In this article, we will discuss SEO trends for 2022. The key to ranking high on Google in 2022 is still optimizing your website for search engines. This year, there are new rules to follow to be at the top of SERPs (SERPs. Google’s new ranking algorithms and guidelines have changed, and your strategy has to change with it.
All of the changes Google makes are to increase the content’s searchability and present users with relevant searches. Did you know there have been over 4.3 billion searches this year? This blog post was inspired by it.
Google deserves all the credit for the ongoing evolution of search engine optimization. The search engine behemoth is doing all it can to improve the user’s search experience by making it more efficient, relevant, and simple. Google introduced some new features this year, but some older ones will still be useful in 2022. Let’s see what they are.
1. SEO Tools
SEO tools simplify the research process that most people go through when attempting to figure out how people find your website via search engines. Streamlining processes like watching your ranks in search engines like Google and Bing, doing on-page audits, researching important keywords to target, and assessing your competition are all examples of this.
Using the correct SEO tools can help you show up in search results more frequently and higher. After you’ve done everything you can to create outstanding content for your readers, you’ll need a mechanism to evaluate that material’s usefulness as thoroughly as possible.
So, how should you choose the right SEO tool? It’s best to take the advice of experts, and experts recommend these SEO tools.
2. Priority Is Given To Passage Rank over Keyword Rank
Google began rolling out the passage ranking enhancement on February 10, 2021, for US English SERPs, then globally. But why rank passages? Google’s recent algorithm tweaks favor long-form content. Google prioritizes topic-related material when customers search. It considers context to offer more relevant results.
Example: “how to set up google home”. A passage ranking system puts the most relevant response to your question at the top. Google uses “passage ranking” to help you find what you need. Google says, “By understanding paragraphs and the whole page, we can find a needle in a haystack.”
3. Seek and Clip Video Markups
With the advent of Seek and Clip markup, video content has become even more significant. In 2022, Google will have a lot to offer video makers and video SEO professionals.
What’s the difference between a clip and seek markup? Unlike click markup, which manually tells Google about the video’s time stamp, the seek markup does so automatically and gives a result in the form of a snippet on the SERPs.
In order to make use of a clip markup on your website, you must explicitly inform Google of the timestamps that should be presented as significant. You must add the information to the structured data’s Video Object element to accomplish this.
The following properties must be included in the structured data:
- Name: This is the name of your video, and it should be descriptive.
- Start offset: The number of seconds represents the clip’s start time.
4. Continous Scrolling
The newest addition to the list of SEO trends in 2022. Google’s October 2021 continuous scrolling update restructured search engine result pages for mobile users. Google will soon allow users to get the search results with seamless and easy continuous scrolling, just like major social media platforms. This implies that you’ll see new results when you get to the finish.
5. Core Web Vitals
Adding ranking signals to Core Web Vitals was one of the most important additions in 2022. Google’s main goal is to improve the user experience continually. This means that to succeed, content creators need to produce relevant and informative content. Surprised??
According to the future release, the following factors will be included;
- Design of the page and its weight
- Media inputs
In the future, all of these factors will be taken into account when determining a website’s ranking position. From now on, Core Web Vitals must be considered if you want to see your website rise through the SERPs in 2022.
The Google Search Console has included a new page experience report to aid you. In conjunction with the Core Web Vital components, the Page Experience Report offers you actionable insights.
The following are a few key takeaways:
- Security of mobile devices
- The use of HTTPS
6. Search Intent Matching ERT Update
The BERT update rolled out in October 2019, and by the end of December, some websites could see a negative impact. Before we talk about what went wrong, let’s understand what the algorithm actually is.
So, BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, and it uses machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to understand the searches made by a user in a better way.
The purpose of the introduction of this algorithm is to make the search engine bots have more conversations so that the searcher’s intent can be interpreted. According to most SEO Experts, it is proven that Google checks the overall reputation of the website through YMYL (Your Money Your Life) and EAT(Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) factors.
7. The Featured Snippet Is Your Goal
Recently, SERPs have altered, and you must have noticed that snippets are ever more popular and relevant. SERPs now evaluate answer boxes and highlighted snippets. “FAQs” and “People Also Asked” are very popular on Google. That’s why it’s become important to optimize content for featured snippets.
7. Create Content People Want To Read
Google’s SERPs will always prioritize relevance. Write for readers, not keywords, say SEO experts. Keyword stuffing impacts conversion and rankings, according to Google.
Web writing tips:
- Put your audience first, and your content will be genuine and interesting.
- Description and title tags are SEO hotspots.
- SEO-friendly content uses short- and long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords break the boredom.
8. Technical aspects of SEO and UX/UI
SEO isn’t only about relevant content, and too many website owners out there forget about the technical aspect of SEO. Technical elements include things like UI and UX design. To rank, make your website easy to access and navigate. It’s no longer enough to rank content for a few keywords. Search engines need user-friendly pages.
Here are 4 UI/UX SEO strategies:
- Analyze your bounce rate, and identify possible causes like irrelevant terms, a slow website, or technological issues.
- Watch how long visitors stay on your page. Do an A/B test to see if results improve. This shows how well your page elements work.
- Write headlines that grab readers’ attention. Headings help readers navigate the text.
- All pages should contain a navigation menu and a search box to aid visitors.
10. Page Loading Speed
First impressions last. Instead of boring the visitors with slow-loading pages, improve the speed, and retain as many as possible. Google Developers’ PageSpeed Insights can measure your page speed. This is especially important for mobile pages, as more and more people surf on their phones.
Check these metrics to see how quick your mobile page is:
- First Paint FCP measures how long it takes a visitor’s browser to render the first DOM element.
- FMP shows the user the page’s main material. It tracks iFrame view time.
- Acceleration Speed Index analyzes page visual load speed.
- CPU Idle gauges when a page becomes interactive.
Conclusion
These 2022 SEO trends can help you rank #1 in the following year. Some trends aren’t new but have evolved to give users appropriate search results. Other trends aim to improve the user experience. Whether you want to produce more research-based material or raise organic CTR, focus on delivering searchers valuable information.