AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT SEO TRENDS FOR 2022

This article is perfect for digital marketers or business owners who want to get their website on the first page of Google. The most efficient way to do so is with SEO, one of the most popular forms of digital marketing. Of course, there will be stiff competition. So, let’s see which SEO techniques you should be focusing on this year.

BERT

BERT, or Bidirectional Encoder Representations From Transformer, is used for voice search. Simply put, BERT is a Google algorithm that has been around for many years. But in the beginning, the problem was that Google didn’t show results from human language search queries as it should. But as technology continues to evolve, in 2022, BERT will play a more critical role than ever before. 

The system now has a better understanding of human language because Google has enabled developers from all over the world to develop the algorithm based on AI Neural Network technology (also known as neural network). NLP (Natural Language Processing) gives Google an understanding of voice search and spoken language and shows results that meet your needs more accurately.

In terms of SEO optimisation for business owners, they will need to focus on Long-Tail Keywords or more specific terms. For example, if you usually use the term “Digital marketing agency”, you might need to narrow it down to “Hire a digital marketing agency in the Chidlom area,” for example.

*At present, BERT may still work best with the English language. As for other languages, they may take a while to become stable.

MUM

If BERT is of interest to you, MUM will be even more so. MUM or Multitask Unified Model is an algorithm that Google released in mid-2021. It is still a work in progress, but Google claims it outperforms BERT by 1000x. MUM is constantly evolving to overcome the limitations that users experience when searching on Google.

When we plan to do something or go somewhere, obviously, the first thing anyone does nowadays is to search on Google. Imagine you search: “I’ve hiked Mount Adams in the past, but I want to go up Mount Fuji next fall, how should I prepare?”. In the past, Google would be inclined to focus on the most frequently searched keywords – the names of the two mountains. The information provided may be just the location details or the best means of transport to get there, which leaves you seeking further information. But with MUM technology, you can get complete answers in just one search. The information displayed could be an image, video or article, making it easier to read and more useful.

Want to look for local restaurants or places to hang out with locals in Korea? In the past, Google may not have been able to provide you with satisfactory answers unless you searched for them in Korean, but now MUM will help them appear even if you search in Thai or any other language. MUM overcomes language restrictions by supporting up to 75 languages.

LAMDA

LaMDA, or Language Model for Dialogue Applications, is another futuristic technology designed to be applied to human-ai conversations. You may be familiar with chatbot systems where the bot will send a blunt response when we ask a question. Chatbots are limited by system owners who have to pre-prepare answers to questions based on specific keywords.

LaMDA is an entirely different technology because there are no answers prepared in advance. Instead, it will use an artificial intelligence system that learns information in the human language for a more natural conversation, as if you were talking to a real person. You won’t have to worry about asking questions in any spoken language. 

However, LaMDA is still being worked on, but we believe that soon this technology will help businesses operate online more efficiently than ever before.

SHOPPING GRAPH

The Shopping Graph is another step in Google’s entry into the e-commerce marketplace. As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic affected all aspects of our lives. Online shopping was the only option during a lockdown, and that has caused the number of e-commerce businesses to skyrocket.

The Shopping Graph shows information pulled directly from retailers or brands that have a storefront on Google Shopping, including product information, their website, prices, reviews, photos, and videos. It uses various channels, including images, maps, Google Lens and even YouTube. It’s a collaboration between Google and Shopify, a giant online store platform with massive data warehousing pulling in millions of merchants with over 24 billion products. 

On YouTube, in the past, you would see beauty bloggers reviewing loose powder. They may have put a link in the Description Box under the video for you to click on to buy the loose powder from the brand’s website, but from now on, they no longer need to do that. As YouTube can use product Tags, if you are interested in the loose powder that the blogger has reviewed, you can click to buy it while watching the video clip.

YOUR CARTS

Your Carts is a new module on Google Chrome. It’s common to come across something exciting when you’re browsing but not be in a position to buy it at that very moment. Now you can keep the item in your cart and order when you’re ready.

PASSAGE RANKING

Passage Ranking is the prioritisation of data. Typically, when users search on Google, the information displayed is websites with Titles and Descriptions. However, Passage Ranking takes the part of the article or page of the website that best matches the keywords the user searches for. 

FEATURED SNIPPET

Featured Snippet is a display location where Google selects information specific to what the user is searching for. In the past, when we talked about SEO, the goal was to reach the first page of Google, but right now, that might not be enough.

Featured Snippets will be positioned above the top spot on Google. In other words, Featured Snippets will be position 0. However, this position will not be displayed every time someone searches, only if the user searches for the right keywords. It’s important to understand the principles of using H1, H2, H3 and using keywords correctly, including in the Title, Description and throughout the entire web page.

Featured snippets come in many forms, such as:

1. Ordered lists including types, procedures, methods of doing things.
2. Definition boxes including information that may be extracted from the first paragraph of the article or information extracted from the Passage Ranking.
3. Tables including nutrition tables, sizes of clothes and shoes, etc.

Image: Google

VIDEO KEY MOMENTS

This feature works with YouTube video clips. We may have been hesitant to click on the Timestamp in the Description Box or Comment in the past.

But Key Moments simplifies the user’s access to video data by displaying key moments. Along with the details of the time each moment occurs under the video clip, you can get a preview of the content you will see if you click on that section. To ensure your YouTube video clips have Key Moments, the easiest thing to do is add a Timestamp and write down the key moments, and then Google will automatically pull them into Key Moments for you.

Image: Google Developers

CORE WEB VITALS

Core Web Vitals is a metric to determine a user’s browsing experience, or UX, which stands for User Experience. It’s been a measure used by Google for some time now, and it is still vital for effective SEO. 

Because of the different factors that can increase your Core Web Vitals score, you must continually develop your website, addressing Pagespeed, Mobile-Friendly Web browsing, security such as HTTPS, and even harassing ads. In short, do everything possible to provide the best user experience on our website and encourage users to stay on your website for longer. 

Core Web Vitals can be divided into three main areas:

1: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) 

The download speed of the largest content, such as images, banners, or high-resolution videos, which require a certain amount of time to download or display while the user is browsing the website. So, it is better to compress files or use images and videos with a size that will give you a higher LCP rating.

2:First Input Display (FID) 

The speed at which your website responds to users. For example, how long they have to wait after clicking to move to another page. This can affect your Google ranking.

3:Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Look at how the elements on your website shift. Does your website freeze at any point? If so, this needs to be fixed by your web developer as it can affect your website’s score.

These are the developments we can look forward to in 2022. It may look like all this technology is still being developed, but soon, these technologies will be deployed to help users find exactly what they are looking for. When it comes to SEO, following updates from Google is very important because they will help you continually optimise your website.