Whenever we don’t receive organic traffic on the website, we instantly think, “Is SEO dead in 2022? What is the future of SEO in 2022? Should you have to invest more in SEO or try another way to get traffic and stop SEO services? If all these questions keep moving through your mind repeatedly, and you want to know the correct answer to any of these questions, then indeed, this article is for you. In this article, we’ll discuss the future of SEO and some trends that will impact your website ranking and your business in 2022.
According to the Ahref Search Traffic Study, 90.63% of the pages indexed on Google get zero traffic from Google, and the rest (5.29% of them) get ten visits per month or less than that.
Again, a thought came Does it mean SEO is dead? No, never, ever. But the fact is that Google is constantly updating and rolling out new algorithms to provide the most accurate information to its users. Some of the reasons I found why that 90% of the pages in Google searches don’t receive any traffic are:
- Maybe those pages don’t match the search intent.
- Pages that don’t get organic traffic may not have any backlinks, as Google prefers and gives importance to pages with quality and relevant backlinks.
- Most pages do not target the relevant topic people are searching for.
After knowing all these reasons for not getting organic traffic, here’s a quick tip: If you want an increase in your search traffic, then understand the search intent, build quality links, and create content on those topics that contain long-term traffic potential.
Now, let’s jump to the other discussion, where we’ll talk about the future of SEO and some upcoming trends in Search Engine Optimization.
The future of SEO:
SEO is continuously evolving day by day, and to be successful with SEO strategies, you should have to stay on top of the latest trends to ensure that your content strategies are practical and deliver effective results. Many of the old strategies are ineffective in the landscape of SEO today, and some of those can even negatively impact SEO. This is why you should continuously adapt to the future of SEO.
The SEO industry is unpredictable, just like Google launches algorithm updates from time to time. And the industry is so versatile that if an SEO person goes into hibernation and wakes up after a year, the person may start to sense a generation gap, as the SEO updates have been so long. A lot is going on in the SEO world, and if you want to stay on top of the results, you must stay up to date and ensure that your rankings are under control.
5 SEO Trends for 2022:
Let’s discuss a few hot trends in SEO that reveal where it is headed in 2022 and beyond.
1. Zero-Click Searches:
Zero-click searches, also known as no-click searches, are those searches that refer to the search engine result pages (SERPs), which answer the search query right at the top of a Google search result. No-click or zero-click searches are increasing daily because the user doesn’t need to do further searching or clicking to know the answer to the search query, as with a zero-click search, the user gets the complete answer directly.
Take a look at the example of a “Zero-Click” search.
As you can see clearly, Google displays the answer directly, and the user’s search intent is satisfied without any clicks from Google Search Results. These searches are most common on mobile phones as people use voice searches or mostly look for short, concise, relevant answers to their questions.
Zero-Click Search Types:
There are many zero-click searches, but here I’m discussing some common types of zero-click searches from Google.
1. Feature Snippets:
Feature Snippets are short search snippets that appear on the top of google search results. Mostly it satisfied the user’s search query, and the user does not need to click further.
2. Instant Search answers:
Instant answers, known by their name, provide quick answers to a user search query.
Take a look at an example for a better understanding.
3. Knowledge Panel:
A knowledge panel is the detailed or expanded version of a featured snippet with more detailed information relevant to the search query.
Take a look at this example:
Ways to Prepare Your Website for Zero-Click Searches:
The following are useful ways to rank your website for zero-click searches in 2022 and beyond.
- If you want to rank on Google for zero-click search, then you need to understand the user’s search intent. Then provide the accurate answer to their question according to the relevant query.
- Use the “People also ask” box; it mostly includes the relevant questions and answers according to the user query. Ensure you target the keyword terms you find in the “People Also Ask” box. Moreover, check to see if those keywords return a zero-click feature or not.
- Create click-worthy meta descriptions, as meta descriptions play a key role in SEO.
2. IndexNow:
According to recent reports, Google is the next one that will use IndexNow. For those who don’t know about the IndexNow Protocol, it’s an open-source engine used by search engines to discover new content. Instead of a conventional pull approach, IndexNow used a push approach.
So, whenever a website integrated with the IndexNow API updates site content, deletes any post, or publishes a new one, the API pushes the updated information to the search engines. Microsoft created it in October 2021. Search engines like Bing and Yahoo are already supporting IndexNow. And now Google is on the next list to use it.
