Search engines evolve. What was once effective may not deliver the same results now for your association. That evolution means changes in your marketing strategy and the tactics that come with it. And the best indicators of change are trends in the digital marketing landscape.

If you’ve been practicing SEO for a while, then you know the importance of keeping up with the trends—and which ones to apply. Recognition of which techniques to focus on will allow you to make the most of your resources and avoid wasting efforts on trends that may not work for your marketing goals.

Here are some SEO trends to employ in 2022.

The EAT Principle for High-Quality Content

The EAT principle is relevant in determining if a web page contains valuable, useful, and quality content. EAT stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. This means that for a page to rank higher on Google, the content must be from a reliable and reputable website with  proven credibility. Here are some tips for creating content that shows expertise:

• Use keyword research to align with what your audience is looking for.
• Produce content that’s well-researched and always cites references.
• For blogs, always include the author’s biography. Information about the author will help Google evaluate whether they’re an expert in the content area.

For authoritativeness, the content needs to be mentioned and cited by other publications or third-party websites to garner reputation and added credibility.  Consider these tips for strengthening your content’s authority:

• Gain backlinks from authoritative sites.
• Aim to be mentioned on credible sites in the same field.
• Create relevant content that is valuable to your niche and shareable.

If you look at the similarities among all the SEO trends, good user experience is consistent. And it drives many of the best practices in digital marketing, aside from SEO.

When it comes to trustworthiness, your content should include elements like business information, reviews from other users, and the domain should be secure. To improve trustworthiness, do the following:

• Make sure your organization’s information is visible on your website.
• Ensure that your site has an SSL certificate.
• Your terms and conditions and privacy policy should be easily visible.

Long-Form Content

Long-form content, which is usually more than 2,000 words, needs to captivate your audience so they stay on your site longer. To improve the SEO performance in this area:

• Create content that aligns with the pain points of your target audience.
• Make sure your content is easily digestible by breaking the article into sections.
• Make content easily shareable with just a click of a button.
• Include verifiable facts and link them to other reputable research articles.

Video Content Optimization

Maximizing the use of video in your SEO content strategy is vital. The success of TikTok demonstrates that consumers like watching videos about just about anything. And there’s YouTube, the second-largest search engine in the world.

Because YouTube is owned by Google, the number-one search engine in the world, videos on YouTube tend to rank well on Google. So, take advantage of this and create videos around topics that interest your members or topics they frequently ask about. Consider these steps to optimize video content:

• Keywords should be included in the title and description. Include root keywords in your channel name, title, and descriptions so that viewers can automatically understand what your channel is about.
• Place hashtags and keywords on video description boxes.

Deep Learning Technology

Search engines aim to be more assistive and proactive. To manage this without being programmed every time, they have to learn how to read different types of human behavior and independently adapt to changing times. This is done through deep learning. Deep learning technology is a way for machines to learn without human assistance.

In the past, Google’s RankBrain proved this was a possible feat. It was able to use data gathered from millions of queries, and then develop its own understanding of a user’s search intent, resulting in more accurate search results and recommendations. However, deep learning technology is just in its infancy. It needs further studying to determine its full potential.

In the future, deep learning will grow and develop in many ways. SEO professionals may not be able to imagine the extent of this growth, but they need to adapt and prepare for this technology by always making sure users are given the best experience.

Voice Search

A lot of the development in voice search is happening because it’s becoming more accurate and advanced the more people are using it. Voice search also changes the way people interact with search engines. With smart home devices—e.g., Alexa, Siri, and others—people can access search engines with just two words.

Smartphones are the leading device when it comes to voice search with 90 percent of consumers stating that they have used their mobile devices for voice search. This new technology is pushing marketers to look for new ways to use keywords and queries that are aligned to what users are most likely to tap into as they talk rather than type.

One tip is to target long-tail phrases and more specific terms. Look at questions that people are most likely looking for. When users access search engines via voice, they’re more likely to use questions. So, look at questions that are mostly asked by your users.

The technology behind search engines will continue to change and evolve, influencing the tactics your marketing strategy will follow. Although it’s vital to keep up with these changes, one constant focus remains crucial: member satisfaction.

If you look at the similarities among all the SEO trends, good user experience is consistent. And it drives many of the best practices in digital marketing, aside from SEO. So whichever trend you end up applying in 2022, make sure user experience is the focal point. No organization can go wrong if it’s driven to satisfy what its market needs.