If you’re not paying attention to 2022 Google Algorithm Updates, you could be seriously hurting your chances of success. After all, more than 90% of the world uses Google Search. What are some upcoming changes you should know about and how will they affect the world of SEO?
In this article, we’ll take a look at the major Google Algorithm updates expected in 2022 and what they mean for your business (hint: if you aren’t ready, it could be devastating).
Google Algorithm 101: What is it?
The 2022 Google algorithm (PageRank (PR)) is a complex set of guidelines used to filter through content in order to provide each user with relevant results. These rules were originally coded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were in graduate school at Stanford University.
Since then, google updated the algorithm MANY times, to form the algorithm that Google has today. These updates are constantly changing the landscape of Google search, and affect search results for both site owners and users.
The specifics of how these changes happen, though, generally remains a mystery—and that’s intentional on part of Google.
In general, we know the following about how Google’s algorithm works:
- The algorithm uses about 200 factors to rank information and websites
- New algorithm updates are periodically released
- An update can happen any time
- Updates affect all searches globally
- There’s no way to predict when an update will occur
- Luckily, the most important updates are rolled out at the beginning of the year to allow Q1 SEO strategy updates.
Why does Google perform so many updates?
At a very high level, search engines optimize their ranking algorithms based on machine learning to provide you with the most relevant content. One of their primary goals is to try to predict what you want before you do. This is done by continuously mapping the web and other sources to connect us to the most relevant, helpful information.
Google’s mission states:
Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Image Source: Google
When we search, we often like to see results from pages that are similar to those we’ve visited before. This approach isn’t perfect, but it’s why so many updates occur over time—Google is constantly trying new things and testing search experiments in an effort to improve your experience.
As such, it’s important for SEOs and website owners alike to stay ahead of algorithm changes as well as learn how these changes impact user experience.
The 2022 Google Algorithm Structural Factors
Right now, it’s important to remember that organic search accounts for a large portion of internet users’ daily needs. In recent years, those needs have shifted toward more user-centric search queries. So what does that mean? More results with direct answers will be a thing in 2022. Also, SEO effectiveness rates are growing.
According to First Page Sage…
These are the 2022 Google Algorithm Ranking Factors:
- Consistent Publication of Engaging Content
- Keywords in Meta Title Tags
- Backlinks
- Niche Expertise
- User Engagement
- Internal Links
- Mobile-Friendly / Mobile-First Website
- Page Speed
- Site Security / SSL Certificate
- Schema Markup / Structured Data
- Keywords in URL
- Keywords in Header Tags
- Keywords in Meta Description Tags
- Other Factors
2022 Google Algorithm – It’s All About Content!
The “next big update” is already here and has been for the past few years. It’s possible that we’ll see big algorithm changes in the future, but right now, consistent Thought Leadership Content published 1-2 times per week will unlock the “News Website Bonus”. As of today, this is is the most important factor in the Google Algorithm.
If anything changes between now and 2023, we will update this article at that time to reflect the changes
So what can you do today to maximize your business’s SEO content?
Aside from following Google’s best practices and publishing amazing content twice per week, here are some key SEO writing tips to keep in mind…
How do you write SEO content in 2022?
You’ve now read and hopefully, understand how the Google Algorithm works in 2022. But now let’s get into how to write good SEO content in 2022.
To write good SEO content in 2022, use the Kochia Method.
Kochia Method Explained:
Keywords:
In every article, you publish, always use a list of the best keywords and make sure you know the most important one. All keywords should be related to your article’s topics and headlines.
Figuring out the right keywords is getting harder every year since everyone wants “the best keywords” and competition is increasing yearly. In 2019, it was reported that there are over 600 million blogs out of the 1.7 billion websites!
That is a lot of competition! Using SEO software is now imperative in your SEO strategy. There are a lot of SEO tools that can help such as SEMRUSH. You should use this software to try to find keywords that have the highest significant search volume.
Once your keyword research is done, analyze the main keyword and audit the other keywords to ensure your content is cohesive. When done correctly, success equates to your article getting a good position in SERP and increased traffic on your website.
Optimize:
Make sure your article is technically optimized for SEO. Everything needs to be done from title tags to heading tags, to meta description, to image all text, intro paragraph, URL structure, etc.
Competition:
This tactic is often overlooked by content writers but is vital to helping you rank your article in Google. Always type in the keyword/keywords into Google that you want to rank for and see what is working for the competition on Page 1.
This simple workflow gives you insight into the style of writing, additional keywords, and article structure. Heck, you can even utilize some of the ideas from page 1, but do it better than the competition and NEVER copy the writing from other websites. That’s not cool and Google especially does not like that
Headlines:
The headlines of your content blog or article are the “bones” of your content. They help assist search algorithms in indexing your website and allow for readers to get a quick summary of the content.
A large percentage of traffic clicks come from attention-grabbing user search intent headlines.
Today’s consumers have a very short attention span, you must maximize your headlines to get your general point across based only on the headlines they see. If the headlines aren’t interesting or relevant enough, most readers won’t even bother to read the content below the headline.
Internal Linking:
From the above sections, you’ve learned that Internal linking accounts for 5% of the ranking factor in the algorithm. You’ve also learned that consistent thought leadership content is vital for Google.
You can’t have excellent thought leader content without having strategic and relevant internal links.
An important SEO strategy is to always add as many internal links that make sense in the article as possible.
This tactic will give you a better search rank and help strengthen the authority of your previous website posts and article. Plus, when relevant, internal linking is encouraging your reader to get the information they are looking for, which increases the amount of time spent on your website.
Actual Content:
Last but not least, you have to put your ego aside and ask yourself the following questions:
- Is this an actual piece of good content?
- Does this article solve a problem?
- Can someone learn a thing or two from this?
Super important… never make people regret going to your website.
You need to provide interesting and relevant content. You should structure your website with the goal being to make them stay longer.
When the keywords are related to answering a question, make sure you go above and beyond in your article to answer that question as completely as you can. If you don’t answer their question, someone else will. When someone else does, they may pass you in Google search rankings.
Bonus Tip:
Make sure your content is easy to understand. This may seem obvious, but making things easy for your readers or customers can make your company look more professional, drive more traffic, and could turn your traffic into loyal readers or customers.
Key Takeaways:
For 2022, the Google Algorithm’s top three ranking factors are the consistent publication of engaging content, keywords in meta title tags, and backlinks.
Right now, consistent thought leadership content published 1-2 times per week is key.
Google is always working to fulfill its mission of creating the best possible search experience for its users. This means, showing relevant and high-quality search results for every search query for every keyword.
For marketers, this means you must have a proper strategy guiding your SEO efforts that is both organized and optimized. We recommend using the Kochia Method when writing for SEO in 2022.
Finally, make sure each post is “Actual Content”. If you do that, website visitors will be engaged, backlinks will accrue organically, your chance of getting featured snippets will increase and you’ll jump the Google Search rankings!
