SEO success in 2022 will require more than just collecting high-quality keywords and stuffing them into your website. Businesses will need customized plans to outrank their competitors’ websites. That means creating an all-encompassing SEO strategy and sticking to it for a long period.

What is SEO Strategy?

SEO strategies are customized plans to increase the chances of appearing on the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). These plans have various facets. For instance, content marketing is part of broader SEO strategies. It’s the SEO process of organizing and categorizing website content in a way that it’s easy for search engine bots to index.

Search engine bots assess the content to identify areas of authority. Then, they index the website and give appropriate rankings to website pages. Mobile SEO is also a vital aspect of modern-day SEO strategies. Mobile optimization makes sites accessible to mobile device users.

We’ve outlined some other key factors you’ll have to consider to create a winning SEO strategy in 2022 –

1. Focus on Target Customers and the Keywords They Use

Before you dive into technical SEO or content marketing, you’ll need to conduct thorough customer and keyword research. It’s the process of figuring out what search terms your target customers are using on search engines. Incorporating these terms in your website will organically result in higher rankings.

• Set Up a Customer Research Team

Ask your marketing team to develop ‘Customer Personas.’ Find out what these personalities are searching for on the internet. Use these keywords to optimize your website and to create customer-specific content.

• Conduct Keyword Research

Discover the most used ‘search queries’ of your target customers. Use Google’s autocomplete feature to discover top search suggestions. Also, use free keyword research/analysis tools like Answer the Public (ATP) or Google’s Keyword Planner to find the keywords that you’re target customers are using.

You can discover search volume ranges for different keywords with these tools. Use Google Trends to learn how different keywords are trending (not just the Search Volumes). Keep conducting keyword and customer research every day. These types of data keep changing, and those changes need to be reflected in your search engine optimization strategy.

2. Incorporate the Right Keywords

After you’ve conducted customer and keyword research, you’ll have to incorporate two types of keywords in your website –

• Long-Tail Keywords:

These search terms have longer lengths (4+ or 5+ words), so their search volumes are relatively low. But, low search volume means low competition. Using target customer-specific long-tail keywords can be hugely beneficial for your SEO process.

• Short-Tail Keywords:

Short-tail keywords are typically no longer than three words. That’s why these terms cover broad ranges of topics, not specific ones like long-tail keywords. Hence, these search terms also boast higher search volumes and higher competition levels.

• “Best PCs” - is an example of a short-tail keyword.
• “Best Gaming PCs Released in 2022” - is an example of a long-tail keyword.

Small websites with niche audiences should focus more on using long-tail keywords as they have higher conversion chances. After a while, they can start competing with larger websites that mostly target short-tail keywords.

3. On-Site SEO Optimization

Once you’ve decided which long and short-tail keywords you need to use, it’s time to add them to your web pages. The process of integrating keywords to web pages in a way that makes them easily discoverable on search engines is called on-site or on-page optimization.

Here are the best on-page SEO practices in 2022 according to Google –

• Include main keywords in webpage titles, tags, meta descriptions, webpage URLs, internal links, and website content.
• Use focus keywords in the first 100 words of the content. The earlier keywords show up in web pages, the better their chances of getting spotted by Google’s algorithm.
• Create H1 tags for all article/blog posts. Add keywords to the title to help Google’s search engine bots understand the context/structure of the webpage.
• Avoid overstuffing keywords – use them naturally throughout the content.
• Use outbound links from reputable sources to make your web pages appear authentic.
• Make webpage URLs short and add keywords in each URL.

4. Create High-Quality, Search Engine Optimized Content

Now that we know where and how you should add keywords to your web pages let’s assess the type of content you should create. According to Google’s 2022 algorithm update, three types of content are favored by the search engine –

• Content That Addresses User Search Intent: Create web pages full of content that precisely answers what your target Google searchers want.

• Unique Content: Content that can’t be found easily on other sites.

• Valuable Content: Content that’s to-the-point, full of details, concise, and relevant.

Always update pre-existing content on your website. Delete old, irrelevant web pages. Here’s how website content can be optimized to secure “click-throughs” -

• Use question-based title tags.
• Add meta-descriptions on top of each webpage.
• Optimize Content for Google’s featured snippets. You’ll need to present your content in small, digestible pieces to appear in Google’s featured snippets sections. Also, use “snippet baits” at the beginning of all blogs/articles.
• Product reviews, FAQs, top ten lists, etc., are titles that hook target searchers.
• Add dates and descriptions on each blog/article to make it clear to the search engine algorithms that the content is relevant.
• Create long-form content as those types of blogs/articles gain 77.2% more backlinks than short-form content.
• Use copyright-free images. Webpages with original images/videos rank higher. Don’t forget to add alt texts or alt descriptions to all images. Image optimization should be a part of your overall search engine optimization strategy.
• Add links from high authority pages to all articles, blogs, reviews, etc.
• Avoid publishing thin, low-value, and duplicate content as Google de-ranks websites with such content.
• Use LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords to boost your site’s relevancy.

Having a high Click-Through Rate (CTR) is vital for earning higher rankings. Your website should also be fast-loading so that the users who click on it don’t leave. In 2022, research-backed content means high-quality content, according to Google. So, keep improving the “E.A.T.” – expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness of your web content.

Take these steps to develop a formidable SEO strategy for your website in 2022. They’ll help you meet Google’s specific web page experience metrics.