Every year, the local search engine market changes. While some trends are short-lived, there are always some that last longer.
There are many strategies that companies use to try and rank on Google Maps or Bing Places, making the local search domain very competitive. So, what will happen to Local SEO in 2022?
The way things look might change over time.
12 Local SEO Predictions to Look Out
Google My Business Will Reign
Google My Business will continue to be an essential tool for local businesses in 2022.
If your business already has a Facebook profile, you should make sure that it is regularly updated with new information and images.
It is advisable that you stay focused on your goals and take advantage of the latest features GMB has to offer.
GMB Optimization Checklist:
- Fill out every form field
- Make use of videos and photos
- Choose the appropriate category
- Use a local phone number
- Respond to reviews
Voice Search is on the Rise
Voice search is becoming increasingly popular, and local businesses need to take this into account. Many people are finding that it is the preferred method for finding information.
Voice search is a growing trend and businesses need to optimize their profiles for this technology to be successful.
People use voice search because it is more convenient than typing on a device, especially when they are driving or doing another activity that requires both hands.
Voice Optimization Checklist:
- Use conversational language
- Focus on long-tail keywords
- Create keyword-rich answers for frequently asked questions
- Use FAQ section to insert naturally-sounding keywords
You can improve your blog’s SEO by answering local queries under the “People Also Ask” section. This will help optimize your website for voice search using local terms that are relevant to your business.
Mobile-friendliness is the Key
The number of people performing online searches on their smartphones is increasing, especially when they are out and about. This means that businesses need to be optimized for mobile devices now more than ever.
A large portion of people use their smartphones as their main device to access the internet, so a website doesn’t have to be flawless or highly developed to gain visitors.
This text is saying that in the fourth quarter of 2021, mobile devices are expected to make up 54.4% of the world’s internet traffic. The percentage of people in the US who own a smartphone was 50.81% in 2020 Q3.
A Google survey found that 96% of consumers have seen sites that were not designed to be mobile-friendly.
Tip: Use Google’s free Mobile-friendliness checker.
Reviews Make or Break it
Businesses have been debating whether online reviews can help them be successful. Local businesses will continue to benefit from their review history in 2022.
Not all feedback is useful. The owner is responsible for making sure the customer has a good experience by monitoring reviews and making necessary changes.
This year, it will be very important to have positive reviews about your business on sites like Yelp and FourSquare, because people will be spending more time online researching before making a purchase decision. Since online reviews have such a big impact on consumer behavior, it’s important to be aware of them.
Local businesses should set up an online review system on their website, or ask customers to leave a review via email or social media once the transaction is complete. This is a great way to take advantage of customer feedback and improve your business.
If you want your business to be successful on Yelp, it is important to have a lot of online reviews. Customers can filter businesses by how many reviews they have and how high their rating is.
Local Links Matter More Than Ever
As more and more people use search engines to find local businesses, Google and other companies are starting to allow those businesses to rank higher in search results.
The importance of having high-quality local backlinks from sites relevant to your industry or geographic location is growing. Boosting your local SEO efforts by building local links is an effective way to improve your site’s visibility in search engine results pages for searches related to your business’s location.
If you don’t focus on building links with local businesses this year, you will fall behind compared to your competitors. The following links will become increasingly important as Google continues to update its algorithms to display higher quality content on its search engine results pages.
3 Tips for Local Link-building:
- Work with local media houses
- Join hands with local bloggers and influencers
- Become a member of a local chamber of commerce
Hybrid SEO Strategy is Going to Take the Front Seat
After the Covid-19 pandemic, many local companies have had to increase their online presence to continue operating.
It is important to have a combination of a Local SEO strategy and an eCommerce SEO strategy. This needs to be fixed as soon as possible for companies that rely on online shopping.
The pandemic has led many Americans to change their shopping habits by buying groceries online rather than going to stores in person.
As more and more people turn to the internet to do their grocery shopping, it’s becoming increasingly important for local retailers to make sure their websites are optimized for search engines. This is because search engines are currently the most popular way for people to find the products and services they’re looking for.
– Shopify, Wix, Weebly, or SquareSpace If you’re looking to start an e-commerce business, you may want to consider using one of the following platforms: Shopify, Wix, Weebly, or SquareSpace.
- Shopify – Plans start at $29
- SquareSpace – Plans start at $16/month
- BigCommerce – Plans start at $29.95/month
Audience Prefer Localized Content
The importance of localization has been increasing steadily for a few years now, and it doesn’t seem like this trend is going to stop anytime soon. In the future, Google may place more emphasis on localization.
If you don’t create content specifically for your target location, it will be difficult to rank highly in search engines. But if you do make an effort to produce localized content, you’ll see a significant improvement in your ranking.
Content that is relevant to specific geographical areas is known as localized content. This can include things like local news, events, and businesses.
