Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an ever-evolving discipline, all designed for one simple aim – to make your site more visible to potential customers. Once you’ve won customers, other forms of marketing such as email marketing can kick in, but if you’re in a competitive sector, getting them to even know you exist can be a challenge. Here are the main things you should be focusing on in 2022 to help you to climb those search engine results pages.
Voice search
The initial buzz over voice activated search may have waned somewhat, but that’s probably only because people are now so used to using Siri, Cortana, Alexa or Google’s voice search. As a site owner, that creates opportunities to fine tune your copy to better respond to voice. It’s quite interesting to see how people use different words and phrases when searching. For example you’d never type “show me phone cases” into a Google search bar, but you are quite likely to say something like that to your device. Sites that use such natural language can match themselves up with search engines’ algorithms for certain search requests, so keep an eye on how people are reaching your site and adjust your copy accordingly.
Featured Snippets
When you search, you’ve probably noticed that the top results aren’t so much links to websites or ads in the traditional sense, but extracts of websites that answer your query. These so-called featured snippets can have text, images, lists and other media that directly answer your query. While some site owners complain that it stops people actually visiting the site, there’s always a link, so if you can set your site up to directly answer common queries but just leave readers wanting more, you can strike gold.
Video
Text on websites is all well and good (and completely necessary!), but many people much prefer to watch, or simply listen to, a video rather than read text. It’s often more convenient, and can be a more personal way of communicating. And importantly, videos also appear in search results, something that’s often overlooked by website owners. Make short videos and you could find yourself getting a real boost in traffic.
Social listening
SEO is now focused much further than the website itself – you can gain great insights by monitoring social media and looking out for references either to your own business or chatter about your industry. You can use the information gained to directly influence the copy in your site and newsletter, but also to respond in real time, which can drive traffic to your site.
Site speed
Finally, an SEO essential that appears on the to do list every year: keeping it sleek. As new technologies emerge, and new trends like extra video add demand to your hosting and platform, it’s inevitable that your site speed and general performance can suffer – and that will directly impact the way search engines view your website. Follow all the steps required to keep your site speed as fast as possible and you should see your search results thriving and your bounce rates healthily low.
