What are the top content marketing & SEO trends?

In recent years, content marketing has become a thriving field. It has proven to be an efficient strategy to generate leads and attract prospects for brands of all sizes.

Content marketing can be done in many different formats. Your content can range from website copy to social media posts, blogs, videos and even video. If you have the right people to handle it, your content will be flexible and dynamic.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is an important aspect of content marketing. If you want your content to be found by search engines, SEO is an essential part of your strategy. The more SEO optimized your content is the greater chance it will be seen by the right people at right times and in the right places.

HubSpot’s State of Marketing Report showed that 82% of marketers invest in content marketing, with 60% measuring its success by sales. It’s crucial to know the top content marketing and SEO trends for 2022, as digital marketing is such a success specialism.

Ranking Content on Google Is a Challenge

Content marketers understand how important it is for their content to rank in the first SERP Google. Sistrix discovered that 25 percent of clicks for the first Google position resulted in a click through rate. This drops dramatically to 2.5 percent for content at the tenth place.

This is a great indicator of the power of your Google search position. It’s becoming more difficult to rank organic content in Google search engines as it displays more results from its products.

KateToon, SEO & Content Expert, says: “When searching for a hotel, Google now provides an accommodation search engine. We are moving to a more branded search. Tech-wise, the Core Web Vitals update in 2021 was massive and usability is what Google’s pushing for. Not just speed but also how your page loads.

Google is making big noises about accessibility. This will be a part of the algorithm. For example, Google will make your page screen-reader-friendly with high contrast, font adjustability and image descriptions. This will result in accessible pages being rewarded and thereby climbing up the rankings quicker than those that aren’t accessible.

This means that content marketers need to adjust their strategy in order to include four key elements.

Use branded search to plan for keyword research.

Ask your people -this will allow you to make the most of your copy

Track keywords and searches – This will allow you to monitor the performance of keywords and add new ones as they become available.

Google’s question-based searches are growing – ask questions in both your short- and long-form content. (More details below).

Google Discover is a focused on great imagery

Google Discover allows you to swipe through a content bank on your smartphone. It is tailored content. The algorithm determines what content you are interested in based on your search terms and reading habits.

This is a huge advantage for content marketers, as it allows you to appear in people’s mobile feeds and not have them search for anything. How can you get your content on Google Discover?

Create great content – This may seem obvious, but Google wants its users to see the best content possible. Make yours stand out

You should focus on authority and trustworthiness Google values expertise and will rank authoritative content high. So include quotes from experts and show why you are the expert on the topic.

Optimize your website – It doesn’t matter if your content isn’t accessible or slow.

Be mindful of your titles. Avoid promotional titles or clickbait titles that will turn off your audience

Keep content current- Users need timely and relevant content, so make sure to look into the latest trends or other newsworthy activities.

Use great visuals- Google Discover focuses on visuals so ensure you include eye-catching, relevant images in all your content

Toon believes that visuals are becoming more important for Google. Google is increasingly embracing image search. Google Discover is changing how we use Google. Sites with great imagery are getting better rankings.

Interactive Content is on the Rise

Interactive content has been gaining popularity over the years as it encourages customers and prospects to engage. Interactive content includes calculators, polls and polls, maps, infographics and games, as well as TV shows like Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch.

Demand Gen’s State of Interactive Content report shows that interactive content receives twice as much interaction than static content. This can make it a great tool for B2B marketing campaigns, such as virtual events or live webinars.

There are many ways that interactive content can be used across the marketing funnel. Different types serve different purposes, such as brand awareness and lead generation. This interactive infographic from Marriot Hotels takes a user on an adventure to help them choose activities in Scottsdale.

DMI’s Digital Skills Test is an interactive piece that has been a success in driving traffic to our website and leads. This test allows people who are interested in digital marketing to gauge their digital knowledge and identify the areas where they are weak and strong.

New Worlds such as the metaverse could mean that interactivity will play a greater role in content marketing. “The metaverse…is Facebook’s big bet for future. “People should be interested in what happens there,” said Ken Fitzpatrick CEO of DMI.

“If you wanted to analyse a part of the metaverse, it would be How does my brand or product live in a virtual environment?” Fitzpatrick concludes that interactive content could be an easy way to test it.

Artificial Intelligence will be more involved in content creation

Engaging content requires a human touch. Content marketers are known for using humor and the right words or phrases to draw attention in a world saturated with content. It takes effort to find the right tone and message to express your personality .

Artificial Intelligence (AI), however, is expected to be more advanced than ever in copy creation. Google has made investments in natural language processing over the years to improve its algorithm’s understanding of search queries.

” We had an algorithm update called BERT a year ago. This was about understanding how we type into Google, not only what we are looking for but why we are looking for it so understanding the context of words,” said Kate Content Expert and SEO.

There has been an algorithm update known as MUM (Multitask Unified Model) since BERT. This algorithm is used to search for patterns in language and to help understand the structure of it. This allows Google to get a better understanding about how people search for the things they are looking for so that it can provide better results and show more ads.

Toon believes that this will have a significant impact on content marketers’ copy, keyword research and copy automation. Automation is an affordable option for many businesses. Sometimes, the tone, order and messaging are not right. Copywriters don’t have much to fear yet, as I don’t believe AI has the ability to get wit, slang rhythm, and tone. However, I believe that automation will increase in order to save time as well as money.

SEO professionals will find this type of AI technology useful as they can use it to generate bulk copy elements such as title tags and meta descriptions.