SEO remains one of the most important sources for traffic in any niche or industry, but how do businesses stay ahead of the curve in 2022 and beyond?
The core principles of SEO will continue to apply to any strategy, but smart a smart SEO Agency will stay at the forefront of algorithm updates and technologies to ensure that Google sees their websites as an authority in their space.
This article will breakdown 5 of the latest SEO trends to help you become an leader in the future of SEO optimization.
1. Core Web Vitals Optimization
In 2021, one of the biggest changes in google seo trends was the page experience update. Core web vitals are officially considered as one of Google’s most important ranking factors, so it’s crucial that your website is optimised again the following performance metrics:
- Largest Contentful Paint: the speed at which the largest components on your site take to load
- First Input Delay: the speed at which a users first interaction is responded to on your page
- Cumulative Layout Shift: the number of layout shifts that occur throughout a page
If you only had the budget to invest into one ara of your site, we would by far recommend investing into improvement on your Core Web Vitals. Most work required to improve this are of your site would require an experienced developer, but tools such as Google search console and page speed insights can deliver powerful and actionable insights.
At the end of the day, Google is trying to deliver it’s users the best possible user experience, and websites that can deliver will ultimately be rewarded with higher rankings in SERP’s which makes Core Vital improvements a valid investment of time and money.
2. People Also Ask
Did you know that over 48% of Google searches now feature the “People also ask” feature?
When thinking about Google trends as an SEO Marketing Agency, ranking your site in the “People also ask” placements makes alot of sense as it’s prime real estate within the SERP that your business could be capitalising on.
So how do you rank there? The best place to start is to create content that answers those questions. Using keyword research tools such as SEMrush or Mangools, you can easily identify long tail questions that your audience are asking, allowing you to provide in depth answers to those questions.
It’s important that all your titles and FAQ’s are optimised with these questions in mind. Have the exact question in your H2’s/H3’s/H4’s to show Google that your page has the right answers.
3. AI Generated Content
AI is taking over in 2022 and savvy marketers across the globe are using the power of GPT-3 to speed up their workflow and blog writing processes. Programs such as Jarvis and CopyAi are allowing business owners, SEO agencies and content writers across the world to deliver SEO optimised content at a fraction of the time and cost.
The possibilities of what you can create with these tools is endless, and the future of SEO looks to be heavily reliant on AI for it’s ability to allow SEO experts to focus on other high impact activities.
AI tools can help SEO writers with:
- Title/topic ideas: AI helps you come up with concepts quickly by simply inputting target keywords and letting the AI suggest topics
- Meta tag writing: AI can help you generate hundreds of Meta tags very quickly which is super helpful for large, complex sites with lots of pages
- SEO Blogs: AI tools can help you write a whole blog from start to finish. Although it would always be recommended to have human input for editing and tone of voice, these tools can greatly help reduce writers blog to churn out high quality content faster.
4. Content Optimization Software
Content optimization tools have had a fast rise in popularity over the last 24 months and there’s no sign of slowing down. Tools such as Ahrefs and clear scope allow writers to create pieces of content that not only read well, but rank higher due to their ability to assist with semantic structure.
The way these tools work is by using algorithms to suggest keywords, titles and frequently asked questions that people are looking for on SERPs. The result? Well produced content that answers questions of your target audience and keeps them on the page for longer, sending positive signals back to Google that your page should be ranked higher.
5. Long Form Content
Google likes to reward high quality content with higher rankings. The reason is pretty straightforward – high quality content gets people coming back to google for answers more often, allowing Google to show more ads to make more money.
Although there’s been no official confirmation that content length is a ranking factor, we typically see a strong link between long form content and higher rankings.
As Google progressively improves its algorithm, it will continue to become better at identifying high quality content, so invest the right resources into delivering content that answers questions comprehensively while including all of the keywords you are trying to rank for.
Conclusion:
SEO trends will forever be changing and if you are an SEO Agency or digital marketer, you will continue to adapt in order to stay ahead of your competitors, however it’s important to always keep the fundamentals of search engine optimisation at the forefront of any strategy.
Tactics will change, but at the end of the day the websites that can provide the best content and the most seamless user experience will continue to dominate Google searches. At the end of the day, Google wants to ensure that when people have questions, they can find answers easily on their platform. Play into the algorithm and your business will win!
Looking for help with your SEO strategy? Defiant Digital is an SEO Agency Sydney and Australia wide, specializing in digital marketing Sydney, catering to ecommerce and DTC brands. Get in touch today and we’ll show you how we can help you outrank your biggest competitors on Google.
