The year is drawing to a close again and a lot has happened in the field of SEO. To mark the end of the year, we would like to take you into 2022. Are you planning your corporate SEO strategy for 2022? There are five trends that will prove particularly successful in 2022. SEOs ears prick up and companies – maybe it’s time for an SEO refresh of your website again.
Over the past year, the role of enterprise SEO has become one of the most important areas for all types of businesses and industries.
As the most cost-effective way to discover products and services, SEO has also become an important strategic channel that provides insights into customer behavior and intent across all areas of a business.
In this article, we present five key trends and opportunities to watch out for in 2022. We explain why and what trends you can expect.
The big picture of corporate SEO for 2022
Enterprise SEO involves managing SEO on a large scale, usually within or for organizations that have large websites and a wide range of products and services. Large brands with multiple departments and infrastructures are typical examples of organizations using SEO technology and implementing core principles into the business.
Corporate SEO also includes stakeholder management, planning and strategy as well as alignment with corporate goals. It is more than just customer acquisition.
The challenges in the area of SEO can vary from company to company. The challenges of the past year have created opportunities for the coming year. You should therefore keep the five most important areas in mind when planning your company’s SEO strategy for the coming year.
1. keep up with search updates, best practices and search engine algorithms
One of the biggest challenges for any SEO is to keep pace with change. You only have to look at last week’s news about the Google updates to get a feel for the reaction and uncertainty this brings to the SEO mindset.
For business-focused SEOs, updates and algorithmic changes are a double-edged sword that involves the following:
– Reacting, correcting and optimizing – taking action.
– Implementation of the business impact on the company.
2021 was a year of “accelerated search”. Major launches such as the Page Experience Update and Core Web Vitals led to a renaissance in technical SEO. The re-emergence of E-A-T principles has also been hugely important for companies.
The introduction of Google’s Multitask Unified Model (MUM) means that marketers in organizations across all digital disciplines are incorporating intent-driven search queries into content types to reduce the discoverability of poor quality content.
Content and the need for contextual relevance
Above all, proving that content is trustworthy and credible is crucial for SEO experts in companies looking to demonstrate business impact in terms of brand value and sales.
The Google spam update at the beginning of the month complements this approach. Given the speed of change, SEOs working for companies need to rely on technology to help them stay on top of things, react and take action.
The best way to stay ahead of the changes is to take a proactive approach to content and technical SEO with Core Web Vitals.
Focus on:
– Content creation. Focus on the content of pages and categories (especially for e-commerce websites).
– The state and structure of your website, including navigation and architecture.
– Pages and loading speed for mobile devices and desktop.
– Technology, real-time insights and automation.
2. increasing acceptance of automation
For some SEO professionals, especially if they manage across multiple point solutions, the word automation has been seen as a threat to their job.
However, it is the other way around. Automation is already helping leading brands and companies keep pace with change, acting as a virtual SEO partner.
For enterprise SEO in 2022, automation will be essential for scaling.
As well as saving resources by taking on routine and repetitive tasks, automation also helps to free up time for creativity, strategy and digital focus – all important parts of a company’s SEO mission.
However, don’t spend all your time chasing the algorithm. Instead, let technology help detect, predict and fix errors when and where appropriate. A person cannot process all the data that is available to them. For enterprise SEO projects, automation is the key to scaling.
In 2022, automation will help on three levels:
Monitoring and detection
– Anomalies in SERPS results.
– Team reporting on rankings and traffic.
– Links and backlink profiles.
– SEO audits.
Manual SEO
-Regular collection of data.
– Advanced keyword intent research.
– Content optimization.
Insights and automated measures
– Analysis of larger data sets in real time.
– Review of content and multiple (large) websites.
– Correction of website errors and linking.
– Real-time decision making.
3. the increasing importance of data as business intelligence
Trends in consumer preferences and behaviors are reflected in the way searches are conducted. Digital innovations and trends in content creation are also reflected in search.
As a result, the use and importance of search data as a source of important business information is increasing.
Data and information are among the most important factors driving marketing performance– an important KPI for SEOs acting for companies.
4. further integration with paid search and digital measures
In the past, the synergy of SEO and PPC was an inevitable conflict in enterprise-level search organizations. Today, with over 80% of search traffic coming from SEO and PPC, there can be no conflict when it comes to this:
– Use of SEO insights to inform PPC.
– Use PPC to close immediate (short-term) gaps for high-value keywords and pages.
– Increase local and mobile performance with SEO and PPC.
– Sharing insights across both channels and with digital stakeholders.
Next year, make sure that SEO and PPC are closely aligned to maximize visibility and discoverability in the SERPs. This helps to address the specific needs of searchers with high search intent and the important personas.
5. the provision of overall experiences and services
Corporate SEO goes beyond mere optimization. There is an evolving management, use of business acumen and management of results across the organization that calls on an SEO expert.
SEOs who work for companies excel at management, which can span a variety of areas beyond generating customers:
– Recruitment and retention of employees.
– Introduction and use of technology.
– Professional advisory services.
– Internal and external customer service.
– Optimization of various digital experiences and assets.
Conclusion
With the increase in numerous search entry points – from smart TVs and connected devices (IoT) to smartphones – new opportunities will open up.
In order to meet consumer needs and achieve business goals, we will see a shift in the use of single solutions in single-purpose organizations.
Instead, SEOs need enterprise-grade platforms that provide holistic solutions for all their business needs, including secure and reliable data sources, productivity, workflows and broader digital marketing capabilities.
So next year, consumers will expect seamless online experiences, and SEOs will need to find new ways to move faster:
– You need to keep an eye on technical optimization, content quality and cadence.
– Use of the business intelligence available to them – across the entire company.
– Focus on the entire user experience – across all parts of the customer journey.
– Automation to scale processes and improve efficiency.
We hope the above points will help you to run successful SEO for enterprise clients in 2022!