Digital advertising used to promise businesses the opportunity to reach a vast audience. Reach and visibility could be scaled on a local and global level to reach a target audience. However, consumer data and privacy rights have become a major obstacle for marketers. As more companies, like Google, work towards a cookie-less future, it will affect your bottom line. Establish a secure foundation to identify website traffic by staying on top of Google updates that will impact SEO in 2022 and beyond.
Search engine traffic is not your only choice. You can generate traffic through advertising.
However, search engine traffic provides perpetual, long-term traffic when done correctly. This traffic can change the trajectory of any business. While Google updates can get in the way, some present compelling opportunities for growth.
Navigating through Google SEO updates is essential for any online business owner. We will explore 2022 Google updates to watch in this article.
Table of Contents
- Link Spam Update
- Voice Search
- Mark Up Your Videos
- Mobile Optimization
- Preparing for Google Updates
1. Link Spam Update
Google has penalized link spammers for over a decade. Recently, more comprehensive Google updates suggest this trend will continue.
Stuffing too many links in a single blog post will hurt your search engine visibility. Link building can help with SEO, but too much link building will hurt your website’s ranking.
Writing longer blog posts gives you more space to incorporate links. So, the focus should be the content. Then, the links add value to the blog post. However, bloggers adding spammy links to their content will see reduced rankings.
A common culprit of link spammers is to use the same keyword as the anchor text. The false logic is that using the same keyword as a hyperlink boosts visibility. This keyword stuffing practice will get you in trouble with Google’s algorithm.
Longer content with effective link building will significantly help your rankings. Google’s RankBrain component considers user engagement and average time spent on your website. Lengthy, quality content tends to increase both of those numbers.
While some Google SEO updates reflect significant changes, others retain the basics. This update will generate less buzz than the others, but it is helpful to know nevertheless. Forgetting the basics hurts your ability to capitalize on emerging trends.
2. Voice Search
Google voice searches are gaining popularity. Voice searches currently make up 20% of Google searches in the app. Recent Google updates suggest voice search will gain importance in the years ahead.
Also, Google just unveiled LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications). This AI setup provides search results via conversation. Users start by asking Google a question. LaMDA then processes the query and provides results based on the user’s request.
Their Conversational AI suggests several Google SEO updates on conversational queries and content. If you have not already done so, optimize your site for voice search to catch up on this emerging trend.
Google has made substantial progress in voice search through Google Home. Catching up with voice search now will make it easier to capitalize on future Google updates.
3. Mark Up Your Videos
Google gives preference to videos on its search engine. Creating videos will provide you with an edge. However, you will still compete with millions of other business owners.
In SEO, small advantages can spell victory. The latest Google updates suggest marking up your video can help your rankings.
Google will continue recommending videos. With that said, they will give a preference to suggested video clips. Marking up your video creates vital moments that can appear in Google search results.
Marking your videos is simple. When publishing a YouTube video, include timestamps in the description. Title each timestamp so viewers can navigate through your videos.
This update further highlights the importance of video in your SEO strategy. Now is the best time to overcome camera shyness and create more videos. It’s best to generate “evergreen content” that can withstand trends. In turn, you’ll have a solid video to repurpose for any type of campaign. Then, you can get creative with the latest memes.
Regardless of how you choose to record videos, it would help if you have them in your SEO strategy. Videos often take up more space in a search result compared to articles. This setup gives videos extra virtual real estate compared to articles.
4. Mobile Optimization
Your website’s mobile experience will dictate how Google ranks your content. A poor mobile experience will push your content well beyond the first page.
Google’s recently implemented mobile-first indexing prioritizes a mobile site’s appearance. A desktop site’s appearance has less influence on SEO performance. In other words, an excellent desktop experience does not make up for a poor mobile experience.
This update reflects changing consumer behavior. More than half of worldwide traffic comes from mobile devices. Google will not risk showcasing websites with poor mobile optimization to their users.
Mobile optimization goes beyond mobile-friendly websites. While display is a main priority, the overall user experience is important.
Mobile optimization is present when a website reformats for mobile searching. If your website feels clunky on your mobile device, you need to update it.
A responsive design is the best approach. These websites reformat and restructure themselves to create a better experience.
Mobile-friendly won’t cut it anymore. Mobile optimization is the new standard.
In the future, a responsive design may be the new minimum. Plan to create a responsive design before the next batch of Google updates rolls out.
Preparing for Google Updates
Google updates appear scary on the surface. Some sound incredibly techie, while others feel cumbersome. Many Google SEO updates require quick fixes and adjustments to your strategy.
The core of an effective Google SEO strategy is simple: produce quality content often. Great content attracts returning visitors and leads to sales.If you want help with the advanced elements of SEO, let us know you’re interested. L7 Advertising works with small businesses to scale and grow revenue, customer loyalty, and more. You can achieve significant results through search engine optimization by working with our experts today.