As we are approaching the end of the year, it’s time to take a look at the trends that marked 2021, as well as 7 SEO trends to prepare for in 2022. As you’ll see from our list, most of these trends took a while to become as popular as they are now. For those who follow tech advancements, they probably won’t be a surprise. Without further ado, let’s dive in.
1. AI and machine learning
Although Google hasn’t revealed all the details of their machine-learning algorithm, they have been using AI to rank pages for a while now. Unfortunately, no one outside of Google has access to their internal design documents, so it’s hard to say exactly which metrics are the most important for achieving a high rank.
Thankfully, we still have their webmaster guidelines, and according to them, websites should focus on delivering quality content and a great user experience. As it turns out, AI will be the judge, jury, and executioner on what is good for the average user, so you better take note. However, AI-powered chatbots are already making a significant impact on the web design side of things, and we can expect to see that trend continue.
2. Voice searching functionality
Implementing advanced voice search capabilities on your website is one of the most important SEO trends to prepare for in 2022. Although personalized voice-activated assistants have been around for a while, having voice navigation built into your website can cause you to rank higher. You might be wondering what effect this will have on the way you design your website. For starters, you’ll need to optimize all of your website content for voice searches. Basically, even without meaning to, users typically structure their search queries differently when they are speaking and when they are typing text. Therefore, you need to be ready to go through all of your content and rethink your SEO and keywords and how they translate into voice searches.
3. Accessibility features
While navigation through verbal commands isn’t necessary for most users, it can open up your website for users with disabilities. The same can be said for any other accessibility features you choose to implement. This can include things like making sure every feature on your site works without the use of a mouse since most assistive input devices rely on keyboard navigation. However, even simple considerations like dark themes and color combinations with good contrast are a great start. The global community is starting to pay more attention to inclusive and accessible website design, and it’s time for your website to follow suit.
4. Website speed
Since the dawning of widespread internet in the nineties, the time it takes a website to load has been incredibly important. It represents an evergreen topic because as soon as internet speeds increase – web designers use that as an opportunity to load more content on pages. However, when it comes to SEO trends to prepare for in 2022, page speed is important for two reasons:
- User expectations. If your pages take forever to load, users might get tired of waiting and find a different website to visit. Bounce rates are detrimental to your conversions, and you should do whatever you can to make users stick around. Start by speeding up your website.
- Directly translates into SEO rank. Google values fast sites above ones that take a longer time to load. In 2018, Google started using page speed in mobile search rankings, and last year they announced that page speed had become an even more important factor. As you can see, page speed is becoming more and more relevant to SEO.
Therefore, it might be a good idea to employ the services of professional web designers who can help speed up your website.
5. Google’s increased focus on authoritative sites
Website authority is hugely important for achieving a high rank. Authoritative websites represent sources of reliable information, and search engines find them particularly important when delivering results to users. If your website is linked to numerous sites that are deemed to be untrustworthy, it will bring down the reliability of your own site in the eyes of Google’s algorithm. Thankfully, there is an easy workaround for this problem. You can have these links removed or disavowed, and Google won’t penalize your website for them.
On the other hand, when it comes to backlinks on the pages of your website, you should still flag sponsored links, affiliate links, and other spammy ones with the nofollow tag. Nofollow links are great because they prevent Google from penalizing you on account of other websites’ bad links. Simply put, in their quest to deliver quality content and trusted information to end-users, Google is cracking down hard on spammy content and less reliable sites. Therefore, you should check all the links on your pages.
6. Video and other non-text content
We don’t mean to imply that text-based content will cease to matter. It’s just that with the increase of internet speeds, online content has become much more visual. There are even entire social platforms like TikTok and Instagram that focus on videos as the primary form of user engagement.
In terms of SEO, video content can make your website stand out as authoritative to search engines. Additionally, videos are likely to be shared by website visitors. This means that they will boost engagement, which is another important SEO metric.
7. Long-form content
You can consider short articles and Twitter-sized snippets to be a thing of the past. In its quest to deliver quality content to users, Google is favoring long-form articles. Even for websites, longer articles are the superior form of content since they give more opportunities to tick all the boxes for search engine optimization. Google’s official stats claim that the top-ranking pages have 2,400 words or more, so you might want to expand on your previously posted content.
In summary
It’s evident from our list of 7 SEO trends to prepare for in 2022 that Google will focus on user experience. Most of these changes can be considered quality-of-life improvements, which are meant to deliver high-quality results. It might be time to step up your game and make some changes to your website so you can keep up with the latest advancements.
