SEO trends in 2022 according to the WAM agency
If there is one area of the web that is constantly changing, it is SEO. SEO professionals must be constantly on the lookout for web developments, and for Google developments. As part of our survey on SEO in France conducted with the WAM agency, we wanted to ask them about their vision of the major SEO trends in 2022, and their impact. David Eichholtzer, the president of the WAM agency, gives us in this forum his analysis of the changes in SEO and the problems that this poses for SEOs and digital professionals.
Google In 2022: Towards A Conversational Engine
For the SEO industry, there is clearly a before and after health crisis. More and more advertisers realize that it is essential to control the organic presence of their brand in Google. If only to provide it with a lasting base of visibility capable of absorbing any budget cuts from paid schemes.
The discipline is increasingly integrated into the strategies of marketing departments. With 52 million unique visitors per day, in France alone, Google is the most visited “place” in France. A lever that is now essential, often the first contact between a brand and its users. This is the place for all questions. Of all the answers as well. Far from the search engine of the beginnings displaying only 10 blue links.
In 2022, on the first page of Google’s search results, up to 26 organic contact points (source: Danny Sullivan, Google Search Liaison) are offered to Internet users, depending on the type of query. A variety of results that allow him to find the solution to his problem. Google has evolved into an answer engine, then now a conversation engine. Research is assisted by Artificial Intelligence to “guess”, anticipate as soon as possible, the intention behind each user’s request.
Google offers a real search path, from the start of a question, via Google Suggest, then punctuated by various features such as direct answers (Featured Snippets), such as FAQs within the results themselves (the famous People Also Ask) or carousels of local results, videos, filter images, etc. All this allows the Internet user to refine his search. The objective: to shorten the decision-making cycle of the user with what could look like the beginnings of a personal assistant.
Sharp Research And Results
This is the meaning of the new features announced by Google in the second half of 2021. Through the new algorithm, called MUM (Multitask Unified Model) which will be gradually deployed over the coming months, Google wants to anticipate the intentions of its users even more. The physiognomy of results will continue to change, as will the way of delivering information.
Visual search should be one of these first changes at the start of the year. Through the Google Lens functionality, the Internet user will now be able to carry out visual searches as one can search for music with Shazam. Whether you are looking for the name of a plant, a garment with a printed pattern or even the pair of sneakers of your favorite athlete, visual search will literally uncap the discoverability of billions of information and products, previously limited. to the expression by keyword.
In parallel with this new wealth of research, Google will simultaneously offer results, in multiple formats (texts, photos, video segments, audio) but also in multiple languages – up to 75 translated languages. Thus, if a French user’s search concerns information on a potential trip to Japan, Google will be able to offer him more relevant Japanese results, directly translated, instead of less informative French content.
In addition, the competition between content will go beyond the language barrier with Google setting itself up as the Tower of Babel with the sole aim of offering the best search experience. The interaction (in some cases vocal) with the Internet user will also emerge. The goal: to shorten the paths that lead to conversion by offering, even before the Internet user formulates it, the right content at the right time to satisfy his intention. Undeniably, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in online research. Users will not search for pages directly, they will simply issue an intent and MUM will deliver the correct answer as if it were a “human” personal assistant.
SEO: A Technical But Also Marketing Profession Which Has Earned Its Letters Of Nobility
All these developments have an impact on the discipline. SEO was still seen until recently as a job for handymen, geeks and self-taught people. He changed and became professional. The future lies in the constitution of multidisciplinary teams that master the technical requirements of the engine and satisfy the marketing issues of the brands.
Google has become more complex in the same way as the skills of the SEO project manager who can no longer be asked to do everything. SEO has now risen in the marketing mix of brands as a strategic lever. Editorial – as a creator of content and conversational path – and Press Relations – as creators of mentions, links and therefore authority – are disciplines that are now an integral part of the natural and lasting visibility desired by brands. The complementarity of these professions is now crucial, that is the meaning of history.
