At Infront Webworks we try to keep you informed so you stay in front of the curve and don’t fall behind it. These are some of the top 2022 SEO and digital marketing trends in our industry.
Featured Snippets are still relevant
We all want quick answers to our questions, and we don’t want to click through the top results to find out what we are looking for.
Featured snippets are the small bit of info that Google provides at the top of the page when you ask a question. It tries to show the content that is the most valuable to the reader.
Obviously, the benefit of gaining a featured snippet is increased traffic. Being at the top of organic search results is amazing. It’s also a matter of prestige since Google is saying that your content is the most credible source of information.
Search Intent or User Intent is more important than keywords
In the beginning of search, content had to include specific keywords or phrases to rank well in search.
But Google’s algorithms have improved in this area and concentrate more on user intent instead of just specific keywords.
Do they want to buy something, or do they just want information? Do they want to compare products before a purchase or look for food nearby?
So, as you build out your content, you need to consider why people would ask this question? How would they ask it? Is there a common phrase used or are they using a voice assistant via a conversational question?
After careful consideration, it will help you to write better quality content to achieve the results you are targeting.
Faster load times will lead to better rankings for 2022 SEO
Page speed is a direct ranking factor. Especially after Google’s algorithm speed update. Speed can also affect your rankings indirectly by increasing bounce rate and dwell time.
Google has clearly stated that the user comes first. If users experience a slow load speed, Google considers this a poor user experience.
EAT and High-Quality Content is Essential
Having “High quality content” is very important to improving your relationship with readers. The acronym Google uses is EAT. Which stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
Expertise – Google wants you to show that you have the skills and knowledge. You need to show Google that you are the expert on your content vs. your competitors.
Authority – This happens when your product or topic gets associated with your brand. Getting mentioned or linked to in other blogs shows that you know what you are talking about. Also including links to your LinkedIn Profiles can help to establish authority.
Trustworthiness – Are you what you say you are? Do readers come to you for accurate information? Positive online reviews, a secure domain, terms and conditions pages, refund and return policies can all help to establish your trustworthiness.
Long and frequent content ranks better
The more content you write, the more keywords or questions you can answer. Since each piece of content should focus on one keyword and a few secondary keywords, there needs to be quite a great deal of content to establish authority.
Google wants content that is rich in information. And usually, the top results have over 2,000 words.
Not because Google is counting the words, but because the long-form content offers more areas for backlinks, LSI keywords, and more meaningful information to keep visitors on the page for longer session durations (another ranking factor).
Just don’t sacrifice quality for quantity.
Local SEO
In 2020, 46% of all Google searches were with local intent. By prioritizing your local SEO, you can gain a competitive advantage over local competition. It’s also important to show potential clients that you actually exist and are a real company.
So, optimize your Google Business Profile, formerly called Google My Business. Add posts to your GBP, and make sure that your NAP is consistent everywhere. Include your site in directories and business listings. Add location pages, create local content, and get local inbound links with authority.
Social Media Marketing in 2022
Find out where your customers are and create niche content that they will engage with. This will take extensive experimentation and time, and so find out what social media channels are most popular with your target audience.
Then experiment and do some A/B split testing. Establish trust in your brand through social media by posting consistent high-quality content that your audience can engage with.
Marketing Automation Helps Us Stay Competitive for 2022 SEO
Automation tools have been around for a while. They have helped us target the right customers, improve time-consuming tasks and improve efficiency.
- The global marketing automation market size is expected to reach 1 billion US dollars by the end of 2023.
- 63% of marketing teams plan to increase the marketing automation budget this year.
- And 9 out of 10 marketers use more than one form of marketing automation software.
Video Marketing is here to stay
Video marketing is not only a top trend today but is likely to be around for the next decade. This doesn’t mean simply making a video and putting it on YouTube; moreover, video marketing includes live broadcasting on Instagram, Facebook (now renamed Meta), and TikTok (now the number one visited website on the internet).
Embedding videos in your articles can increase dwell time and provide a better user experience. There’s also a benefit to using audio for a podcast or including them in your email marketing campaigns.
Video marketing isn’t optional anymore, it’s become a necessity. Reports have shown that 74% of marketers say video has a better return on investment than static images and 68% better ROI than Google Ads.
Videos help build trust and engage with your audience. Can you really afford not to use them?
Core Web Vitals and Page Experience are New Google Ranking Factors
Page experience is the experience of interacting with a web page beyond its informational value. This ranking factor rolled out in August of 2021. It measures how people perceive the interaction and it needs to be effective across all devices and connections.
Other factors of the Core Web Vitals include load time, stability of content, interactivity, and security of user data.
Better Reporting in Search Console
Google has made some significant improvements to news-specific traffic in search console reports. We have a separate GSC performance report for the Google News Section.
Then Google updated their API to allow us to export Discover performance data as well. Don’t know about Google Discover? Here is an article about how Discover is different from Search.
Evergreen content grows more important
Google has recently taught us that fresh and updated content ranks better. So, in 2021 that was the focus. But for 2022 people are starting to focus equally on the evergreen content side of things.
Evergreen content has a long shelf life. It doesn’t have a news feel but revolves around a topic or idea that is relevant again and again. It has a consistent interest, and the idea doesn’t grow old. This type of content helps people become smarter, live better, and/or learn something new.
Stay in the know about Google’s Discover feed.
Google’s Discover feed has been an excellent source of traffic for some publishers, but it’s also more mysterious. The rules for ranking in Discover aren’t as widely known, and it is interest-based, not search-based.
To rank on Discover will require an entirely different approach to optimizing content. This will evolve into something more in 2022. It has been growing in popularity and Google will continue to make changes. Hopefully, Google will provide better information and documentation about how to make your content more eligible for Discover.
Infront Webworks strives to keep you informed and in front of the digital marketing curve. We hope you enjoyed some of the top digital marketing trends expected in our industry for 2022.
See our 2021 SEO year review.
Allan Todd is CEO of Pagecafe Digital Marketing. In 2022, Allan teamed up with Infront Webworks to provide digital marketing, website design, content marketing, SEO and strategy and solutions to local businesses. Allan lives in Colorado Springs.