The SEO horizon is always shifting, and what was best practices in 2017 may not be the same in 2022. This blog will explore some of the best SEO practices that we think will be on top in five years. We’ll discuss why they’re so controversial and argue why you should start implementing them right now. So, without further ado, let’s hop in!
Follow these for optimized SEO in 2022:
1. Focus On UX
The Internet has become an essential part of our mental lives. It’s how we keep up with work, family, and friends. But if you look at the current landscape, it’s anything but pleasant. For example, Facebook is choosing what news and information we see from our feeds by constantly changing the algorithm. Even when you log in to a website, it often feels like there’s just too much stuff to scroll through.
The best way to tackle this is through user experience (UX). UX designers are experts in making interactions between humans and technology as seamless as possible. By focusing on UX design instead of expensive hosting, you can create better experiences for your users.
2. Embrace Responsive Design
For the past few years, people have been using mobile devices more and more in their daily routines. They do so because they’re persistent, they have a lot of information to process, and they have a limited number of seconds to do so. In order for those millions of users to be able to fully access everything on the web, it’s crucial that all the sites are built optimally for mobile use. This means making sure that fonts are large enough for users to read easily even on smaller screens, and making sure that images load fast since every second counts!
Designers should also consider designing in a way that works best for low bandwidth connections as well. Nowadays, Wi-Fi connections are not the norm and mobile use is limited by a user’s data plan.
3. Use Internal Linking
Internal links allow you to get people from one page to another—such as from a blog post about customer service on page one to your services page on page two. This is hugely important for SEO since each hyperlink that people click increases the likelihood of them being taken to that destination rather than some other website. It’s also essential for helping users find what they want on your website, and it can help them feel more satisfied with your product or service.
Internal links are important because they tell users where they are and where they can go. It’s like a road map to your website. If you can’t find the page that you want, then there’s a problem, and the chance that someone will leave the site increases. You should have these links on your home page, in navigation menus, at the bottom of posts, in footers, and in any other places that make sense for your website.
4. Focus On Entity-Based Seo
Today, most websites are not built around their users’ needs—they are built around their owners’ needs. With entity-based SEO, you’re creating content that is valuable to users and will help them accomplish their goals. This includes using structured data markup that improves how search engines view your web pages. It also includes creating websites that are easier to update and maintain—for example, WordPress is a better option than a custom-built solution for this reason. It also means having fewer links on your page because the logic of each page should be clear and easy to follow.
5. Recreate Blog Posts As Videos
Video is the fastest growing media on the Internet, as well as the clearest way to communicate with new audiences without having a face-to-face conversation. YouTube has been dominating for a long time, but Facebook is making big strides by using auto-playing videos in users’ newsfeeds.
You can use existing blog posts in video form—similar to how information is communicated through talks given at conferences and events. You can also tweak your videos so that they rank well in search engines, though that takes quite a bit of work to get right!
6. Optimize Content For Voice Search
With the release of Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, consumers are looking for a better way to interact with the Internet through their phones. While written content is still important, voice search has sparked an interest in search engines that goes beyond text. People want more personalized search results, and they want them fast. This is good news for your website!
To succeed with voice search optimization, you need to focus on using keywords that will show up in a user’s request. For example, if you’re writing an article about Chicago pizza places then use the words “pizza in Chicago” within your content so it will appear when someone searches those terms.
7. Focus On Mobile
There is a saying that goes, “If you’re not on mobile you don’t exist.” This is because mobile use has been growing at an incredible rate and shows no signs of slowing down. Statista reports that in 2017, the number of global smartphone users reached the five-billion mark. Also, Google has stated that in 2017, 30% of all searches are originating from mobile devices. That makes it more important than ever for companies to focus on SEO practices that will help them succeed in this growing field.
8. Understand Semantic Seo
Semantic SEO is looking at what people are searching for online and delivering it to them in the best way possible. This is a crucial mistake that many companies make, and it can mean the difference between ranking highly and falling to the bottom of a search engine result page (SERP)—or worse, getting kicked out altogether.
