Staying ahead of Google Search trends is important for any business to ensure potential customers and clients can reach their site. And with 15% of searches being completely new every day, search engine optimization is a field that continues to evolve year after year. During Google I/O on May 18th, Google shared some important changes for site owners to keep in mind when performing search engine optimization in 2022.
Ongoing maintenance is more important than ever
Even for sites already performing well, it’s important for businesses to check in on their SEO efforts frequently with Google Search Console. In 2022, the Search Analytics API has updated to include even more data and reporting, like new analytics from Google Discover and Google News.
Be sure to stay up-to-date in order to gather clicks, impressions, ranking positions, and more from Search Analytics. Google also introduced the Google Site Kit plugin for WordPress to help content marketers keep track of their webpage performance within search results.
Check in often to refresh content and catch any technical errors. Just keep in mind that with any fixes, it can take a couple of days for data to update on the Google Search Console platform!
The impact of URLs on site rankings is even more visible
Your site’s search performance depends on much more than just content, and with the recent introduction of Google’s URL Inspection API, businesses can even review the impact of their URLs in Search as well. Reviewing existing URLs for correct and optimized structured data, mobile performance, current indexing status, and more can be a small, but impactful step to better search rankings.
Another neat add-on is the new Lost Impressions Check feature, which allows SEO professionals to actively track pages that have dropped in search impressions. Be sure to review these URLs, as well as other page metrics, for technical issues early. As a regular part of site maintenance, keep track of any pages that lose impressions or fall from indexing to ensure your site’s URLs are only helping—not hurting—your rankings.
Video search results continue to grow
It’s no surprise that video content continues to grow across all digital channels, and search is no exception. In order for businesses to have their data featured in search results, providing complete structured data for Google’s indexing is key. This includes elements like the thumbnail image, URL, title, description, and more.
As with other content, Google Search Console provides indexing reports on videos, so businesses can see which videos are being indexed and which are not, as well as the reasons. For any videos that need updating, you can request Google to recrawl the video you’ve made changes to directly in the Search Console platform with the “Validate Fix” feature for faster feedback.
What doesn’t matter? Google shared that your video hosting platform has no impact on indexing, so there’s no need to change platforms in 2022.
Search Analytics and Google Analytics may not match
While this comes as no surprise to those familiar with both Search Analytics and Google Analytics platforms, it’s worth remembering that the two platforms are not identical, nor are the way they each measure aspects of your site’s performance. While Google Analytics tracks the performance of your site once the users arrive, Search can only tell you their behavior while still within Google’s results pages.
As Google continues to add more features to Search Console, users may notice discrepancies when comparing metrics to Google Analytics. While overall trends should be consistent, seeing some inconsistencies shouldn’t be cause for concern.
Altogether, in 2022, it’s even easier to get insights into your page’s performance in Google search rankings, and leveraging this data for SEO improvements is key to staying ahead of the trend. For more information on Google’s ongoing platform adjustments and changes to the search engine optimization field, check out other keynotes from Google I/O here.
