The first recorded usage of SEO was in 1997. This was the time when websites were being launched and slowly crowding the internet. Optimizing online visibility and ranking in a structured way was critical to stand out from competitors, improve traffic and convert prospects into customers. Today, it is a valuable tool for:
- brand awareness and business expansion
- positioning yourself as an expert in your industry
- staying competitive to avoid losing potential buyers
- reaching a greater number of people
A few core elements of search engine optimization are keyword research, indexing, crawling, internal linking, unique content, and URLs. While 69% of marketers invested in SEO in 2021, more than 50% of marketers say keyword ranking and organic traffic are the top ways to measure the success of their strategies. It is vital to stay updated with the current SEO trends to understand the dynamics of how a search engine works. Here are the hottest trends to check out in 2022.
1. Keyword Clustering
A web page is not only about how well-designed it looks, but what its inner functionality is like, including careful keyword and phrase placement techniques. But keyword targeting is more complex and granular than before. The most popular strategy today to boost your ranking is clustering. This means segmenting search terms into themes relevant to different pages. Create a list, divide them into groups and optimize pillar pages. Make sure the clusters are representing the core topics of your website to be able to level up your content strategy and make your website more Google-friendly. This is a time-intensive process, yet the page may show up for a countless number of keywords.
2. Core Web Vitals
Google introduced these ranking signals in 2020. They are designed to measure speed, visual stability and responsiveness. This helps the search engine know the real-world experience of users on your page which is a key ranking factor. It is quite vital for SEO since they provide more recognition to your website and keep it clean and well-organized. People are more likely to return to your website, which translates into better-engaged customers and improved conversion rates.
3. User Search Intent
This is mainly the ‘intention’ of the internet user which redefines the marketing funnel. 73% of B2B marketers were already rolling out, using or planning to use intent data in 2021. In fact, 62% have agreed that it improves personalization workflows.
Intent is defined as the user’s purpose when entering terms into a search engine. The most common types are commercial, information, navigational and transactional. For instance, if someone writes ‘grilled sandwich recipe’, we can determine their intent as informational. If a search query says, ‘buy cotton curtains online’, their intent is transactional. This can help the SEO strategist to develop content accordingly and bring relevant traffic to a website.
Determine the intent you want to target, check the SERP results and create blogs. It is quite a dominant ranking factor in SEO satisfying the intent is the ultimate goal of Google.
The SEO landscape is ever-changing. Try to keep an eye on these latest trends and patterns to be able to stay relevant today and in future and ensure a good ROI.
