What’s new in SEO for 2022

A new year means new resolutions! In this article, we’ll look at the trends you’ll need to keep up with in 2022 to implement a successful SEO strategy

Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? SEO refers to all of the techniques that are used to improve a website’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERP). The goal of SEO is to increase a website’s visibility on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

So what will SEO look like in 2022? Here are the main SEO trends you should integrate into your SEO strategy:

1. Optimize your content

It can’t be said enough—when it comes to implementing a successful SEO strategy, content is king. Considering how omnipresent searches have become in daily life, content needs to be at the heart of your SEO strategy. Google ranks sites in order of what it thinks will be most useful for its users, depending on their search criteria.

How to optimize your content for SEO

Before you start writing, you need to understand your users’ search intent. To do this, you can perform a few searches to see what Google pulls up based on a particular keyword or phrase. Focus on analyzing these elements when working on your strategy:

• Type of search intent : determine the user’s search intent (e.g., navigational, informational, commercial, transactional)  
• The specific topic or theme : this entails identifying the actual topic Google is proposing on the SERP. For example, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, whenever a user types “vaccination” into a search engine, the top hits are typically about coronavirus vaccines rather than vaccination in general.
• The result type or format : the type of content proposed by the search engine (e.g., articles, videos, tutorials).

Once you’ve defined the search intent, you’ll need to write high-quality content that’s easy to read. Fresh, original content is essential for Google searches, so be sure to publish relevant content. 
Tip: Don’t shy away from refreshing your existing content to bring it up to date. Regularly updating your content is a great way to ensure your website will remain relevant for users, and in the eyes of Google.

2. Voice search optimization (conversational search)

Voice search is becoming more and more present in our daily lives. According to Statistica, approximately 3.25 billion people worldwide currently use voice searches, and several reports project that this number may increase more than twofold, hitting 8 billion by 2023.

In some cases, conducting a voice search is considerably faster than performing a traditional search query. That being said, for e-commerce, the technology remains more complex. For this reason, Google has developed a voice assistant with a Nest Hub screen. 

Users who opt for voice assist technology expect a quick and concise response. Google is addressing this issue by investing heavily in natural language understanding. With the launch of its LaMDA  and MUM algorithms, the company is focusing on a new AI language model to make voice assist increasingly intelligent and powerful.

How to optimize voice search on Google ?

• Focus on longtail keywords: these are searches that include several terms and can boost your ranking for less competitive searches.
• Include questions and answers: research the most common questions in your field and formulate short answers to them (50–60 words)
• Use shemas.org tags: these tags can help improve your position in the search results (e.g., recipe tags, articles, FAQs)

To read and refine, we recommend this article.

3. Google’s Core Web Vitals

Google l’annonce déjà depuis plusieurs mois : les Core Web Vitals (nous en parlions dans notre article sur le SXO) sont depuis juin 2021 un critère de classement.
Pour rappel, les Core Web Vitals (Signaux Web Essentiels) correspondent à trois indicateurs mesurant la qualité de l’expérience du visiteur sur votre site. Les trois éléments clés mesurés sont :

Months ago, Google announced that as of June 2021, Core Web Vitals are now part of their ranking criteria (read our article on the topic here).
Core Web Vitals are three metrics that score a user’s experience when they visit your site: 

• The site’s loading speed, also known as LCP
• How long it takes to respond to the user’s input, also known as the FID
• How easily the user can access your content, also known as CLS

Google has also announced that the Page Experience update will be applied to desktop searches in February 2022. This means that your site will require periodic optimization to reflect Google’s recommendations.
For more information, you can refer to this article.

4. Video referencing

This is a key element for your SEO strategy. More than half of consumers rely on a video to help them make a purchase decision. Videos can also improve conversions by 86%. These statistics highlight how essential it is to adopt a strong strategy that will get your videos ranked on Google and help you convert viewers.

How to get a video to rank highly on Google

• Choose the right title : Create an attractive title featuring important keywords.
• Provide structured data : Google needs structured data to understand what kind of content you’re aiming to promote. Try adding VideoObject structured data, which is available at schemas.org.
• Use the SeekToAction feature to highlight key moments in your video. This feature lets you highlight key moments in your video so that Google can direct users to the section they’re looking for.

You can access this feature directly via the structured data. If your video is hosted on YouTube, you can add timestamps and labels in your video description.
  

5. Don’t forget about local SEO

Local SEO has become increasingly important. In 2020, more than 65% of all search queries involved local search intent, which is the practice of ranking business for searches that specify a particular geographic location. 
In order to align with its policy and help users find local services, Google has announced the following updates for 2022: Google My Business will be replaced by Google Business Profile.
Businesses will now be able to access Google Business Profile directly via Google Search and Maps. You will be able to modify your profile (e.g., hours, photos, address) simply by typing your company name in Google.
Google has also announced additional updates, namely to make it easier for merchants and customers to communicate. Until now, businesses could see how many calls originated from the Google My Business platform. The latest update gives businesses access to more data, providing a full call history that includes caller profiles and phone numbers. The beta version of this feature is currently available in Canada and the U.S.

6. The evolution of e-commerce

Lors du grand événement Google Search On 2021, Google a annoncé une amélioration de ses plateformes Google Lens et Google Shopping. 

Google Lens: 

Visual searches are taking on an increasingly large role in the online shopping process. Google Lens lets users shop for the products they see instantly. 

Google is developing a new feature that lets online shoppers buy their products directly through Google Lens, making shopping easier than ever. This feature will be available on mobile (starting with iOS) and desktop systems. 

La recherche visuelle est de plus en plus présente lors du processus d’achat en ligne. Google Lens rend les produits que nous voyons ou enregistrons instantanément magasinable. 

Google est en train de développer une nouvelle fonctionnalité qui permettra aux internautes d’acheter leurs produits directement sur Google Lens et ainsi faciliter l’achat des internautes. Cette fonctionnalité sera disponible sur mobile (iOS dans un premier temps) et sur desktop. 

Google goes even further with the combination of the MUM algorithm and Google Lens, as you can read here. 

Google Shopping: 

In keeping with the theme of making it easier for users to make purchases online, Google wants to streamline shopping capabilities directly via search results. For example, if someone searches for “short jackets,” they will see visuals of jackets of different colours and styles. Searches can then be filtered by style, colour, size, etc. Users will also be able to view additional information such as ratings, reviews, and product availability.

That's it for our review of 2022 SEO trends! If you don't want to miss our next articles tackling the digital industry's news, follow us on Linkedin and Facebook!

Looking to improve your website’s SXO? Getting ready to launch a digital transformation or optimization project for your company? Feel free to contact us or check out Tink’s SEO and customer intelligence offering.