Booyah’s 7 Predictions for the Top SEO Trends in 2022

84% of marketers currently using SEO as part of their marketing strategy plan to invest the same amount or more in 2022. A solid SEO strategy is important if you want to be easily discoverable by your target audience. As SEO continues to evolve, you need to be prepared for what’s coming next. We’ve got you covered. Here are our team’s predictions for the top SEO trends in 2022.

1. Increased integration

SEO can’t live in a vacuum. It needs to be coupled with solid content marketing and web design. In fact, 90% of people have abandoned a website because of poor design. SEO Supervisor Mariena Dearman, predicts we’ll see more integration between SEO, content marketing, and web design. “While a successful SEO campaign now takes more resources than it did before, it is also opening the door to even cooler integrated campaigns to usher discoverability and engagement,” says Mariena.

2. Disappearing cookies bring more collaboration 

For years, companies have been using cookies to track data. With Google planning on phasing out third-party cookies in 2022, paid advertising metrics will be more challenging to follow. “We’ve seen metrics for paid advertising get harder and harder to track. This is only funneling more attention and focus on website experience and channels that have great sentiment inherently, like SEO and content,” explains Mariena.

Elliot Glass, Booyah’s Content Marketing Strategist, predicts we’ll see more collaboration between owned and paid channels. “As cookies disappear, marketers specializing in paid media will turn to other sources for data and audience insights. Many will use Google Analytics, and SEO marketers will need to educate teams on how to get the most from this tool. This will facilitate more collaboration between paid and owned channels, and I’m excited to see how it progresses.” says Elliot.

3. Google’s algorithm updates and core web vitals

Experts estimate that Google updates its algorithm 500-600 times a year, so you can expect more updates this year. The million-dollar question is, “What will these updates look like?” 

Mariena says, “Google’s algorithm will continue improving their understanding of semantics in content. You’ll see a focus on mobile-first and core web vitals.” To keep up with the changing digital landscape, Dearman suggests answering as many user questions on your site as possible because if you’re not answering your users’ queries, someone else in your space will.

4. Pages 2 & 3 on Google Search get more valuable

This October, Google announced that mobile users would have a continuous scroll in search results, marking the death of the “more results” button and providing brands on pages two and three of Google Search more exposure. Ryan Reichl, Booyah’s SEO Manager, predicts we’ll see a rise in brands targeting page two and three keywords. “With the continuous scroll feature, there’s new importance on competing for not only page one, but for pages two and three as well. With universal results like videos and images taking up most of the real estate on the first half of the search engines results page, the continuous scroll expands that real estate and adds value to pages two and three,” says Reichl. 

Associate SEO Manager Erin Westerman agrees, saying “If marketers don’t start prioritizing pages two and three keywords now, competitors can fill that space, and it will be harder to regain rankings that are lost. As mobile search continues to grow, marketers will likely see more success in coming years from these striking-distance keywords.”

5. Technical SEO is top of mind

Ensuring that your site is technically sound is the backbone of any SEO strategy. Elliot believes the importance of technical SEO will only grow in 2022, saying, “Technical SEO is already a high priority for most websites. This year, we’ll see technical SEO become even more important as sites become more feature-rich and web apps become increasingly complex. New code is being added to sites all the time, so you can’t use a set-it-and-forget-it approach to technical SEO. It needs to be a consistent focus.” A step you can take now to make sure your site is in good technical shape is to conduct a technical SEO audit.

6. More focus on user experience

47% of consumers expect sites to load in two seconds or less. That means if your site loads slowly, almost half of your visitors will leave before they get the chance to know your brand. Ryan predicts that user experience and site speed will be even more critical in 2022, saying, “User experience will become a more important ranking factor as content becomes more interactive with videos, infographics, and other interactive elements on the page. Adding more non-text elements can make pages more complex, which puts greater importance on page speed and creating a positive user experience.” He concludes, saying, “Creating a user experience that allows users to consume content quickly and has an intuitive user flow will help set you apart.”

7. Optimizing for all the search bars

For your target audience to find you, you need to be discoverable where they are consuming content. This means you need to be able to optimize your content for a variety of platforms. Elliot predicts this will be even more important in 2022, saying, “Understanding how to optimize content and listings for different types of platforms is essential. How do you optimize a post for Reddit? What about YouTube or TikTok SEO? These are the types of questions brands will need to answer so they can appear in the first position for those search engines too.”

Elliot goes on to say, “Users are fragmented. They know what their preferred discovery platforms are and use them almost exclusively for that purpose. Twitter users don’t turn to Google News for their daily news. They rely on Twitter. Navigating this fragmented ecosystem and identifying unique ways to create and optimize content so you can reach new users will drive the most success this year.”

Make your site’s SEO successful in 2022

There you have it! Those are our team’s seven predictions for SEO in 2022. As SEO continues to evolve, it’s important that you keep up with industry trends. Need help with your SEO Strategy? Get in touch with our team of SEO experts today.

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