SEO Trends and Predictions for 2022

As Google continually updates its algorithm and how it processes queries, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will always keep evolving. Therefore it is key to have an up-to-date SEO strategy. What can we expect next year? Below we have stated the latest SEO trends and predictions for 2022.

1. Online Shopping

According to Statista, more than 2 billion people worldwide expect to buy goods and services by the end of 2021. With this enormous growth of online shopping, Google is also shifting towards creating a better online shopping experience. For example, with the Google Manufacturer Center, brands can promote their products via Google, among others Google Shopping.

Google also implemented the Shopping Graph to help buyers compare offers of multiple sellers to find the right products. The Shopping Graph is an AI-enhanced model, based on price, website, reviews, SKU, and video, that can understand different types of products and brands. It can analyze how those products relate to one another and show Google search results.

2. Voice Search

Google is continually focusing on improving the user search experience in order to help them find relevant information easily and fast. The key to this is that Google understands the complexities of language. As a result, Google launched LaMDA to better understand natural language and to deliver results more efficiently.

According to Google, 55% of teens and over 40% of adults use voice search at least twice a day. Voice search focuses on natural language processing (NLP) in order to understand how users search verbally compared to typing a search query. As Google is moving towards understanding conversational searches from users, it is beneficial for every company to optimize for voice search queries. With voice search rising in popularity it is key to focus on long-tail keywords.

3. Video Marketing

Over half of all online shoppers rely on videos to help them make purchasing decisions. Furthermore, shoppers spend 88% more time on pages with videos. Therefore including video content can help boost engagement, rankings, traffic, and conversion. Google is rolling out features to help users find information faster through videos. For example, clip markup to highlight key points of videos, so that users can hop straight to those parts. But also seek markup that tells Google how a URL structure works. This information is critical because it allows Google to display the key moments of a video automatically.

4. Focusing on Core Web Vitals

The Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure your page load speed from the user’s perspective. Four Core Web Vitals that are key for 2022:

1. First Contentful Paint (FCP): FCP measures how quickly the bits of content load on your website.
2. First Input Delay (FID): FID measures how quickly a webpage processes an interaction after a user interacts with something on a website.
3. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): LCP indicates how long it takes for the largest piece of content to load on your website and appear for visitors
4. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): CLS measures the number of layout shifts that occur on your website without user interaction

These Core Web Vitals impact how users interact with your website. Google PageSpeed Insights will provide you with suggestions on how to improve load speeds and website performance.

Wouter Maatman

Digital Marketing Manager at Icecat N.V.