2020 and 2021 have been challenging for businesses that had to adjust to a different online landscape in this era of Digital Darwinism.

While the pandemic caused many businesses to shut down, other businesses had to adjust to technological innovations and innovative digital marketing trends since they could no longer rely on educated guesses to predict customer behavior and stand out from their competitors in the market.

Some insightful predictions about emerging SEO trends will stand out in 2022, which we will reveal shortly. As a business owner, it is important to get ahead of your competitors by learning and implementing the following SEO trends this year:

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Increase of Personalized Content

By 2022, it is predicted that personalized content will be on a steady rise, and the quantity of personalized content will dominate search results. We all know that Google is keeping tabs on its users. For instance, if someone opens Google Chrome, Google tracks what you like to watch, read, and search about. Whatever you consume on the internet is tracked.

Since Google knows your preferences, your news feed looks different than anyone else’s as the underlying work mechanism is to provide a personalized experience. That said, as a business owner, your focus should be on personalized content, and the best way to get there is by improving user engagement.

More Focus on User Engagement

It has been predicted that user engagement will climb up as a crucial ranking factor in SEO. The success of YouTube is one fine example of user engagement. It is predicted that the Google Search Algorithm will boost user engagement, time-on-page, and completion of goals in the ranking algorithms.

If you are familiar with SEO, you already know what goal completion is about. A fine example would be, suppose your business sells coffee machines, and if a random google user reviewing the best coffee machines is on your business page for one second. Still, they click on the “buy now” buttons; they are a happy searcher who has their “goals met.” Some people mistake referring to this type of user engagement as a “bounce.”

What you want to avoid is something known as “pogo-sticking.”

Pogo sticking refers to the type of user engagement in which the user lands on your business website, doesn’t like what you display, and then goes back to the search results and clicks something else in search of their query.

There are different ways to boost positive user engagement. Firstly, let the user(s) know that they are in the right place for their answers by adding a bold headline linked to their search query. This is not a good thing and the complete opposite of what you want your users to do!

Your website content must be informative with a strong introductory paragraph that should ideally take them to their answer as fast as possible. You should also check out the SEO audit service and see how to improve your business website.

The Rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence) Content

It is predicted that AI (Artificial Intelligence) will be on a steady rise and continue to dominate different aspects of life, including SEO strategies. It has been estimated that AI software will improve, and its adoption in SEO will continue to grow exponentially.

We have already witnessed the emergence of AI content generator software in the market, such as Article Forge and Jarvis. And this software is already getting deployed by different SEO companies around the globe.

Business companies use AI content generator software for relatively easy stuff, such as product descriptions and guest posts. It is predicted that with the help of AI content generator software, companies will find it easier to gain topical authority.

A topical authority is obtained when your website displays more coverage on a niche/ topic. The more coverage a company has on its business website, the greater the chances for Google to rank that website as an authority on the respective topic and rank it higher.

It is predicted that AI content generator software(s) will mature and become more user-friendly. Subsequently, it will improve the overall content and integrate it with SEO content optimization tools, so AI-generated content is something to look out for in 2022.

Backlinks will Dominate SEO

According to major predictions, Google will continue to value backlinks as one of the most crucial ranking factors. Anyone who understands how Google analytics works, knows backlinks are linked to high competition queries, which is evident by the fact that the first page of Google displays sites that possess high backlink authority.

With the drastic improvement of AI content, Google might need to reduce its weight on content and focus on other places, such as backlinks. SO, what should a business owner do about this? The answer is simple: continue to focus on link building and backlinks.

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