SEO is known for its ever-changing landscape.
New search engine algorithms are rolled out regularly—sometimes without warning, new SEO tools spring up like mushrooms, new ranking strategies are discovered almost every day, etc.
TL;DR: It's not easy to keep track of what's happening in the SEO space.
To help put your B2B SEO game on steroids, we put together 11 of the most important B2B SEO trends for 2022.
Let’s get started.
B2B SEO Trends In 2022
Below are some of the SEO trends B2B brands need to look out for:
1. Death Of Third Party Cookies
Google officially announced that their homegrown browser, Chrome, will start blocking third-party tracking cookies in 2023.
With this change, B2B brands will have to build their own data hub to shape their digital marketing strategies, including SEO. “First-party data” can be obtained by tracking your own web traffic, understanding user behavior and motivations for consuming content. Additionally, caveats need to be made to performance reporting that account for GDPR cookie policies that require users to opt into analytics tracking. We have observed dramatic declines in the correlation between GA traffic relative to search console traffic after such policies were deployed.
2. Page Experience Update
By the end of Q3 2021, Google finished the global rollout of the page experience update for mobile keyword rankings. Google is currently rolling out a similar update for desktop rankings which they have said should be completed at the end of March 2022.
Website page experience signals, like loading speed and visual stability, are some of the biggest known ranking factors in recent years. In 2022, there will be a renewed focus on these signals as businesses double down on website optimizations.
(Image source: Google Search Central)
3. Increase Focus For Mobile Optimization
Speaking of page experience signals, mobile-friendliness is another factor your B2B brand shouldn’t ignore since the B2B world continues to depend on digital interactions for sales.
That means less selling through traditional, offline methods and more on digital channels that B2B buyers use, particularly mobile devices.
It’s time to review your mobile SEO budget if you want to win more business this coming year. Make sure digital experiences are consistent, smooth, and user-friendly for your target audience—regardless of the device they’re using. This ensures your site visitors won't click away when they land on your pages, which then reduces your bounce rate. User testing and conversion rate optimization are critical always-on tasks that should be consistently deployed to maximize the value of your traffic and your SEO performance.
4. E-A-T Is Still Huge
E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, & Trustworthiness) has been a big deal since 2019 and it continues to be important going into 2022.
To secure higher rankings, you must have certifiable expertise, authority in your niche, and a focus on trust-building initiatives, especially for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages.
Here are a few basic tips on how the E-A-T principle can be applied for B2B SEO:
- Build an overarching content strategy that aligns with every stage of the B2B buyer’s journey.
- Create industry-leading, factual content for your users
- Leverage trust signals like HTTPS, certifications, and contact information.
- Cite and link to authoritative sources in your content.
- Write and publish clear T&Cs and policies.
- Review the full text in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines
(This will allow you to better understand what Google is looking for)
5. Build And Include Author Pages In Structured Data
In support of E-A-T, Google recommends websites include author page URLs in article structured data.
Author pages should provide information about your B2B brand’s content creators—who they are, what they do, and how much they really know. Consider creating author pages with links to each author’s relevant works on other websites. Authors who are recognized as experts by Google for specific topics will have an advantage in ranking for relevant keywords when they publish content.
6. YMYL Sites Need To Do More To Combat Misinformation
B2B companies in the health, finance, law, security, and other similarly significant industries will need to step up their game.
YMYL websites need to be extra careful in content planning, particularly when making claims without trustworthy sources. Have a team of SMEs and fact-checkers ready to ensure the accuracy and reliability of your SEO content.
7. Videos In Search
Images in search results are no longer surprising, but the same cannot be said for videos.
In 2022, B2B brands need to incorporate videos in their content strategy—preferably through YouTube—to get more search traffic. Remember that YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world so even if you embed videos on your site with a custom player, uploading your content to YouTube is highly recommended to maximize your potential exposure.
Focus on informative videos related to your audience’s goals, answering specific customer questions as well as content that serves a broader audience when targeting broad, highly competitive keywords. It’s usually a good idea to evaluate what kind of content is currently ranking for the keywords you want to target when planning your own video content.
Using Schema to mark up any embedded video content is also recommended to maximize your opportunity for video search enhancement in SERPs.
(Image source: Google.com)
8. More Focus On Funnel-Aligned Content
To attract and nurture quality leads, create content that aligns with your audience’s position in your sales funnel. For example, if they’re near the decision stage, you need to bring in the heavy artillery, like:
- Original research
- White papers
- Case studies
- Presentation videos
- Podcasts
This kind of content is very important in helping move people through the user journey. Conversely, for broad keywords that are often used by users at the top of the funnel, informational content like pillar pages can be a very effective strategy.
9. The Rise Of Universal Search
Google is diversifying what it shows on page one of search engine results pages. Results that include FAQs, knowledge panels, image and video carousels, local packs, and a myriad of other possible search results are all vying for click share against the traditional blue Website links that have been the mainstay of the search experience since the beginning of the Internet. It’s very important to evaluate all opportunities for front-page screen real estate across your target search terms to maximize your performance.
FAQs, in particular, are extremely valuable for B2B users since they prefer self-guided research processes and therefore they get a lot of visibility. Creating content that maps to common FAQs that are relevant to your keywords is a good opportunity to increase your SEO footprint:
(Image source: Google.com)
In addition to creating content specific to universal search opportunities, maximizing your search enhancements by implementing all relevant Schema to your page is highly recommended.
10. A/B Testing To Improve B2B User Experience
As mentioned earlier in the mobile section, user experience is becoming increasingly important and more correlated with SEO success. This is true for all devices, including desktops. Creating an optimal user experience generates more traffic via SEO, and it makes that traffic more valuable based on increased conversion rates.
A/B testing is a great tool to employ for creating such experiences.
A/B testing or “split testing” is the practice of comparing the performance of multiple variations of the same content. This, in turn, makes it easier for businesses to create the best possible user experience for B2B users that result in the most successful business outcomes.
11. Manage Your Online Reputation
Google’s team of quality raters sometimes does reputation research to evaluate the credibility of trustworthiness of search results.
As a B2B company, quality raters are the last people who need to see the terrible reviews written about your brand. Their ratings may not affect your rankings directly, but it may compel Google to launch updates that will push you off of search results.
Summary
The world of online search is constantly changing, and it’s never been more important for B2B companies to stay ahead of the current trends. In 2022 it’s important to put E-A-T, user experience, and exceptional content that maps to user intent as your top priorities.
Additionally, continue to improve your target audience’s experience and ensure that you have properly deployed Schema markup across all relevant content. By prioritizing these initiatives you optimize all other SEO activities to ensure maximum value and give your site the best possible opportunity for long-term SEO success.
If you need help with B2B SEO, we welcome you to reach out to us using our contact form.