This is an article “AI Discernment and Communication Is What’s Hot In Today’s SEO” by Marc Primo
Keeping up with the latest trends is vital for every modern marketer. As search engines like Google make regular updates, being complacent in adjusting your strategies can quickly render a negative impact on your ranking. Every marketer knows that these algorithms ultimately determine which web pages should rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs).
For 2022’s post-pandemic forecast, artificial intelligence and communication factors will take center stage in the SEO industry. New practices will transform the way marketers perform SEO, including recent updates in Google’s now highly AI-powered RankBrain. Marketing heads everywhere say that the upgrade is the third most important factor in determining each website’s appropriate ranking vis-a-vis a user’s search intent.
Here’s what practitioners should expect in 2022 when it comes to the latest SEO trends that will matter for business:
Focus more on high-value content
As mentioned, RankBrain remains an essential factor in Google’s algorithms when relating user actions to search intent listings and qualifying websites for content quality and relevance. This process means that for each user who clicks on a page with crawlable data and spends an ample amount of time on the site, algorithms can determine if your website is legitimate for higher rankings. Technically, what matters here is your site’s bounce rate and density of quality content concerning the user’s search intent.
Of course, relevant keywords still do their job in terms of gaining a higher rank. With Google’s many upgrades in its algorithms, determining factors in your content are now more sophisticated, so it’s important not to overstuff your blogs with keywords. Instead, draft them in a way that answers your target audience’s questions and regularly update them so that they stay relevant. Otherwise, RankBrain will detect overstuffing tactics and rank websites with more high-value content.
Optimizing your site for RankBrain can be a little tricky, given that there’s no one way to do it. However, knowing what your target audience needs and offering them quality content and relevant keywords is the way to go.
Establish more quality backlinks
How your website links to another quality site can significantly influence your ranking, especially with AI-powered algorithms in place. Despite having no recent updates in years, PageRank still matters when Google reviews your backlinks to assess your website’s authority, or if they are suitable matches for user queries on Google Search.
Aside from how you manage high-quality content, establishing an excellent link-building strategy tells PageRank that your site is trustworthy and that other high-authority sites support you.
Backlinks account for 15% of Google algorithm factors for 2022, or the fourth most considered facet in the search engine’s evaluation. Because AI elements are already in place, backlinks can tell the platform if your website is high quality and original.
Google wants more communication
Another top SEO trend for 2022 is Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications or LaMDA. This factor has something to do with how voice search can help you rank higher by optimizing the user questions you anticipate for your site. With home assistants getting in on the search method bandwagon, Google wants more talk between the user and your website.
The LaMDA machine learning (ML) model understands words and languages with proficiency. So much so that it turns into your significant other who can finish your sentences when you type them on search bars. Powered by Google’s neural network architecture, Transformer is way better than previous recurrent or convolutional models. It can translate multiple languages in standard benchmarks with minimal computation and further improvements via ML. The more users feed the model, the more it learns to talk coherently and determines which sites match their queries.
As Google steers its algorithms to more AI and ML-powered territories, turning to a proprietary platform or software aligned with LaMDA and such other updates on natural language processing (NLP) algorithms will give you the upper hand in your SEO efforts. If you haven’t found such software or platform assistance, optimizing your website’s user search capabilities would be the logical first step to capitalize on this 2022 SEO trend.
Empower your site towards more AI processes for eCommerce
COVID-19 empowered more marketers to shift towards more AI-powered solutions for eCommerce processes on their websites. The way Shopify and Amazon boosted their financial gains proves this, and the good news is, it also works for way smaller businesses.
Google’s shopping search algorithms have been in place for years, but only during the pandemic did they upgrade their systems to compete with Shopify and Amazon. The upgrade came in the form of the Shopping Graph. This dynamic AI-powered system can determine how product information, brands, inventory, and user reviews change over time and align with one another.
Shopping Graph works in real-time for better online experiences that allow users to browse and shop according to what’s available within the websites they visit. Google takes its shopping upgrades a step further by making a strengthened partnership with Shopify. The move led to a 70% increase in Google’s catalog, thanks to Shopify’s broad list of merchants that became part of the Google shopping ecosystem.
Knowing how the Shopping Graph works leads to better online visibility for brands. Such a democratized shopping ecosystem allows businesses to take advantage of its benefits across Google’s family of platforms regardless of scale.
As a bonus, Google Shopping also optimizes your site for mobile shopping. Currently, 71% of eCommerce site traffic comes from mobile browsing. In other words, you’ll lose a lot of potential customers if you don’t fully optimize your site for mobile.
With that, you also need to familiarize your website with other Google Shopping features. Some things worth looking at include the Chrome add-on open cart tabs, loyalty program links for better communication with your regular customers, and search keyword optimization for ‘affordable carousel picks,’ ‘discount code,’ and others.
Start by creating a Google Merchant Center account and optimize all of your product information on the platform. Doing so will make them more competitive against other organic listings in Google Shopping and lead to more high-intent searches to your websites and landing pages. All that without having to pay a single cent!