“Change is the only constant” – this is not just a saying but the ultimate truth. From humans to machines to technology, everything is evolving, and to keep pace with time, we must accept the change. And in the case of search engine optimization (SEO), the same goes true, i.e., your past tricks & trades may or may not work in getting the traffic into your webpage in the year 2022.
Over the years, we have noticed that engaging content and positive user experience were one of the two most vital factors to pull the online traffic. However, user behavior is constantly changing and thus is changing the technologies. So, here’s a checklist of the top SEO trends for 2022 that you must consider before planning your digital marketing campaign.
Voice Search – From Typing to Just Speaking
Voice Search Technology has brought a huge change in how people were searching in the past. Innovations like Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri & Amazon’s Alexa have come a long way to make searches easier for people. The increasing popularity of voice search technology is an alarm for the digital experts to reconsider how they used to target the keywords. According to experts, it is now better to identify longer and natural-sounding keywords as people tend to use longer phrases while searching for something. For example, while typing something on the search bar we often consider shorter forms or abbreviations like “best SEO practices 2022”, but while we voice search the same, we will say “what are the best SEO practices for 2022”.
First-Party Data – Get it the Right Way
To improve the personal data privacy of the consumers, Google has implemented several steps in the last few years. While this is a good move for the consumers, the marketeers, at the same time can feel its heat. Thus, it is recommended to make a first-party data collection plan to accelerate the digital traffic into your platform. You can acquire first-party data in several means, like, you can reward visitors for sharing their quotes or sign-up for emails, or you can get them to avail free service by filling up a form that can help obtain their personal data. Be a little more creative and find out more ways to do it. It is also crucial if you are planning to launch an email marketing campaign, as it reduces the chances of spamming and also saves you money from buying any third-party data.
Core Web Vitals – Flawless User Experience Goes a Long Way
Customer is the king and Google never forgets this rule. Thus, it introduces new technologies every year to ensure a flawless user experience. Core Web Vitals (CWV) is one of the most important upgrades that Google made for making a user’s journey all the more pleasant when they visit a webpage and it plays a pivotal role in making the page rank higher on the search engine. It is made of three specific measurements – Largest Content Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) & Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Let’s understand these three things in detail:
- Largest Content Paint (LCP) – It is basically designed to measure the webpage loading time. To be specific, this feature measures the time that the webpage takes to render the largest content element within the viewable area and not the entire page. So, to improve the page speed, you need to remove the unnecessary third-party scripts, fix the images that take time to load, install CDN, upgrade your web host, delete large page elements, cache assets and minimize the CSS.
- First Input Delay (FID) – It mainly measures the response time of a page, which means, the time between a user first interacting on a page by clicking, swiping, tapping etc., and when that page responds. So, remember a few points in terms of FID – (a) minimize or hold back JavaScript; (b) delete any third-party content like heat maps, pop-ups, analytics etc. that appear before your page gets visible to the user; (c) implement browser caching so that some elements can be stored in order to avoid reloading them every time.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – It measures the visual stability of a page, i.e., the proportion of a page and how far elements move. Thus, the page design and ad space selection should be done carefully so that the user doesn’t have an unpleasant experience. To get a green signal in this measurement metrics, consider correcting these things – (a) for any image, GIF etc. use the set size attribute so that the user’s browser can pre-determine the space these will take and won’t suddenly change the dimension; (b) always ensure to put your ads in reserved spaces so that they don’t appear suddenly; (c) refrain from using pop-ups or banners that cause the screen layout to shift.
In ordinary words, you cannot reach anywhere by just making your content beautiful, as Google is going to consider other factors concerning page speed and user interaction data as measurable SEO performance metrics. So now, the page design, page weight, media inputs and external embeds, everything would be considered as ranking signals.
