SEO is a-changin’. Again.

As we’re sure you know, SEO best practices seem to change with the yearly calendar. And it’s true! While some tried-and-true SEO strategies never go out of style, algorithmic changes and new opportunities present themselves regularly.

If you’re looking at building out your SEO strategy in 2022, you’re going to want to know the latest changes to the landscape. We’re here with the primer you need to get started and take your organic search to the next level.

We’ll walk you through some of the big changes and evolutions of search engine optimization in 2022, and explain how you can take advantage of them for your business.

3 Big SEO Changes You Need to Know in 2022

1. Voice Search

“Siri, how do I improve my SEO?”

How many times do you ask Siri, Alexa, or Google to get you some information? Well, probably more than you did in 2021, 2020, and before. As voice assistants proliferate into our daily lives, so too does the way we use search engines change.

What does this mean for your SEO? Well, two things.

First, inquiry-based content is increasingly important to incorporate into your site. For example, someone may search “healthy cat food” or “best foods senior cat” on their computer. But when they ask Alexa, they’re more likely to say, “Alexa, which cat food is best for my 15 year old cat?”

Including inquiries in the structure of your content can help you not only improve your SEO, but lower your bounce rates. After all, the people visiting your page will quickly identify their question—and stick around to read the answer.  

2. Passages

Last year, Google introduced a new feature called Passages. This tool allows Google to rank and surface specific sections of a page somewhat independently from the page as a whole.

All of this is to say that Google now may surface and feature specific parts of a page differently in search results than it did prior. So what does this mean for you?

Well, a lot—and a little. As Google said in its announcement, it doesn’t change the target with your content. Continue publishing great, thorough, useful content and it will serve you. One good passage won’t ultimately index separately from a page otherwise full of empty content.

However, Google is now considering excellent passages as an additional factor in your page rank. So if you ensure each page has a passage succinctly and effectively speaking to your desired keywords, it may help boost your page rank in a new way.

3. YouTube Video Content

If you’ve already taken advantage of video content in bolstering your SEO strategy, you’re on the right track already. We’ll be the first to tell you that. However, there are even newer ways to support your SEO through your video content. And many of them don’t even require producing new content.

Increasingly, video has found its way into search results. You’ve probably experienced this for yourself, seeing videos pull in when you search something like “patch a hole in my drywall.” Did the video play from the beginning?

Chances are it didn’t, and this presents one of many opportunities for your SEO strategy.

In 2022, optimizing your YouTube videos for search should include adding chapter titles to your videos. If you’ve broken your video into sections (which you probably have), call those sections out in your video with clear, keyword-driven chapter headings.

While you’re there, give yourself an additional leg up by adding or improving your closed captions, title, tags, and descriptions. You’ll thank us later.

The SEO Strategies You Shouldn’t Use in 2022

What doesn’t matter to your SEO in 2022? Well, the same things as always.

Avoid what the “SEO gurus” say. Avoid black hat SEO techniques like keyword stuffing, link farms, and doorway pages. They won’t just be ineffective—they’re likely to actively harm you as Google prioritizes high quality, useful content that helps its searchers.

Acting like it’s 2002 or 2012 won’t get you very far in 2022. So look forward—not backward—and reap the rewards.

SEO in 2022—and Beyond

The landscape of SEO content strategy is constantly changing, and it’s in the best interest of you, your marketing team, and your business at large to change with it.

Focusing on the newest SEO techniques won’t magically rank every page on your site at #1. But implementing these strategies can help you raise your rankings across the board, giving yours site a nice refresh, and keeping your marketing strategies current.

And if you’ve kept on top of SEO trends in the past, then your work now will be that much easier. If you haven’t—well, we don’t envy you. But we promise you one thing: Implementing these SEO strategies will be well worth your time.