Online search is central to any marketing campaign these days. A successful campaign must drive organic traffic through search and use paid ads to capture customers too. But without a clear understanding of consumer behavior and how people search online, it is impossible to create a winning strategy.
As technology advances and habits change, the way that consumers use search engines is also changing. You need to be up to date with those changes so you can adapt your marketing strategy accordingly. These are some of the key online search trends to watch out for in 2022.
Voice Search
Voice assistants have caused the biggest change in search habits for a long while. Products like Amazon Alexa and Google Home can be used to search online, and that is changing the keywords that are used. When searching on a computer or mobile device, people will type their queries using shortened phrases, often missing out connecting words and letting the search engine fill in the gaps. However, with a voice search, people tend to use full sentences, so it is important that you start using long keyword strings as well as the shortened keywords you currently use.
You also need to recognize that voice assistants are not only targeting ads at people when they actively search. Since these voice assistants first came out, people have been asking, does Alexa spy on you to make ad recommendations? The short answer is, yes, it does. Whenever you ask it something, it will pass that information on to third-party advertisers. If you are not using this detailed consumer information, which is increasingly being used to target ads, you are at a disadvantage.
Image Recognition
Image recognition tools like Google Lens are becoming very popular in the last few years. Users can point the camera at an object and instantly bring up similar products. Image searches can also be used to find the original website that an image came from. There are a number of ways that this technology can be used for promoting products. For example, taking an image of your product packaging might direct users to your website, or taking a photo of a restaurant could bring up the menu instantly.
At the moment, you should focus on creating high-quality images on your site. Populating the site with more product images means that you’re more likely to generate organic traffic coming from image search. Take a look at competitors and see how they stage their images. Doing something similar means that you will appear on the same searches as them.
‘Near Me’ Searches
Focusing on local SEO has always been important, but the last few years have seen an even bigger increase in ‘near me’ searches. This is partly down to consumers wanting to deal with smaller local businesses. When you are researching keywords and creating paid ad campaigns, it’s vital that you focus on these local phrases instead of only using generalized terms.
Make sure that you stay on top of these online search trends so you can create a strategy that works.
