You are done with writing information and quality blog posts. You ensured including all the relevant keywords. You even made sure to add Meta tags and tweaked your titles. Now, it is time to search for the keywords you want your site to rank for. And a boom! You cannot find your site anywhere!!! Confused? You may be wondering what went wrong.
Well, it takes time to rank in the search engines, considering that you have done exceptional work in terms of digital marketing and SEO. Another thing is that you should know what all the important factors are and how they affect the SEO ranking of your site. Stuffing your website with high-ranking keywords won’t help you climb higher in the Google search engine.
You may already know that Google uses two hundred different factors while ranking any site. But do you know what are they? Earlier this year, Google released an algorithm update on site speed, which later became a crucial factor to rank higher in 2021.
But when 2022 is barely two weeks away, it is important to stay up-to-date with the latest Google algorithm changes and mold your digital marketing strategies accordingly to survive in 2022. However, it is the tricky part to know what all will be there ahead. And that’s why we’ve come up with top SEO ranking factors you must be aware of in 2022. So, let’s dive into it!
1) Consistent and Engaging Content
Google’s ultimate objective is to give its customers what they’re looking for. And thus, your website content must be engaging, informative, and meaningful. Of course, digital marketing services are important, but the search engine algorithms are designed to measure the number of clicks received by your content and how long the user stays on your website. Therefore, make sure your website has consistent and engaging content publication to keep users engaged.
2) Adopt a mobile-first approach
With more than 55% of web traffic coming from mobile devices, Google realized the importance of mobile devices and implemented mobile-first indexing. You must think about optimizing your website for mobile devices with the help of a digital marketing agency. Your website must be mobile-friendly, mobile-optimized, and mobile responsive to increase the chances of users reading your content from mobile devices and exploring your website.
3) User experience is crucial
User experience is yet another critical SEO factor that affects your digital marketing campaigns. When it comes to the user experience, you should consider page speed, site structure, and security. Catering to these three basic parameters will ensure your site is optimized for a best-in-class user experience.
4) Backlinks are still important
Yes, backlinks are one of the most critical SEO ranking factors as the rank of your page is heavily reliant on it. The more websites that link to your site, the more benefit you will gain and establish your authority. And this will be a great booster to help your site rank higher in Google. You can easily get help from the digital marketing agency to do the needful. However, ensure that you don’t buy backlinks and focus on quality instead of quantity to get the best results from it.
5) Site speed will help you rank higher
As we discussed earlier, Google’s algorithms and page-ranking methods are focusing on improving the user experience. If your site doesn’t load faster, you will be thrown away from the race. As a part of digital marketing plans, make sure you include validating and optimizing your site speed. If your site loads faster and runs smoothly, users are more likely to stay longer on your site, return back, and even link it to others.
6) Site security is vital
The web has been more vulnerable than earlier these days. And it is a nightmare for Google to serve such harmful sites. In case your domain is at high risk in terms of cybersecurity or lacks an SSL certificate, Google will straightway consider your site vulnerable and will degrade your site in terms of SEO ranking. If you feel you are lagging in terms of security, give a try to a professional digital marketing agency to do the needful.
7) Schema markup
It is something that is often ignored by most digital marketing services providers. However, one should consider this factor with utmost precision. Though it is simply about a form of microdata used to create enhanced descriptions appearing in the search result, it is something that could help you rank higher and gain more conversions. It acts as a “virtual business card”, which allows users to see what your site is about, where you are located, and what you do.
Wrapping up
Though it is not an exhaustive list of SEO factors to be considered, we’ve tried to discuss the factors that require attention from the digital marketing agency and should be part of their digital marketing strategies. Following these simple hacks will definitely help you prepare your site to take advantage of Google ranking plans ahead in 2022.
If you feel you need a helping hand in your digital marketing plans, we’re a call away. Let’s discuss how you can leverage digital marketing trends to rank higher.