SEO UPdate #5 – 14/01/2022

The second SEO update of 2022 already. Including the first update of 2022, this will be a great one. Let’s start right away.

The first Google update of 2022

The first 2022 update appears to be taking place as we speak. Google does not confirm this update.

Speaking of which, a very large portion of the updates Google makes are not confirmed by Google. Actually only when they want to express a specific message with the update do they confirm the updates. These updates are captured by tracking tools such as those from MOZ and Semrush (many of the larger software companies within our industry have a tracking tool).

There are also a number of forums such as WebmastersWorld’s, where Web site owners recognize and report these updates early.

The local search results

We talked about this recently; Google’s local search results are constantly changing. Google seems to be testing with different types of search results in different English-speaking countries.

Some examples include:

Different types of carousels for different types of restaurants.

Another carousel for a spa.

My opinion: It seems designed to keep more vertical space free for organic search results. With this, they are increasingly using horizontal real estate on screens, providing more information without making the SERP longer.

More resources to content

More and more is being spent on content by SEO specialists, compared to technical SEO and link building, for example. This sounds logical, given all the updates around content quality.

I think this is a good development. Increasingly toward delivering quality content to the visitor. And obtaining fewer and fewer to links (which, 9 times out of 10, also end up not adding value to the website visitor).

Is duplicate content less of a problem than you think

According to Google’s John Mueller, duplicate content is considerably less of a problem than many SEO specialists claim. I also always see the point of duplicate content in many audits that I see come by.

Here is John Mueller’s tweet.

Perhaps an even bigger problem are the endless landing pages deployed by companies. Visitors to websites want to be informed quickly and get on with their lives, not read endless texts. Google knows this, too.

I do still advise my clients to be keen on this. Not only for SEO, but also for usability. It offers no added value to have the same content on different pages.