Key Strategies for SEO in 2022

As marketing organizations continue to rely more and more heavily on online channels for leads and sales, keeping up with relevant content and upcoming search engine optimization (SEO) trends has never been more critical. Your website is your best online asset and growing a base of organic traffic to it is the most powerful, sustainable investment you can make.

SEO trends come and go, but the fundamentals still apply - great content, solid keyword strategy, on and offsite optimization, and clean technical infrastructure. That said, there are key considerations within these fundamentals that are "must do's" for SEO in 2022,  mobile-friendly design, voice-search-friendly content, and semantic search will significantly impact search results. Utilizing these strategies in the new year will make your content easier to find for potential customers by boosting your organic presence.

This blog details three solid SEO strategies for 2022 and how to utilize them to your business's full advantage. 

The Future is Mobile:  Mobile-friendly websites are more necessary than ever. Google uses a mobile-first index that considers your site's mobile performance when ranking search engine results, ranking those with excellent performance on mobile higher than those without. If your website has a poor mobile experience, your website's traffic and visibility will suffer.

Google places high importance on user experience and delivers search results intended to provide the best information and best UX to searchers. Users largely depend on their mobile devices for access to information, and without mobile-friendly design, readers and potential clients will have a hard time navigating your content. Responsive design, the preferred method, allows pages to display on all devices and screen sizes by automatically adapting to the screen, regardless of size and whether it’s a laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

Mobile-friendly design, one alternative, doesn't automatically adapt. Mobile design works for mobile users but is generally designed for desktop users. A mobile-optimized website is designed for smaller screens and built using a mobile-first approach that will reformat itself for mobile users. 

Regardless of which integration you choose to invest in, your website must be compatible with mobile devices to boost your search engine rankings. 

Voice Search is Everyone's New Friend:  Voice search is becoming an increasingly common feature on devices, and many consumers use it when accessing information or looking for businesses. A Bright Local study found that 58% of consumers use voice search to find local businesses, and 27% of consumers visit websites provided by voice search results. While voice-activated searches come from laptops, tablets, or smart home speakers, 56% come from mobile devices. As a result, mobile-friendly content and voice search optimization are even more critical going into the new year. 

Transitioning your business' content towards voice search optimization isn't complicated. When tailoring your website for voice-activated search, your content needs to answer questions. Including a FAQ in your website is a small but fundamental step towards voice-search optimization. To further guarantee voice search optimization, write titles in a "how-to" or "why" format to match users' search queries.  

Optimize for Semantic Search: Semantics, technically known as the study of words and their relationships in specific contexts, is also incorporated into search engine rankings. Instead of studying words and relationships, semantic search focuses on determining the context and intent of search queries. To ensure that your content works with semantic search in 2022, write for your readers, not search engines. Consider what your users are looking for at various stages of the funnel. Optimizing your content for semantic search requires structured, conversational content that answers questions and provides valuable information.  

Although semantic search is becoming an integral part of Google's algorithm, you must still follow SEO best practices. In order to ensure that your website is easy for search engines to crawl, identify content gaps, and properly target and define keywords in your content. Semantic search is all about ensuring key topics are presented on your website, that these topics relate to the main theme of the website, and are in line with what your  audience interests are. Including schema within your code also helps search engines understand what your website is about and aids with semantic search.

Don't Watch the Trends — Evolve with Them. Search engine optimization is constantly evolving. While SEO best practices and trends may be hard to keep up with, it's always valuable to incorporate a select few in your SEO strategy for the new year. Help your business get ahead in 2022 by optimizing mobile experience, voice search, and semantic search as part of your digital marketing strategy. These are all connected as they provide a great experience for users seeking information - what search engines are designed to do!

These trends relate to existing pillar SEO strategies and will likely continue to be a significant factor in influencing search engine rankings. Ensuring that you evolve with the continuous refinement of the algorithm, ultimately keeping your visitors in mind first, will help your business experience ongoing success in organic search.