BrightEdge, a well-recognized SEO platform for marketing teams, published its annual state of SEO research results.
During their live webinar in November 2021, BrightEdge asked more than 750 attendees for their perspective on 2022, and how they experienced the 2021 state of Search.
In their research, they targeted multiple industries, including retail, e-commerce, and finance. Below are the main results.
70% of respondents say Search Engine Updates impacted their business
The BrightEdge research shows it was a busy year for the search engines. Around 17% of the responders in the webinar saw significant changes in their business after the update. They were part of the 87% who noted an average impact. In the meantime, 13% were not impacted in the slightest. Likewise, 59% saw growth in their search channel, whereas 13% experienced a decline. The rest felt no change in search volume.
SERP differences were also noted in comparison to the prior years. Local intent changed throughout multiple market segments. Quick results were not as popular, and users would opt for “people also ask.”
Significant investment in SEO for 2022
BridghEdge found that in 2022, SEO importance will see a significant boost. The majority of the responding companies already noted differences and are expecting SEO to have bigger importance. Similarly, 46% of the responders expect that a significant investment amount will go into organic search channels.
Changing Title Tags
The event addressed Google’s change in handling title tags, and whether rewriting to adhere to SEO requirements would affect their company or not. During the webinar BrightEdge confirmed Google’s rewriting your tags can impact your search ranking negatively.
We recommend to write title tags that focus on the core intent of the page, avoid keyword-heavy title tags and to ensure the query intent you’re trying to capture matches what your page provides.
Voice SEO is not a big priority yet
BridgtEdege noted Google’s focus on understanding search intent. The LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) was announced in spring 2021, publicizing the intent for an AI-driven conversation based on a voice engine.
Considering the interest in voice commands for organic search results, the respondents were asked for their opinion or role that the change had in their business.
The results gathered by BrightEdge reflect the constant development of technology while leaving some place for improvement. A total of 41% still put no emphasis on conversational or voice search, focusing mostly on written SEO. On the other hand, 52% noted that planning is required in order to benefit from voice search. Only around 7% of the respondents put greater importance on conversational and voice search.
Jump to: Understanding Local SEO – a small business owner guide
The Webinar Conclusions
At the end of the webinar, BrightEdge concluded that organic search remains a great source for discovering the taste and intent of the consumer. SEO teams are expecting to update their strategy in 2022, as contextual and conversational updates are leading towards different search paths, paths in which the input of SEO is becoming more and more important.
Read the full research results here.
Image credits
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https://pixabay.com/photos/seo-optimization-3007488/
