As we look back on the events that have taken place in the SEO industry in 2021, we can see that Google has put in much effort to make the search engine landscape safer and more user-friendly.

These can be seen through some of the major changes Google had put in place over the months, such as the launch of passage ranking, product reviews, spam updates, and of course, Core Web Vitals and related page experience updates.

It seems that the most fitting message that Google wanted to send to SEO specialists and content creators was ‘play by the rules and you will be rewarded’, and this message is here to stay for the future.

SO, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT IN 2022?

User intent

Firstly, all the changes we have seen had focused on the goal of making information online more useful and relevant to users. Therefore, it is easy to imagine that user intent will be one of the biggest trends in 2022.

In the next year, there will be a continued emphasis on creating holistic content, and for SEO content creators to really consider the needs of their users instead of just using all the right keywords.

Content quality

With that, it is not surprising that content quality will also be a big trend in 2022. Google has said in the past that published pages should be of high quality to combat the spreading of misinformation on SERPs.

Going forward in 2022, SEO content creators should focus on quality over quantity.

Localisation of SERPs

It is not secret that Google has been experimenting with changes in mobile layouts for a while now. This year, we have already seen that purely globally focused sites are losing their rankings on local SERPs.

We can expect that in the next year, there will be a bigger emphasis placed on the localisation of SERPs, and SEO specialists must optimise their sites accordingly when it comes to languages and regions.

Images and visual content

The next trend is the push to make SERPs more visually appealing, and the possibility that Google will use AI to recognise which visual content will be most relevant for each user. Image search will grow even more, and Google Lens will play a big part in everyday search behaviour.

Automation

We have come a long way in this industry. These days, the question is not whether we can do something, but how quickly we can do it.

When everybody is speeding up, there will be a focus on reducing the time from data acquisition to forming insights and action plans, and SEO specialists and content creators will be looking into automation to support our daily work processes.

Mobile and user experience

As Google has placed a heavy influence on user experience in the past year, it is not far-fetched to predict that there will be changes related to mobile page experience next one.

This will not only impact mobile UX but also Core Web Vitals on mobile, mobile usability, mobile-first indexing, and mobile security.

Sustainability

Next, sustainability is bound to be a focus in 2022. This has been observed from Google’s behaviour in 2021—displaying carbon emissions of flights and labelling eco-friendly hotels. The search engine has been encouraging users to adopt greener attitudes and will likely continue taking steps in that direction.

SEO specialists and content creators can look forward to metrics related to sustainability, and the heavy focus on eco-consciousness may also affect search user behaviour.

E-A-T

Last but not least, E-A-T, which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust, will surely stay in 2022.

As the number of content creators continue to grow on the Internet, search engines like Google will continue to establish new measures to ensure they are recommending high quality content to users. Therefore, in the coming year, it is more important than ever to do proper research before publication.

CONCLUSION

SEO will always play a vital role in how your page is ranked on SERPs. As Google continues to implement changes here and there, we can expect the above trends to play a significant part in how we will work in 2022.

If you are a site-owner and you are feeling overwhelmed by what the future holds, feel free to reach out to our SEO team for a consultation at [email protected] and we will be glad to assist you.