SEO in 2022 – Trends & Predictions

Google’s getting smarter all the time – the analysis of web pages is becoming powerful with each passing year. The SEO techniques and tools have evolved in 2021, but the strategy you use remains important for your company to grow.

Undoubtedly, SEO is the best way for marketers to get organic traffic. This article will share with you what trends to expect for 2022 and how you can use them to optimize your brand's visibility on the internet.

Let's dive into the details!

Voice Search Will Increase

The number of searches performed through voice assistants (Google Home, Siri, Alexa, etc.) grows every day, impacting SEO in several ways: People are starting to use voice search instead of typing queries into search engines. Therefore, Search Engines are looking for specific words or phrases and for "tone" and "conversational intonation."

A report by Juniper Research suggests that about 55% of households in US will be using a smart speaker in 2022, and voice assistant devices will reach a total number of 870 million in the same year.

Focus towards Core Web Vitals

Google continues to emphasize the importance of the user experience. If users have a negative experience on your website, your site rankings will suffer. One key component of delivering a positive user experience is the optimization of Core Web Vitals.

Core Web Vitals are being rolled out slowly, but they are already impacting the rankings. Soon enough, they will play a much bigger role in the algorithm, and your site will suffer unless you make some changes. As per research by Screamingfrog, only 13% of desktop sites are currently optimized when it comes to passing the Core Web Vitals assessment, highlighting the opportunity that exists for SEO marketers.

Content Relevancy Will Increase

One of the main challenges of SEO nowadays is finding the right content that is relevant to your audience. For this reason, Relevancy will be the key in 2022, and the most relevant content will always get more exposure than the less relevant ones, and this trend will only increase. In the next few years, we will see some shifts in how search engines rank sites based on content relevancy.

They will start to favor sites with high-quality content written for "human readers" instead of those who only focus on making the content "machine-readable" and stuffing it with keywords. This is already impacting rankings today, and it will have an even bigger impact in the future. Hence, if you want to stay on top of rankings, your content needs to be human-readable and machine-readable.

Google Will Continue Cracking Down On Link Spam

The way Google penalizes sites that use spammy links will continue to evolve over time. In 2022, Google will likely start to crack down on all forms of link spam, including those not obvious. You need to make sure that your backlinks are clean before they are added to your site.

Even if you follow best practices, Google may still penalize you for using spammy links. In July 2021, Google also had its Link Spam update targeted towards a website with links from low-quality and irrelevant sources.

Competition in Local SEO Will Increase

The growth of smartphone users has made it easier for people to find local businesses and products. With the increase of mobile devices, mobile SEO is becoming increasingly important, and because of this, the importance of local search and mobile SEO is on the rise. In 2022, we will see a higher number of websites competing for local search traffic.

Also, a report by Think With Google suggests that 76% of people searching for a business or service on their mobile will visit a business within a day. If you are not already active in local search as an entrepreneur, consider getting involved.

Conclusion

SEO is not dead, and it certainly will evolve in 2022. If you are prepared to adapt your SEO strategy accordingly, great results will surely be ahead.