Search Engine Optimization Trends That Should Not Be Neglected in 2022
SEO promotion of Internet projects continues to develop at a rapid pace, introducing new optimization strategies. Even if SEO specialists don’t offer something completely new, they are improving the old methods that still work. In this article, we will highlight 8 search engine optimization trends that are having a significant impact on the development of the SEO industry.
1. Voice Searches Are Gaining Momentum
Did you know that voice search accounted for about 48% of all searches in 2019? And the percentage of voice queries to text queries is constantly increasing. To improve the relevance of search results for voice queries, Google has invested in projects such as BERT, RankBrain, and Knowledge. RankBrain and BERT technologies are designed to improve search engine “understanding” of voice queries. As for the Knowledge Graph, this online service is necessary for establishing relationships between various entities, such as objects, geolocations, and others. The question is, how can you leverage this trend in search engine optimization to benefit your online project?
First, you must understand that you will not be able to directly optimize your site for the above new Google technologies. However, you can optimize it for voice searches. Here are some tips to help you with this:
- sign up for Google My Business if you don’t have an active account yet;
- optimize the loading speed of website pages;
- get as many backlinks as possible (link building);
- add site schema markup;
- provide answers to frequently asked questions;
Try to keep your answers short as the average length of a voice query is 29 words.
Use Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer to find out exactly what questions people are asking through a voice search tool. Having analyzed the queries of an interrogative nature, you optimize the content of your site specifically for voice queries.
2. Image Search Will Be In High Demand
As you know, images play an important role in search engine optimization. By using optimized images, you will be able to drive more traffic to your website. Surprisingly, this already pretty old SEO tool is still relevant, as the number of image searches is constantly increasing.
So how do you optimize your SEO for image queries? To begin with, the basic image-based promotion strategies haven’t changed significantly. However, SEO using images opens up even more possibilities for the webmaster, as the number of searches has increased significantly (especially with the use of Google Lens, a technology that allows you to search using a smartphone camera). For example, if a potential customer points the device’s camera at a product, they will have access to detailed information about it.
In addition, Google uses images of products posted on websites to find information about them. For example, if you enter the search term “baseball cap with horns,” the search results will display mostly images from online retailers. By using image optimization strategies such as adding alt tags, correct image file names, and product markup schemes, you will increase your chances of hitting the top positions in search results for queries related to your niche.
3. Search Intent Continues To Play An Important Role In Queries
The search target is the real reason for looking for this or that information. To explain this term better, here are some examples. Let’s say you entered the query “digital marketing institute in Varanasi“ into a Google search box. This request has an educational search purpose. If the query looked like “buy a piano,” then the target would be purchasing. However, if the user enters the query “map generator”, it will be difficult to determine the search target, since this query does not contain a keyword that clearly indicates the search target.
On the one hand, such a query can serve a learning purpose, as some people want to know how the map generator works. On the other hand, there are people interested in purchasing this tool. Either way, search target plays an important role in SEO. To follow this trend in search engine optimization, you must create quality content that fully matches your search goals. Figure out how to optimize your existing content for a specific search goal. To do this, analyze the search results and pay attention to what type of content the search engine ranks for certain queries. Draw conclusions and create content based on them.
4. The Number Of Requests With Zero Clicks Is Constantly Increasing
Zero click searches have both positive and negative characteristics. The positive side is that people can receive instant information in the form of a piece of text. Therefore, there is no need to navigate to a particular page. The negative aspect of zero-click queries is that they do not increase website traffic. It is noteworthy that the number of such requests will gradually increase. This is due to the desire of Google and Yandex to provide the simplest and most comfortable search for information on the Internet. This is why popular search engines are gradually increasing the efficiency of search engine algorithms aimed at extracting the required pieces of content from the pages of sites and displaying them directly on the page with search results.
