It’s hard to believe but 2022 is around a corner. As we say goodbye to 2021 and prepare for the new year, it’s not too early to think about what new strategies you want to add to your business marketing plan going forward. And if succeeding in the digital space is important to your bottom line, you should pay attention to the Google ranking factors since they play an important role in whether or not your business does well online.

Top 5 Google Ranking Factors For 2022

#1. Google prioritizes high-quality, high-value, relevant content.

Expertise, authority, and trustworthiness — also known as your EAT rating — are important factors in ranking pages. I call them “EAT your competition” because it’s the way to stand out from the crowd by publishing great content and earning a reputation as being an authoritative source. Creating amazing content is key, whether on your site or by guest blogging for others — just don’t forget to get a link back to your site…which brings me to my second point.

#2. High-quality backlinks continue to be central to Google’s ranking algorithm.

Backlinks are arguably the most important factor directly influencing your rankings — and the hardest part of SEO. They help Google to assess your authority, one of the main contributors to EAT rating and top factors Google uses to rank your content. Besides increasing your rankings, link building can improve your web traffic, audiences’ engagement, reputation, and online visibility among other things.

#3. Focus on mobile optimization is increasing in importance.

Responsive design has been the gold-standard solution since Google implemented mobile-first indexing in 2018 (which means that the mobile version of the webpage is used for ranking and indexing purposes). Another caveat — websites that are not mobile responsive are by nature poorly designed, because they don’t provide an optimal user experience. Bottom line: your website must be responsive or both users and Google will reject it.

#4. Website speed must be near the top of your list of priorities when it comes to rankings and site development.

Did you know that the bounce rates increase by 103% if your website takes 2 seconds extra to load, and conversion rates fall by 7% for every extra second that it takes your website to load? It’s wild but today’s web users are impatient. As mobile and voice search rates have soared, people increasingly use search engines to find quick answers. As a result, it’s become vital that you optimize your site to be as fast as possible. Shaving even a few microseconds off your site load time could make a significant difference to your ranking. You can check your page load time here.

#5. Users want website security more than ever!

If you haven’t yet made the move from http to https, now is the time to do so. Your domain security links in with your trustworthiness — another main contributor to EAT rating. As HTTPS is especially important over unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, having an SSL certificate is becoming essential for all websites.

Optimizing your website to rank well in Google isn’t easy, especially since the rules evolve constantly. I have been in this business for over a decade and have seen many trends come and go, while others remain as important as ever. The trick is to stay on top of the changes and focus on implementing the strategies that yield the best results!

I Am Booking For 2022!

Are you looking to grow your business online? Improve your SEO? Increase traffic to your website? Upgrade its look and functionality? Grow your Facebook page?

I am booking for 2022! I specialize in designing WordPress websites that focus on user experience, SEO, mobile-first design, and conversions — all important factors for ranking well in Google. I also create and implement marketing strategies to elevate your website in Google search through local SEO, blogging, link building, email and social media campaigns, and more. Whatever your goals, I work to make sure your investment is multiplied!

If you’d like to boost your digital marketing in 2022, I’m here to help!