SEO is a dynamic and ever-changing field.
Strategies that worked a few years ago may be obsolete today, thanks to the advancement of search engine bots and algorithms.
Therefore, website owners must stay on their toes to protect their rank on SERPs.
Unfortunately, however, knowing what SEO growth hacking techniques work can be somewhat tricky.
In this era of countless SEO gurus, it is not hard for business owners to follow outdated practices that do little to improve their ranks.
If your SEO techniques are not particularly effective, you may be at a loss on what to do to boost your rank. Well, here are seven tried-and-tested SEO techniques for 2022 that will boost your rank.
- Have quality content
- Conduct excellent keyword research
- Ensure that you have a good site structure
- Prioritize user experience
- Use internal and external links
- Have top-notch title tags
- Have an FAQ section
1. Have Quality Content
Quality content is the foundation on which any winning SEO strategy is built.
Even if you were to implement every other SEO strategy and have poor content, rest assured that all your efforts would be in vain.
But what exactly constitutes quality content?
The first marker of good content is content that meets your readers’ needs. So, as you create content, ensure that you prioritize your readers’ intent and answer their questions satisfactorily.
Google SERPs are the ideal starting point if you want to know your target audience’s search intention.
All you need is to search for your primary keyword, then gauge what search intent is from the top pages on the SERPs.
You also want to create content that solves a problem or provides value to your readers. Before making any content, ask yourself, how will this help my readers?
When writing your articles, start with a powerful, attention-demanding introduction.
The introduction is the decisive factor upon which readers either read the entire piece or leave to find a more engaging response to their query.
If people stay on your page for a few seconds and then leave to go elsewhere, it reduces your dwell time and increases your bounce rates.
Both of these weigh negatively on your search engine rank.
A good introduction ropes in your audience while giving them a brief overview of what to expect in your article.
Once you learn the art of creating top-notch introductions, you will see better performance of your pages.
You also want to organize your content in a hierarchical order. This allows your readers to navigate through your articles easily. Use HI, H2, and H3 tags for this.
You should also use short sentences and paragraphs to sustain your readers’ attention. Research shows that literacy levels across the US are highly wanting.
By making your articles easy to read and digest, you will reach a much wider audience.
As a rule of thumb, have a maximum of three sentences for each paragraph. Additionally, strive to keep your sentences under 25 words long. This will allow you to speak to a much wider audience.
Images can also help boost the quality of your content significantly. Not only are they visually appealing, but they also provide your readers with some much-needed breaks after seeing countless lines of text.
You should also refresh your content regularly to avoid traffic loss. This is particularly important for content that is time limited.
For instance, you cannot expect to rank for an SEO article you wrote in 2015 today, whereas this is a dynamic and evolving topic. The same goes for most other topics as well.
Make a habit of visiting your old content pieces to see how you can improve them and make them relevant. That way, they can continue ranking well.
2. Conduct Excellent Keyword Research
You might have heard that keywords don’t matter for SEO in 2022, but nothing could be further from the truth.
You must conduct intensive keyword research and implement an elaborate keyword strategy to rank at the very top of SERPs.
First, you should create a list of keywords that you will use in your article. Then, select one to be your primary keyword.
Make sure to use the primary keyword in the most prominent parts of your article, such as within the first 100 words, in your subheadings, and in the conclusion.
If you can’t settle on one keyword, select one based on the words that rank for the topic you are writing about. You can also use a keyword research tool to find one that will work well for your article.
You can also have a few secondary keywords to help increase the relevance of your content. The “People Also Ask” section on Google’s SERPs page can give you ideas of what words to use as your secondary keywords.
Although keywords must form an integral part of your keyword research strategy, it is not advisable to stuff your articles with them.
Too many irrelevant keywords in your content make it look like spam, and Google will certainly not rank it well.
3. Ensure That You Have a Good Site Structure
Site structure may be a technical aspect of SEO, but it still matters greatly. Sites with excellent structure are navigable and crawlable.
One way to do this is to have a mind map for your website, such as the one below.
With such a map, users can easily find all the information they need from your site without getting lost.
A navigable site makes it easy for search engine robots to crawl through it, thus making it more likely to get ranked.
Be sure to request a Coverage Report from Google to identify which pages on your site are non-navigable quickly.
That way, you can fix them for a better rank. Google Console can come in handy for this.
Additionally, ensure that all your important pages are indexable.
However, if you have information on your site that may not be as helpful to readers, use the non-index tag so that search engine bots do not index it.
This will ensure that the non-useful content does not drag the rest of your website down.
Another technical SEO technique to improve your rank is using HTTPS to enhance your site’s security.
Google has confirmed that HTTPS is a lightweight ranking factor, so you certainly want to take advantage of this fact.
The importance of HTTPS increases significantly if your site requires users to input sensitive information, such as financial details and personal data.
Fortunately, you can get a free SSL certification from Let’s Encrypt, and even Google states that this certification works well.
4. Prioritize User Experience
User experience is a confirmed critical ranking factor. You, therefore, must ensure that your users have a good experience when they visit your site.
You can do this first by building a user-friendly site. Ensure that you have an attractive site design and optimize your site for mobile phones. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool to test whether your site is user-friendly.
Secondly, ensure that your site meets Google’s core web vitals, namely:
- Fast loading speeds
- Site responsiveness
- Site stability
Site loading speed has been a critical ranking factor since 2010, showing just how important it is. You can improve your site’s loading speed by using a reliable server and compressing your images and videos.
5. Use Internal and External Links
Link building is another SEO technique that can help boost your rank in 2022.
Internal links allow readers to refer to relevant pages on your site, while external links establish your credibility and authoritativeness.
It would be best if you also considered being a guest writer on other sites, as this will allow you to link back to your content.
Additionally, consider reclaiming lost links to make the most of link juice. You can do this by contacting sites that had previously linked to your site but have now stopped.
Enquire as to the reason for the removal of your backlinks and work on fixing the problem. If the reason for the removal is outdated content, refresh your old content.
If the other site claims that the problem is content quality, work on improving that as well.
6. Have Top-Notch Title Tags
Creating descriptive title tags can also contribute to better search engine ranks. Title tags usually appear on search engine results, giving you a shot at telling searchers what a specific page is about.
You want to ensure that your title tags provide readers with enough information about your page, so they want to click on it.
However, if your title tags are too long, they may be truncated by Google, thus serving no valuable purpose for SEO.
7. Have an FAQ Section
Having an FAQ section in your articles is one of the best SEO techniques to try in 2022.
An FAQ section allows you to respond to potential readers’ questions without going into mind-numbing details. This can drastically improve the value of your content.
Consider having an FAQ section at the end of each article to improve the usefulness of your articles.
You can use the “People Also Ask” section for ideas on what questions your audience might have regarding your topic.
For instance, if you wrote a blog about how to make pancakes, the following questions make a perfect starting point for FAQs.
Wrap Up
There is no question that quality content and user experience are the foundation of every sustainable SEO strategy in 2022. You will have an unbeatable SEO strategy if you add to that intensive keyword research, excellent link building, and proper site structure.
Be sure to follow the SEO techniques, strategies and tips shared in this post for better ranking in 2022.