The world of digital marketing and Search Engine Optimization is always changing. It is consumers’ shifting needs and behaviors that drive that change, and it is evident in the way Google continues to adapt its ranking algorithm. If you want to prosper in 2022 and beyond, you need to know what is happening in the industry and what SEO trends to follow. Here are some of the most important ones you need to consider this year!

1. Passage Ranking

As a small business or a newcomer, it can be difficult to rank an entire page for a particular keyword. However, Google’s passage indexing, which was first introduced in late 2020, offers you an opportunity to rank for a specific excerpt of a page instead of the entire page. To increase your chances of ranking, make sure to use proper headings (with your target keyword/s in them), to-the-point language, quality visuals, and original content.

2. Voice Search

By 2022, nearly 55% of American households will have at least one smart speaker. This means that more and more people will be using voice search to look for products and services. To meet that growing demand, Google introduces its latest update, called LaMDA.

LaMDA stands for Language Model for Dialogue Applications, and its goal is to offer better and more wholesome results to voice searches. We are yet to see how this update will affect search queries on a global scale, and how voice search will evolve in time.

3. The Role of AI Intensifies

If Google’s latest AI-powered updates (LaMDA, MUM, Shopping Graph, etc.) can teach us anything, it is that the search engine is primarily focusing on leveraging AI to improve user experience. The best way to use this to your advantage is to follow Google’s best practices as they are the guiding principles behind its ranking algorithm. Keep in mind that these practices are not a constant value, and they adapt as the algorithm evolves.

To learn more about upcoming trends and important statistics, check our Complete SEO Trends in 2022 Guide!

Digital marketing is at the heart of most successful businesses in the modern world. While word-of-mouth and using marketing collateral to advertise your products and services are still highly effective methods, nothing beats the efficiency of digital marketing. So, how do you create a winning digital marketing strategy for your small business? The four ideas below are the perfect starting point!

1. Evaluate Your Resources

In other words, assess and strategize first. Before you start adapting other people’s strategies to your business, take a step back and evaluate your resources and what you can realistically afford to do. As a small and medium-sized business, you probably view your marketing as a patchwork effort to try and tap into as many channels as possible with the smallest investment you can get away with. Diversity is key here. Consider improving your website, using social media to promote your services, focus on Search Engine Optimization, and consider giving paid advertising a chance.

2. Maintain a Blog Section on Your Website

When it comes to having a long-term marketing strategy, you need to understand that its backbone is content. If you want to have a powerful and effective strategy, you should focus on content marketing. In simple terms, that means you need to dedicate a blog section and regularly publish useful content to your audience. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and experience in your industry by offering sound advice to locals looking for solutions to their problems.

3. Research Your Target Customers Online

As a small business, you probably already feel like you know who your target customers are. Still, if you want to be effective online, you need to go the extra mile and do additional customer research. There are a ton of free sources available, like the Pew Research report on social media, to help you better understand how and where your audience is most engaged online.

4. Set and Track Metrics

Any successful strategy requires you to find measurable metrics to track its success. Yes, digital marketing is not a perfect science, and finding key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress is difficult but not impossible. If you’ve never done that before, start small and simple. For example, one of your metrics can be the number of followers on your Facebook page or the engagement percentage of your social media posts. Set realistic goals, however humble they may seem, and build on your progress as time goes on.

Stay tuned for our next topic!

When it comes to getting traffic to your website and securing leads for your business, digital marketing is the most effective way to achieve your goals. Twenty Twenty-One saw a number of changes on a global scale, and that affected the way we advertise our products and services online. These are the most important digital marketing trends to look out for this year.

1. PPC and SEO Go Hand in Hand

As more and more businesses move online, the competition to capture leads becomes more intense. To maximize your ROI, it is important to invest both in paid advertising (PPC) and organic search engine optimization (SEO). Given that more than 30% of people click on the top result on the first page of Google search pages, you simply must get on there. Appearing on the first page will guarantee that you grab the attention of your target audience.

2. Adopting Automation in Digital Is Imperative

One of the major digital trends this year is the rapid increase in the number of consumer interactions. More and more people are choosing to contact you online, through your website, social media, or via phone. To avoid getting overloaded, you can set up a chat bot on your website to greet customers and handle standard communication. In addition to that, you can also invest in an online review management system and get notifications whenever a customer has given you their feedback.

3. Tap Into Interactive Content Forms

When the world shut down last year, everyone went online. Proactive businesses were quick to understand the need of people to communicate with companies not only before but also after using their services. Tap into interactive content forms like Facebook live, Instagram Stories, and TikTok challenges. It will make you more likable, more “human,” and likely more popular in your area. It is a form of free advertising that allows you to bring customers closer to your business. Showcase the completed landscapes you have designed, the houses you have remodeled, or another project you have worked on based on your industry. The effort today will surely pay off tomorrow.

The list of digital marketing trends of 2021 is long, and it keeps increasing every day. The most important trend, however, is to make your business as easy as possible to find. We can help with that.

Stay tuned for our next topic!

At 411 Locals our goal is simple. We want to increase your website’s visibility, so that someone searching for your services or products will find you before your competitors. No matter how good you are at what you do, you’ll have a hard time making much money without equally high quality online marketing.

(more…)

411 Locals was awarded Best Local SEO Company in Nevada in February 2019. The recognition comes from the ranking agency TOPSEO’s – an independent authority on search vendors. The evaluation method includes a sophisticated analysis and methodology.

(more…)

We live in the age of data breach scandals, constant cybersecurity discussions, and GDPR-like countermeasures. Many fail to think about the security of their websites believing they are too low key to be hacked. Well, in today’s 411 Locals blog, we will debunk the false belief only traffic-rich sites are in danger, and we will also go through the three ways your SEO can suffer from a security breach. Keep reading!

(more…)