This strategy will not only improve your ranking in local search results, but will also help you create a stronger bond with your local community. If you want to build trust and credibility with potential customers in your target market, try creating localized content.
EAT and be content
Content is important for SEO today. Search engines use algorithms to determine which websites will be most useful and relevant to users. Thus, having a good content strategy is essential.
It is the backbone of your whole operation. Your website is your connection to Google users.
To create an effective content strategy, you need to align your content with searcher intent.
Some experts suggest that you should mostly or completely follow the EAT rating guidelines.
The goal of your content strategy should be to provide users with the greatest value. Additionally, it is recommended by experts that your website possesses the qualities of Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness in order to be successful. Additionally, it would be beneficial to use various types of media such as video, audio, etc. to maintain a high level of engagement.
This means that if your website is about outdoor activities and you start publishing content about unified field theory, you probably won’t rank very high.
You stand a better chance of ranking well if you stay within your area of expertise. If you create content that is high quality and includes information that is trustworthy and expert-level, your SEO will most likely improve. But what are these really? This is referring to the company’s SQR guidelines.
Search Quality Rater (SQR) guidelines
Google has contracts with more than 10,000 people who rate the quality of search results. The “raters” are people who are instructed to do a search and then rate the quality of the pages that come up in the top results. Every year, the latest set of guidelines is sent to the public.
The following is an excerpt from an SQR guideline that provides tips on rating websites using the EAT framework. This text suggests that the most beneficial content should be ranked highest. This means that sites that try to help users should be given a high rating, while those that try to harm, or mislead users should be given a low rating.
For those with beneficial content, raters should consider EAT—
- the Expertise of the creator of the Main Content;
- the Authoritativeness of the creator of the Main Content, the Main Content itself, and the website;
- the Trustworthiness of the creator of the Main Content, the Main Content itself, and the website.
This is true for websites about medicine, science, finance, hobbies like photography and guitar playing, and everything else in between. Be sure to examine your site and yourself closely if you give yourself high marks on these metrics. The ranking algorithm has not been fully implemented yet, these are just guidelines for the raters.
Keyword research
Google has changed the way people do keyword research by adding features to results pages that include shopping, local packs, and featured snippets. The new results have caused a decrease in the number of people clicking on links to websites at the top of the search engine results page. People are clicking on the new results instead, causing the decrease.
marketers stopped caring about top search positions and started caring about a new concept called SERP marketing This type of keyword optimization is designed to improve the visibility of content in different search elements, such as top stories, videos, “people also ask”, and images.
To succeed in today’s Google search landscape, you need to make sure your website’s goals match the keyword opportunities that come up in search results pages (Content Marketing Institute, 2020).
Influencer SEO
As influencer marketing becomes more popular, it is being used in SEO. Advocates of the technique argue that it is much less expensive than traditional marketing and significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to reach potential consumers as influencers already have a built-in audience.
Additionally, a lot of influencers are competent at producing unique content and can be great teamPlayers. However, businesses should take into consideration their area of operation. Are they successful on social media? Do they have their own site? Do the people you’re considering following have any similar interests to you? If they do, are they considered an authority in their niche? Influencers can help you with your SEO by taking into account your goals and needs.
Design will remain relevant
On-page optimization is a term that refers to both the front-end design aspects and the back-end technical aspects of a website. We will start by looking at the front-end aspects of this project. Later, we’ll get to the latter.
How the user experiences your design is important. To wit, it is what the users experience themselves. They only see the end result of the site, not the beautiful back-end architecture. They only commune with the user interface. The site experience you design for them is how they interface with you.
We’ve already talked about the importance of having relevant and useful content. However, the site’s design is what holds this content. There is no one definitive answer to how to create a well-designed website, but there are some easy tools you can use to help you out.
A good website builder platform will have beautiful templates for you to customize.
The best websites are also optimized for different browsers and operating systems. One platform that comes in highly recommended is Wix.com. It is completely cloud-based and easy to use. This is perfect for those that are not code-savvy. Also, it is priced really well especially for beginners.
You can create a design that makes it easy for customers to have a good experience. Dashboards will be intuitive and optimized for mobile interactions. Menus will be neat and simple.
Conversion buttons such as “add to cart”, “subscribe” and “pay” would be easy to design. If you have a well-designed website, you can keep users engaged longer.
Thus, you’d improve your SEO. If you have high-quality content that is relevant to what people are searching for, it will be an excellent addition to your SEO efforts.
Mobile presses on
All new sites that have been created since July 1st of this year have been subjected to mobile-first indexing. Google is making a change to help improve the search experience for its mobile users. The plan was first announced in 2016.
Google has rolled this out to a test group of anonymous sites in December of 2017. This probably started in 2015 when most people were using mobile devices to search Google. Although this may not seem like the most obvious choice, it makes a lot of sense given that most people use their phones to access search engines.