Multimodal Search – The Next Generation of Google Search
In Google’s 2021 ‘Search On’ event, the company has shared a glimpse of their futuristic Multimodal Search, which will work using their Multitask Unified Model (MUM) technology. In a nutshell, Multimodal Search is the technology that combines different input methods like text, visuals, video and audio to show users more relevant search results. Let’s understand this with an example – you liked a print and thought of having sneaker shoes with the same print pattern. So, you open Google Lens, scan the print and type “sneakers with this print pattern” and it will show some sneakers with the same or similar prints on them. Although this technology is not at its full potential now, the experts are expecting this technology to be a game-changer in Search Engine Optimization in the near future.
Passage Ranking – The Crux of the Story is Important
The search engine giant Google keeps on updating its technology every then and now to improve the user experience. And Passage Ranking is another interesting take on by the company to show users more accurate content that is precise and to the point. In short, it is how Google ranks passages or long-form content on a web page. For example, you are searching “how to fix a row heading in Excel?”. Originally, the search results might have related articles that give you a detailed overview of the topic. But with Passage Ranking, now those blogs or articles that have compactly answered this question with pointers have more chances to rank higher as compared to other ones that have described the topic throughout the article. Thus, this feature has a direct impact on the search results. The search engine marketing service providers who want their articles or content to rank higher must consider this point while structuring their content.
Mobile Friendliness – Everything Should Come Handy
In the year 2019, Google introduced mobile-first indexing and this change makes sense also, because by 2025, 75% of the internet users are going to access the internet using their mobile devices, according to reports. Thus, Google made it quite clear that it will consider the mobile version of any website as the primary version instead of the desktop one. So, a few of the points need to be taken care of while considering the mobile-friendliness of any website:
a) The page needs to be user-friendly (both mobile and desktop) and takes less time to load
b) Make sure you don’t have ‘disallow directive’ in place so that Google can crawl the URLs
c) Lastly, in both the desktop and the mobile version of a website, the same meta robot tags should be used.
EAT Principle – Three Questions That Must Be Answered
For the ranking success of any website, content quality is of the topmost priority. According to Google’s EAT principle, the quality content must have three things – Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Especially for YMYL, this principle is of utmost importance. There are a few ways you can ensure the quality of your content:
a) First, understand what type of content your visitors want to read or watch, and then make your content strategy accordingly
b) To create good content, research is important. So, try to find out your users’ journey through search intent research
c) Use the research findings to mold your content according to your users’ preference
d) To make the content more authentic, back it up with facts and statistics. Also, don’t forget to quote examples from trustworthy sites and link back to those. This is another way to ensure the authoritativeness of the content.
Related & Attractive Snippets – Packaging Is Important
Customer is the king and this stands true when it comes to digital marketing. To enrich the user experience, Google stresses using rich snippets with a to-the-point description. This is important to show the users the exact content they are searching for. Though there is no direct connection between snippets and page ranking, it certainly impacts the SEO results. It is an enticing factor that increases the website’s click-through rate (CTR), reduces bounce rate and as a result the user spends more time on the site.
Artificial Intelligence – The Future is Here
Though in its developing stage, artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to change the entire digital marketing game by the year 2030. According to studies, 80% of the internet users like customized and personalized experiences when they visit a website and that’s where AI comes into the picture. Using technology, AI helps users get an intelligent, informed and enhanced experience at every touchpoint. Let’s understand this with an example – you finally found a brand that’s perfect for your skincare routine and you stocked up your essentials for a month. Now, after 25 days, you got an email from the brand asking you to restock your skincare essentials. And when you checked the same, you found that it’s time to reorder so that you don’t run out of stock. So, in this way marketing becomes more targeted and effective. We have listed the following 8 ways through which artificial intelligence helps you gain more eyeballs on your website:
a) It helps predict customer behavior and needs
b) Helps in improved decision making
c) It makes omnichannel marketing possible for better engagement
d) Helps you with structured and targeted marketing
e) Increases customers retention efforts
f) Helps to list down pre-qualified leads and thus increases conversion rate
g) Helps you send customized messages to targeted customers
h) Helps streamline the workflow.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is getting complex and more tech-driven with each passing day. Thus, the need of the hour is to keep yourself constantly updated about the latest developments in the field and also to pay attention to tools and technologies that can save you money and get quality results in a quick turnaround time.