Your website should be 100% semantic in its design so that search engines can understand what it is about. You also want your content to be 100% semantic so that you can deliver the right information to people. If your content is not semantic, then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity that would have been possible if your site had a more structured layout.
9. Track The Value Of Links
The more links that point to your website, the better. The more that search engines see those links, the better. The more the search engines trust your website, the better. To ensure that you get all of this value out of your backlinks and earn a higher position in SERPs, you want to make sure you’re monitoring all of it closely. You should be tracking as many relevant metrics as possible so that you can see what techniques are working best for your business.
10. Have A Strategy
The key to success in SEO is to have a strategy and to stick with it. You don’t have to be an expert, but you need a system that works for your business. Even if it starts out as simple as, “I will create three blog posts per week for my website,” then you will reap the benefits of search engine optimization over time. Make sure that you’re following best practices and staying on top of the latest news in this industry. Be sure to use Google Analytics so that you can track your website traffic and see what is working best for you.
11. Do Not Sell Links On Your Site
This can be a very good way to drive traffic to your website, but it’s not a good idea at all if you want people to come back. According to Google, selling links on your website can result in a loss of ranking or even de-indexing. It’s just not worth it to sell links even if they do bring in more money.
12. Focus On User Intentions
Voice search is no longer just about talking to devices—it’s about taking users directly to what they want, with little conversation. It’s about tapping into the data they provide to Google, while still maintaining a connection that is clear and easy to understand.
When you focus on tracking user intentions, you can be assured that your content will help them reach their goals. For example, if someone searches for “Chicago pizza” on Google, they are likely ready to order a pizza. From this search engine optimization standpoint, delivering them directly to Chicago Pizza Felleria is the best possible page for that user. It is easier for them to get what they need in this way than if you had listed every pizza shop in town!
13. Optimize For Discoverability
With the shift away from search engines as the primary method for finding new content, there is a need to make your content discoverable. There are many ways to do this, including creating a custom URL and using interstitial banners. You can also ensure that your content appears in the first few results of Google by using techniques like adding related topics or using schema markup. With Google, you can set your site up so that it ranks highly across search engines and devices.
14. Use URL-Friendly Naming Conventions
This SEO tip may not seem like much of a big deal, but choosing a name for your site that doesn’t look great in the URL can be a huge mistake. If you want to appear in search engine results, you have to have your site named in the proper way. To do this, you should use a naming convention that is easy for users and search engines to read, like using alphabetic characters, and dashes instead of spaces and avoiding special characters. You can read more about it here.
15. Have A Site Map That Works
One frustrating mistake that many companies make is creating an inaccurate site map. A site map is a list of all the pages on your site that search engine spiders can use to find your content, but you want to make sure it’s as accurate as possible. In fact, a site map is really helpful for you and for Google.
14. Understand The Types Of Metas You Should Use
Dating back to when the internet was just starting out, Meta tags have been an important part of SEO. Today they are used less frequently, but they are still important. The main types of metadata include title tags, metadata descriptions, and XML sitemaps. Title tags have been covered above in #1. Meta Descriptions are used in search engine results and are often the first thing that is seen. XML sitemaps are also used to let search engines know about every page on your site so they can work quickly and efficiently.
16. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly
More than half of all searches coming through Google now come from a mobile device. This means that if you don’t have a website that is easy to use on mobile devices, you could be losing out on a huge amount of traffic. If you have a responsive design, then you’re already helping with this issue, but it never hurts to double-check! You can do this by going over every page of your site with the Google Mobile-Friendly Test.
17. Integrate Video Into Your Content
This is a huge trend in SEO, and it’s one that you want to take advantage of. Over 80% of millennials are using online video to watch or participate in Internet content, so you want to make sure that you are part of this trend. You do this by including videos in your blog posts and articles. Ideally, include a call-to-action at the end of each video so that your viewers can receive direct links that will lead them back to your website.
18. Know What Google Searches For
The entire world has been burned by many “moving” web pages before. By “moving,” we mean that the page was supposed to be updated with new content, but instead, it was actually moved to a new location on the same domain. Google considers this a dead-end move and considers it a bad practice.