Any website owner who wants to enable the IndexNow API can do it in three simple steps:
- Create and download the IndexNow API from Bing.
- Next, upload the downloaded text file to the root of your server.
- Submit the bulk links to individual search engines, issue your request to the following URL format: https://<searchengine>/indexnow?url=url-changed&key=your-key
Recently, Microsoft and Yandex confirmed that they would use IndexNow to submit URLs. As a bonus, submitting a URL to Microsoft will automatically share it with Yandex and vice versa.
3. Passage Indexing:
Another trend included in the Future of SEO is passage indexing. Some of you have also noticed it on search engines; when you enter a search query, Google automatically shows the particular section called “Passage Cover” in the article at any place on the search result for the relevant query. It was introduced in the latest announcement from Google. So, if you’re someone who regrets writing lengthy content that doesn’t drive traffic, Then passage indexing changes everything for them. According to Google, passage indexing is now using a natural language processing feature in indexing pages and trying to understand the meaning of each passage within the page.
Suppose a specific passage is covered within your article, and a user searches a relevant query. In that case, the Google search engine will show it at the top of search results, even if it is buried deep within the vastness of the primary topic.
Passage indexing will have a lot of bearing on search results for long-tailed and questioned search queries. Google tries to display the best answer to a given query from a forum page instead of displaying results that point users to the broader page. The structure of your content has to become more important than its quality. It’s a good practice to divide the content into multiple sections, and each section must discuss a sub-topic.
4. Core Web Vitals Trend:
Above we heard about passage indexing, and the SEO community was frenzy about Core Web Vitals. I hope you already know that Google has been using Google Webmaster to provide a better page experience to its users. This is implemented to ensure that any user who visits the site from a Google search result should not exit the page due to a poor page experience. Core Web Vitals’ algorithm was started in May 2021. It is a set of three factors that provide Google with data about the user experience offered by the individual pages on the Web.
Three factors of core web vitality are:
- The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- First Input Delay (FID)
- Cumulative Layout Shift
Remember that Core Web Vitals will not be a primary signal to rank pages on Search Engine Results Pages. According to Google, it will just continue to rank webpages with high-quality content and quality links, whether the site complies with the core of Web Vital or not.
5. Importance of Website Audits:
In SEO, most website owners or SEO persons avoid technical aspects of their websites. If you ignore issues that negatively affect your website and prevent it from getting more traffic from search engines, you are leaving tons of money on the table. For ranking, you have to solve your website’s technical issues. For this, you need to regularly audit your website to find all the issues on your site. Whether in 2022 or 2030, site audits are a mandatory factor or trend in SEO. And they are going to stay forever. A site audit is a process that evaluates your website’s search engine friendliness in various areas. A site audit gives you an in-depth overview of your overall website’s health.
Use SEMrush for the site audit. Fix issues shown on the dashboard when you audit your site and improve the site’s overall ranking. After auditing, you’ll find these kinds of issues:
- HTTPS issue
- Crawlability issue
- Core Web Vitals
- Site Performance
- Internal Linking
- marketing, and much more.
FAQs Section:
1. Does SEO have any future?
There’s a big yes, as millions of businesses use search engines to drive customers online. The trend is continuing rapidly as more and more people rely on search engines to purchase products, search for information, and read reviews.
2. Will SEO exist in the next 5 years?
Yes, it will exist in the next 5 years. SEO is not going to die in any era. But with time, SEO will be more personalized, and the content will be accessible with fewer clicks.
3. What are the most popular SEO tools?
Some of the best SEO tools to use in 2022 are:
- Rank Math SEO
- Google Search Console
- Google Analytics
- Keywordtool.io
- SEMrush
Helpful SEO resources for you:
WHAT ARE THE 11 DEADLY SINS OF SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO?)
7 STEPS TO HIRING AN SEO EXPERT
WHAT IS LOCAL SEO AND 5 BENEFITS OF LOCAL SEO?
WHAT ARE THE TOP 10 BENEFITS OF SEO?
Final Thoughts:
Google changes its algorithms over time to provide the best user experience. So you also have to focus on the best user experience to win the SEO game. These trends are according to the future of SEO 2022 and might also help you win the game in a competitive market. Just follow the best SEO practices and stay on track by following Google guidelines to get better rankings.
Now it’s your turn. What are your thoughts on the future of SEO? Do you have any more questions related to it? Let us know in the comment section if it’s all yours.
