As most businesses know by now, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical in attracting consumers to their online platforms. Though, SEO is constantly changing, and you need to stay on top of the ultimate trends in order to guarantee your content strategies are effective. This means that if you’re still counting on the same SEO tactics you’ve been using for ages, it’s time that you learn the latest SEO strategies. The fact is that many older strategies aren’t only ineffective in today’s SEO geography, but some outdated tactics like as keyword stuffing can indeed negatively impact SEO. This makes it imperative that you continually update your SEO strategies to the latest trends. Yet, staying on top of the latest SEO strategies can often feel like an overwhelming prospect. To help you stay on top of the latest developments in SEO, and to guarantee that you see positive results from your SEO strategy, here’s a look at the SEO trends that will have the biggest impact in 2022.
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to change how people interact with content online, AI’ll also play a crucial role in SEO strategy. Particularly noteworthy is Google’s AI algorithm RankBrain, as this will probably become one of the most important ranking factors for Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) in 2022. Since Google revealed RankBrain, many businesses have wondered how this will affect SEO. How can you cater your content strategy to an AI algorithm?
While Google has not shared details on the inner workings of how RankBrain learns and analyzes content, experts believe that user experience is one of its primary ranking factors. This means that click-through rate and the time users spend on a website will be vital factors that RankBrain will use when prioritizing content. When reviewing your SEO strategy, it’s then critical that you curate content that’s well- organized and useful so that you magnetize and engage your readers.
In order to assure that you magnetize and engage readers who visit your website, you’ll need to shift to a long- form content strategy. Long- form content of words or more has shown to get higher traffic and more shares than short- form content. Shifting your focus to creating quality long- form content can also greatly improve your search rankings. However, in order for long- form content to be successful, it must be capable to keep readers engaged.
To keep readers engaged, it’s important that you break up your content into multiple sub-sections using H2 and H3 subheads, as this will make it more scannable. The aim is to make your content easy for readers to browse, particularly on mobile devices, as big chunks of text can be seen as overwhelming content to many readers, and it can overwhelm a small screen. You should also make sure that your content is easy to share in order to further improve SEO. Include obvious sharing links at the beginning and end of your content so that readers can share it with a click of a button.
Mobile- responsiveness has been a base of SEO ever since Google officially made it a ranking factor in 2015. However, it’s more critical than ever that you optimize your content for mobile devices, as Google rolled out mobile-first indexing in 2019. This means that the search engine looks primarily at the mobile version of a website when ranking content, as this is considered the “primary” version instead of the desktop version. This switch wasn’t a surprise to many people, as it’s estimated that nearly 75 of internet users will access the internet solely via mobile devices by 2025.
Fortunately, Google makes it easy to check how effective your mobile site is with their free mobile-friendly test. You can also use Google’s Mobile Usability Report to find out if there are problems with your mobile website and what you can do to fix these issues. Using these tools can be critical in helping you find and fix mobile usability issues in your website that could be negatively affecting your SEO. The fact is that as higher internet use comes from mobile devices, you’ll need to assure that your content is optimized with these users in mind.
Google has continually emphasized that content quality is critical for ranking success. However, this often leaves businesses wondering what Google means by “quality content”. When trying to improve the quality of your content for SEO, it’s important to refer to the EAT principle; EAT stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google uses these factors to determine if a web page provides quality content, and it’s something businesses need to be aware of when developing content for their website.
In order to assure that you’re creating quality content, it’s important that you create buyer personas, which can help you to better understand what kind of content your target audience values. Buyer personas have become integral to successful SEO, as they can help businesses to curate content that’s engaging to their readers and is formatted in a way that their target audience finds appealing. It’s also important that you keep EAT in mind when you develop your content. Make sure that you back up claims you make with statistics and facts, and make sure that you link to reputable sources. Having authoritative links in your content is a great way to fulfill all the criteria within the EAT principle.
SEO continues to play a critical part in how your content is ranked, however, it’s constantly evolving and growing more complex. Keeping up with current trends will require you to do more than stuff your content with keywords; you need to be deliberate and develop quality content that will rank well in Google’s algorithms.However, feel free to connect with us for advice on how you can best optimize your content for SEO, If staying up-to- date with the latest SEO trends feels irresistible.