You want to make sure that you are keeping up with all of the latest search engine updates before you start trying to implement anything new or different. You can see what Google is searching for by using the Chrome Clear History button. Next time there is an update, you might want to verify it with your own testing before implementing any changes!
19. Write Quality Content
No matter what you are doing in the search engine optimization world, your content needs to be good. Otherwise, it will not be able to rank well. This doesn’t mean that you should just go out and write gibberish. The goal is to create compelling, quality content that will be appealing to search engine spiders.
20. Know The Different Types Of Web Page Titles
Recently there have been a lot of changes in Google’s algorithm pertaining to title tags. These changes often concern how many time periods are included within a title tag and the use of bolding and underlines. Make sure that you know the latest rules about titles before you start implementing them on your own website!
21. Just Use Your Head
It’s said that if you put an ad in a newspaper, someone will come and buy it. Since the majority of Google’s revenue comes from search advertising, this makes sense. If you want to get people to your website and generate more traffic, then you want to be using the same tactics that are used by companies that are paying big money for advertisements. One of these tactics is to try and make your page unique, which is why we need to understand what exactly Google is looking for.
22. Use Schema Markup
This information can help users search for different topics when they use Google or Bing. For example, it can tell them what the price of a car is and how fast an article is from the point of view of minutes. The schema was created through a collaboration between the Open Graph Protocol, Rich Snippets, and rest.org.
23. Use The Right Keywords
One thing that you want to pay attention to when you are trying to rank high on Google is using keywords in as many places as possible. When people click on something, they want to make sure that they get what they’re looking for and will hopefully come back again. You can generate a list of keywords to use for your website here.
24. Pay Attention To The Common Mistakes That People Make
The best way to learn how to do something is by watching someone else do it. By learning from other people’s mistakes, you can prevent yourself from making similar mistakes. There are many things that people commonly mess up with SEO. For example, they may not have their content optimized on mobile devices. There are also many different types of Google updates that may impact you. You can read about the most common ones here.
25. Make Sure Your Site Has A Homepage
Nearly 90% of websites fail to have a homepage. That’s a huge mistake. When people visit your website, they want to be able to find what they are looking for within an instant, so it’s important that each website has a designated homepage. If you don’t have one and feel like you may need one, you can follow this Google tutorial on how to create a website.
26. Backlinks Are An Important Part Of SEO
Backlinks are one of the most important parts of SEO today, but they can also cause issues if not done correctly. Many marketers pay for links to their sites, but if you want to be successful with SEO and free resources are scarce… Then the best of these free backlinks come from blogs and forums where people express their love for the content. You can see a list of WordPress Blogs here.
27. Consistent Contact Forms Are The Key To Success
Google and other big search engines do not want to receive lots of contact forms on your website. This is because it uses up a lot of real estate on the page itself and will lead to too much clutter. According to Google, they expect that there will be no more than 5 forms on any given page (excluding footers).
28. Use a Good Web Hosting Company
The web hosting services that you choose can make a big difference in how well your website ranks, so it’s important that you choose one that fits what you need and uses an up-to-date platform like WordPress.
29. Keep An Eye On The Google Guidelines
There are many different areas that Google focuses on and they change at different times. For example, they will sometimes ban websites for advertising certain products or services. This can greatly affect your SEO rankings if you do not make the changes yourself. If you do not feel comfortable updating your site on your own, then it might be best to hire a web designer who has experience with SEO.
30. Use a Good Crawl-Thru Link Analysis Tool
There are many tools available to help webmasters to check their website’s backlinks, but there is no more accurate way than using a crawl-thru link analysis tool. This will show you where your traffic is coming from, what type of content it is and what pages provide backlinks to you, and much more.
Final Thoughts on SEO in 2022
The focus on mobile and voice search means that organic search will be more important than ever. As a marketer or designer, it’s your duty to get your company into the best position possible to succeed in a changing world. There are some easy changes you can make today to ensure that your site is primed for success, and the best news is that you’re already a step ahead if you have already implemented one of these! It’s time to start over if you’ve fallen behind! Good Luck!
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