5 Key SEO Trends in 2022

Whilst the fundamental principles of SEO remain consistent, Google’s algorithm updates as well as the evolving nature of customer search habits means that SEO success is always a moving target. Consider how your business can implement the following ways to increase SEO ranking and your user experience.

You should think of this as content marketing 2.0. A content hub is an interlinked collection of content about a similar topic. Creating a content hub on your website signals to search engines that you are a genuine expert on a particular topic.

Gone are the days where your content strategy started and finished with the creation of blogs using a bunch of keywords. You need to start expanding the types of content you produce within your information hubs. Think podcasts, videos, long-form how-to guides, infographics and more. As with all things, the depth to which you need to go will be heavily dependent on the approach taken by your search competitors.

As an example of a content hub, if you sell phone covers, we’d recommend you create content potentially including:

• A guide on the types of phone covers
• A video series showcasing different designs
• An infographic on the materials used to create the product
• Case studies and testimonials from users
• A podcast on the benefits of using phone covers

Typically, SEO strategies are based on targeting keywords that have a high search volume on Google. Whilst keywords remain at the centre of an SEO strategy, the trend is shifting away from primarily looking at search volume to select keywords, to instead focussing on user intent.

We often generate successful business outcomes for clients when targeting keywords with low or even zero apparent search volume. Potential traffic levels may be lower, but the relevance is better and therefore conversions can be higher.

Ultimately, you need to focus on producing content on your website that serves your perfect customer, rather than a search engine. As a marketer you need to spend more time thinking about the users of your website and how they will interact with the content on your site rather than obsessing over theoretical levels of traffic attached to a keyword.

Backlinks to your website indicate to Google that your site is trustworthy and considered an authority by other sites. This has been a consistent part of successful SEO efforts and remains important in 2022. 

A good place to start is by ensuring your website is listed on relevant online directories. You can also identify more backlinking opportunities by doing competitor research.

It’s a challenging exercise for many businesses in terms of effort and time required to generate backlinks. Despite these challenges, developing a backlink strategy that is suitable for your budget and delivers results should be a priority for your marketing team.

There is a significant shift from traditional SEO to more of a focus on user experience. The reason for this is simple - search engines want to know that their users are receiving a positive experience and relevant content from the websites they are listing in the search results.

This means being more mindful of the user and how they use your website. Consider optimising your navigation, the structure of your webpages and the quality of your content to make it easier for users to access the information they need. Critically, take measures to improve the speed of your site on both desktop and mobile. 

Improving user experience and your SEO results go hand-in-hand.

Unlike paid channels such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads, successful SEO requires a commitment for the long-term, which is why many marketers often ask the question; "Do SEO services work?". Consider how you can maximise your digital strategy with a realistic SEO audit price for your business that delivers actionable insights and drives organic growth.

Increasingly, a successful SEO strategy can’t take a “switch-on-switch-off” approach. Consistently improving your site, producing quality content and generating quality backlinks is what needs to be done and this is achieved through a long-term commitment rather than a sequence of short-term projects. Consider how to write SEO friendly blog posts, or what content will resonate with your ideal audience.

SEO success varies based on many factors and is highly dependent on your competitive landscape as well as user behaviour. Getting your digital strategy right and then determining the order in which you tackle the various actions required takes experience and effort, which is why you can benefit from working with an SEO outsourcing agency.