SEO should still be dominating your inbound marketing efforts. That's because search engine results drive 300% more traffic to content than social media. That fact hasn't changed in years. What also hasn't changed is how high-quality content dominates all. However, the tactics that will improve your search engine rankings will change every year.

So, what's on the SEO horizon for 2022? Here are the 7 SEO trends that you should implement into your strategy next year.

1. Voice Search

There are some 2022 SEO trends that are a continuation of previous years. Voice search is still the ultimate one. Smart speakers are dominating the market. Amazon Echo is at number one with Google and Apple close behind. What does this mean? Users aren't typing search queries into their devices — they're asking their smart speaker.

What does this mean for SEO services? You'll have to adjust all content to be more conversational. We will cover writing conversational content in the next section, but this doesn't end here. Ranking for long-tail keywords and adding an FAQ section are easy ways to attract a voice search audience. 

2. Conversational Content

Voice search is also leading to this trend in content marketing: conversational content. This type of content is less formal than what we're used to seeing with past blogs. There are fewer focuses on keywords and content is overall less structured.

First and foremost, your content should be more personalized. There's a push for writers to focus on specific niches. These niches are ones that you're passionate about and ideally have professional experience in. This way, you better know the audience you're targeting.

What if you're writing web copy? You can still make your content personalized and conversational. For example, if you're writing a product page, focus on the individual features and how they can solve a problem, benefit your life, or both. 

Another easy way to make your content conversational is by answering questions. FAQ sections are becoming more common as they're a way to connect to your readers and do well on Google search engine results.

How do you find questions related to your content? Google's People Also Ask section, forums such as Quora and Reddit, WikiHow, and retail pages are all great places to find questions that your audience is asking. 

3. Ethical Link Building

Link building has been at the core of SEO tactics for years. However, link building can get...sketchy, to say the least. This is why ethical link building is at the forefront.

Why is this important? First, Google will penalize your website if they catch link building spam, thanks to their Penguin algorithm. Examples of link spam include paid links, link exchanges, and any link building that isn't organic.

What's the best way to generate backlinks ethically? Write high-quality content. This way, other bloggers will link back to your content. You can always seek help from an SEO business if you're unsure about ethical link building versus some shady tactics.

4. User-Focused Content

At this point in the digital marketing realm, focusing on the audience is key. While we briefly covered this in a previous section, it's important to emphasize just how integral this trend will become.

First and foremost, content with no value is a common Google penalty. With that being said, topic research is of utmost importance. You'll want to write about topics that users are searching for and reading. You can easily find topic ideas on Google, forums, and on your competitors' blogs.

5. Google SMITH Algorithm

In late 2020, Google released a new algorithm called SMITH. This algorithm zeroes in on long search queries and large documents. While it seems like the SMITH algorithm will affect research papers more than articles, it may still impact your long-form blogs. With SMITH, Google will better understand a blog's purpose and can predict what comes next in the article.

How can you adjust your long-form content? Write in a simple way so the SMITH algorithm can better understand your blog's purpose. This way, SMITH can better identify the purpose of your blog and your audience.

6. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

CLS is any unexpected layout shift in your web page. While every website will have some degree of CLS (such as pop-ups, CTAs, etc.), you'll want to keep your CLS at a minimum. Google scores the CLS quality of a web page. A low score means your web page is overall very stable and doesn't shift. A high CLS score means your web page constantly shifts, which can affect your SEO quality.

Why does CLS affect your SEO ranking? Let's see this from the user's point of view. They're in the middle of reading your blog and about to scroll down when an ad suddenly appears. The user clicks the ad on accident, making them leave the blog page. Sounds frustrating, right? That's why Google will target websites with high CLS in the next year.

7. Site Architecture

High-quality and responsive web design isn't enough for 2022 SEO. This year, focus on your overall site architecture. Your site architecture refers to the organization of a web page. Well-made site architecture is beneficial to both users and Google. For Google, their bots can easily crawl your website. Great site architecture makes navigation easy for the user.

Site architecture doesn't only refer to the coding of a website but also how you organize your content. For example, if you own a small business such as a dentistry clinic, you'll have pages for each individual service (cleanings, fillings, etc.), a separate blog, a contact page, and an About Us page.

All of these pages are easily organized and identified in your menu bar. Ideally, you should internally link within each page, whenever it's fitting.

Apply These SEO Trends to Your Strategy

SEO isn't going anywhere in 2022. However, the new year will bring some new SEO trends. Follow these trends in order to continue reading in 2022.

If you need more SEO help, hiring an SEO service should be on your New Years Goals list. Take a look at our services to know how we can help your business grow.