Should 2022 be the year you finally hire an SEO agency? Has the time come to outsource your organic search marketing to an established SEO firm?
Third-party SEO service involvement can be beneficial in a number of ways. It can boost the ROI on your SEO strategy, it allows for the redeployment of in-house resources and it gives you the opportunity to stay one step ahead of the game.
However, if the DIY approach remains the preferred option for your business this year, knowing which aspects of your strategy to prioritise is essential. For the most part, the ‘golden rules’ of good SEO from last year have carried over to 2022. Hence, none of the following should come as much of a surprise.
These remain the most critical aspects of effective SEO to focus on this year; each also having guaranteed ongoing relevance and value, the kind of ‘evergreen’ SEO that never fails to pay dividends.
Website Performance Optimisation
Never has it been more important to ensure every single page on your website loads as quickly as possible. Research from Portent suggests that for every added second of load time, overall website conversion rates plummet by more than 4.4%.
It has been known for some time that unless a webpage loads in three seconds or less, it is game over. From a 2022 perspective, anything more than two seconds could cost you dearly.
Target the Right Keywords
Targeting the right keywords does not mean simply jumping on the bandwagon with your competitors’ chosen keywords. Instead, it means taking the time to figure out exactly what your target audience is entering into the search bar. Not to mention, what kinds of voice search queries are proving popular in your niche.
The time has come to ditch the pursuit of top-level SERP rankings with individual keywords or short phrases. Long-tail search terms, questions and answers hold the key to making things work in 2022. Your customers are already using long and detailed search terms – your job is to accommodate them accordingly.
Create Longer, Better Content
Similarly, in-depth web content of genuine value has become the content of choice for the major search engines. Year by year, optimum article length to grab Google’s attention has been steadily growing. To such an extent that today, there really is no upper-limit. Just as long as every word holds relevance and value, longer is better.
Penning long-form articles can help establish your authority in your niche. The more relevant, engaging and original your content is, the higher the likelihood customers will keep coming back for more
Take Link Building More Seriously
Google’s John Mueller recently went on record to confirm what most SEOs have known for years. Speaking in an online hangout, he stated outright that a single high-quality backlink is better than a million low-grade backlinks. In which case, wasting time on the latter is inadvisable.
Just one high-authority backlink from a relevant source can give a site’s SEO performance a major boost. Paying for backlinks typically proves counterproductive; as Google does not take kindly to this kind of paid promotion.
Avoid Black Hat SEO
This means steering clear of anything that could steer your campaign in an unprofitable direction. Black-hat SEO encompasses countless tactics that were once effective, but could pave the way for a Google penalty today.
Examples of which include; keyword stuffing, spam backlinks, invisible text, page swapping and the use of irrelevant keywords. It is no longer possible to get away with underhand tactics like these, which are therefore best to be avoided at all costs.
Track, Analyse and Optimise
Acknowledging the continuous nature of an SEO campaign is also essential. Primarily due to the fact that Google is continuously moving the goalposts, meaning what works right now could be completely ineffective down the line.
This is where a strategic seo campaign of tracking, analysis and optimisation can make all the difference. Use analytics to leverage the strengths of your SEO strategy, oust anything that is not working and pursue continuous improvement at all times.