, is not a single thing, but rather there is a plethora of video marketing options and strategies to choose from. For example, you can post SEO-optimised videos on YouTube and share them on social media or create seconds-long YouTube Shorts and Instagram Stories.
Just make sure your videos reach the right target audience to increase your chances of conversions.
SEO: A Look Into the Future
SEO will remain relevant in the future and might play an even more important role in building your data hub and content strategy. To put it differently, SEO will not go anywhere, as businesses need to use it to build their online presence and attract more qualified leads to their websites.
As previously mentioned, Google does multiple tests and updates to better understand the meaning and intent of search queries. And since they try to perfect the process of giving accurate answers and providing follow-up questions, SEO will always be relevant.
Conclusion
If something’s certain, SEO changes fast. Google is always keen on updating its algorithm to provide a better and more efficient experience for its users. Hence, you have to be on top of the latest SEO trends and updates and adapt your SEO optimisation approach to improve your digital marketing strategy and stand out from the crowd.
Listen: We know SEO optimisation is complicated and overwhelming. So if you need someone to take this weight off your shoulders, you’re welcome to reach out to a professional SEO optimisation and content writing solution.