What are the prospects for using this trend in SEO strategies? You will not be able to influence the fact that the number of requests with zero clicks will continue to grow. However, we do have an effective keyword tip that you should avoid when optimizing the content you publish on your site. In simple terms: don’t waste your time on keywords that don’t generate clicks. For example, if Google highlights a piece of content for a specific keyword, it won’t do you any good. However, this is only true if the snippet fully responds to the user’s request. If the fragment of text highlighted by Google and Yandex gives only a partial answer, and for more information, you need to visit your site, then such a keyword is of some benefit.
5. Mobile Compatibility Will Become Critical
Google began using mobile compatibility as a key ranking factor back in 2015. In 2019, Google began to prioritize mobile-optimized sites. Statistics show that at the beginning of 2021, 70% of indexed sites use a mobile-first approach.
How to capitalize on this trend in SEO? First of all, make sure that your site has switched to mobile indexing. You can find out using the Search Console tool. Go to the Settings section and see the Indexing Crawler report. If the “Google Smartphone” indicator is displayed, then your site is configured for mobile indexing.
If your site uses a responsive design, you can easily enable mobile indexing. However, if it has a complex structure or was specially designed for mobile devices (an additional version of the site with a dedicated subdomain), then you need to check if there are any differences between the main and mobile versions. Also, check your robots.txt file for alternate rules, site navigation, page load speed, and internal linking.
6. Good Ux Will Be A Top Priority
Google only ranks pages with user satisfaction content. The search engine uses certain metrics to assess how well the site and the displayed content match the user’s request. These metrics include the following: the presence of SSL encryption (HTTPS protocol), compatibility with mobile devices and the convenience of viewing content on small displays, the absence of intrusive ads. An additional metric, more recently, is Core Web Vitals, a set of three metrics that measure user experience. These indicators include:
- The delay at the first data entry is the response time of the site page to the first interaction with it. On average, this should be around 100ms.
- Cumulative Layout Shift – How often an unexpected layout shift occurs (no more than 0.1 times).
The largest amount of content (what part of the main content of the page is displayed on the device screen).
You can use the PageSpeed Insights tool to check the values of these parameters for any page on your site.
Review the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console to find out which pages need optimization.
7. Traffic Growth Thanks To Google Discover
Google Discover is a personalized mobile feed that displays the content of interest to the user. It is populated with information taken from Google services such as search results and YouTube. In addition, Google Discover takes into account the location data and topics that the user is interested in.
This trend in SEO is of some benefit to web project owners, as Google Discover is capable of generating large amounts of traffic. Especially if you’ve done quality search engine optimization on your site to get traffic directly from Google’s SERPs. You’ve spent a lot of time and effort implementing on-page and off-page search engine optimization strategies, developing optimized content, writing attractive page titles, and link building. However, you can improve the effectiveness of your website promotion campaign with a few tips for using Google Discover:
- adhere to Google’s guidelines for using the Google Discover service;
- make sure that mobile indexing is enabled for your site;
- check the loading speed of the website pages;
- create attractive page titles;
- publish high-quality and relevant content;
- use optimized images;
- adhere to the EAT principles.
8. Compliance With Eat Principles Will Become A Necessity
EAT is an abbreviation formed by three English-language words. sound like “expertise”, “authority” and “reliability”. Please note that EAT is not a ranking factor. However, Google reviews sites against these guidelines in three steps:
- evaluation of search results by experts on the quality of search;
- providing feedback to identify signals consistent with the EAT principles;
- making appropriate changes to Google search algorithms.
To ensure your site is in compliance with the EAT guidelines, follow these steps:
- update content regularly;
- check the published content for the accuracy of the information contained in it;
- cover topics that you know 100% of;
- try to get as many views as possible;
- generate as many backlinks and mentions as possible.
CONCLUSIONS
Always keep up with the latest trends in the world of CEOs. As this industry is growing at a rapid pace, you run the risk of missing important changes and being left behind by your competitors. Follow the above 8 trends to stay high on the SERP.
