As we leave 2021 behind us and move into the new year, it’s important to re-evaluate your SEO strategy. Things change as Google makes updates and tweaks to its algorithm and the new year is a good time to start fresh. Check out these trends that are likely to play a major role in SEO in 2022.

Is EAT Still Important in 2022?

EAT stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Together, these three factors function as one of the most important ranking factors. Google’s aim is to provide users with the most relevant and useful websites possible based on their search query. The greater your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, the more relevant and useful Google will see your site, and therefore, the higher your site will rank on SERPs.

What Is EAT?

EAT is such an important part of SEO that it bears repeating. If you’re not already focused on EAT, you should be.

• Expertise – show your expertise with accurate, in-depth information
• Authority – show your authority with high-quality citations of your content
• Trustworthiness – show your trustworthiness by having good brand perception with high standards for quality content

All three of these are important, but authority may be the most difficult to obtain because it requires others to link to your site. In 2022, a content promotion campaign can help to draw awareness to your content and, so long as your content is high-quality, encourage the links and social media shares that will boost your authority.

How Important Is Link-Building in 2022?

Link-building remains an important part of SEO as we move into 2022. Link-building, as long as the links in question are high-quality links, will help to improve your website’s authority. This, in turn, will help to boost your rankings. On top of that, the more people that link to your site, the more opportunities there are for people to find your content.

Is It Still Necessary to Optimize for Desktop?

Google has been using a mobile-first optimization approach for many years now in order to encourage people to make their websites more mobile-friendly. This was important because so many people were starting to use mobile devices for searching. However, that doesn’t mean that desktop computers should be ignored, either. User experience for all users, whether mobile or desktop, is important for SEO.

Should You Optimize for Voice Search?

In 2022, if you haven’t already optimized for voice search, you should strongly consider doing so. Voice search is becoming more and more common as users take advantage of voice search capabilities and AI like Siri and Alexa. With each year, voice search optimization becomes more important. To optimize for voice search, focus on longer key phrases, especially in the form of questions. Most people use voice search in a conversational way, asking questions of the AI like they would another person.

What SEO Mistakes Should You Avoid in 2022?

Google gets smarter and smarter every year about punishing websites for black hat SEO tactics. These are shady tactics that prioritize gaming search engines over the experience of actual Internet users. Things like keyword stuffing, ad-heavy sites, pop-up ads, low-quality link schemes, duplicate content, videos that automatically start playing, and more are all examples of things to avoid. Think about what you as a user find annoying when visiting websites.