SEO is something business owners should be focused on. Strategies are always changing, and as we continue into 2022, we have to evolve with the trends and strategies that will work best. Mastering SEO for 2022 is going to depend on how well you understand the fundamentals of SEO and the trends and changes that will be taking place.
To be successful in a landscape that’s more competitive than ever, you’ll need to implement a variety of SEO strategies in 2022.
In this post, we’ll cover why SEO matters and how it works, five key strategies you need to keep in mind, and the SEO for 2022 best practices you need to know about. Let’s get started.
Why Is SEO Important? Millions of people use Google and other search engines to search for things on a daily basis to the tune of approx 5.6 billion searches per day. That huge amount of web search traffic is incredibly powerful for every business. Beyond the traffic itself, many users who are searching are looking for something specific and searching with high intent, meaning a higher chance of conversions.
SEO allows you to connect with the right people searching for specific things, all through a network of different strategies and techniques. Basically, the better your SEO, the higher you’ll rank in searches, and the better results you’ll see from that web search traffic.
Google looks for websites that have high-quality, relevant, and specific information tailored to users’ specific search queries. How do they do this, though? Google determines relevance by scanning your website’s content and evaluating relevance for what the user is searching, mostly based on keywords.
Quality is determined in a variety of ways such as how people actually engage with your website, site speed, mobile-friendliness, unique and long-form content, and keyword use. Since this criteria changes regularly, learning how to use SEO for 2022 is really important.
Google is super important for growing your business. There are a number of strategies and techniques you can implement to try and increase your rankings in search results, but it all starts with the basics.
When you understand SEO best practices, you’re able to build a foundation for your website’s SEO to improve overall. Then, you can move on to more advanced and specific SEO for 2022 strategies.
Here are some of the most important basic strategies of SEO for 2022 you should be following. These basics will lay the groundwork for you to be successful in using SEO this year!
Search intent, which is also sometimes called user intent, is basically the intention or purpose behind a search query. Google’s main priority is understanding and fulfilling search intent.
For example, someone searching for “grocery store near me” is looking for physical locations nearby while someone searching for “buy groceries online” is looking to make a purchase online.
Search intent is really important for ranking on Google. There are actually four main types of search intent:
Create content that aligns with your audience’s search intent as a basic SEO step.
Some of the most important areas to concentrate your SEO efforts are actually your titles and meta descriptions. Title tags will appear in search results. Write titles that give insight into the content and its relevance. Make sure to include keywords, match search intent, and be descriptive but concise.
Meta descriptions don’t directly influence SEO, but they do impact click-through rates, which does impact SEO long-term. Write a short, relevant summary of what that page or post is about. Make an effort to convince users that they should click on your website!
SEO for 2022 is going to be highly dependent on visual image search. People are actually able to use images to make purchases, learn information about businesses, and more. It’s more important than ever before to optimize your images, so make sure that this is a part of your SEO strategy.
Aside from using high-quality, relevant images on your website, make sure to customize the file name to align with the content, use alt tags, and create a good user experience. Images can significantly boost your website’s SEO and organic traffic, so you’ll want to spend a decent amount of time focusing on image optimization.
Related: 6 Tips for SEO Image Optimization
Website speed matters for SEO, too. If your website takes forever to load, users will become frustrated and leave your site, causing your Google rankings to drop.
You can use a number of free online tools to conduct a site audit to check your page speed, including Google’s own tool PageSpeed Insights. Keep in mind that one of the biggest ways to fix your site speed is to optimize your images as mentioned above!
Google wants to make sure that it shows users the best content possible, so a good user experience matters if you want to improve your search rankings.
Use subheadings (and include keywords) to break up the text. Don’t underestimate the power of white space and paragraph breaks! People are intimidated by HUGE blocks of text, so think like a consumer.
Now that we’ve talked about the most important basics of SEO for 2022, here are some of the SEO trends you need to know about. These trends are going to be super important to focus on this year.
SEO for 2022 is definitely going to depend on video more than ever. YouTube is a huge platform, and if you aren’t creating video content, 2022 is the time to start.
Optimize your video content for SEO by optimizing the video channel name, video title, and description. Keywords matter on YouTube the same way they do on YouTube!
Adding videos to your webpages (like your blog posts!) is also a great way to keep users on your site longer, which is really helpful for SEO.
People are spending more time than ever before browsing, learning, and purchasing directly from their phones.
Your website needs to be mobile-friendly, but all of your content should be mobile-friendly, too. Google offers a free mobile-friendly test and the “mobile usability” report you can find in your Google Search Console.
Local SEO offers an opportunity for you to connect with people nearby, and it’s evolving rapidly as we approach next year.
To start optimizing your SEO for 2022 and reaching a local audience, make sure you have a Google My Business page set up. This is the best way to make sure you appear in zero-click searches, ones where the user’s query is answered before they ever click on a result.
Featured snippets were rolled out in 2017 and are gaining prominence in terms of SEO for 2022. A featured snippet is something you may have seen when you search something on Google and a box appears above the results, offering an answer to your query. Snippets steal coveted traffic from your competitors and give you a huge advantage.
To create snippets, you’ll need to focus on question-based queries and relevant, highly targeted keywords. Google’s snippets often show Q&A or bullet-point information, along with rich snippets including images, reviews, or products and prices.
Learning the best SEO for 2022 tips is an effective way to draw in new customers and grow your business online. SEO is always changing, so you need to stay on top of the latest trends and techniques to create great results.
SEO can be a challenge, but you don’t have to navigate the waters alone. Are you ready to take on SEO for 2022 with an effective, powerful, and stress-free strategy ready to go? Let’s connect! As an SEO expert with years of experience, I have my finger on the pulse of SEO trends and can help you develop and execute a plan that works.
Welcome! My name is Glenneth and I live in beautiful East Tennessee. I wear many hats: CEO of The Visibility Method, SEO & Google Ads Expert, content creator, and more. I love technology, social media, and weight lifting. My favorite place to hang out is the hammock in my backyard. My favorite colors are pink and orange. My favorite team is the Vols. And I LOVE to get email so please drop me a note and say hi!
