What changes can we expect for local SEO in 2022?

One certainty is that Google will always play an outsized role due to its dominance in search. Exactly how that will play out remains in doubt because Google loves to make changes.

Over the last 18 months, we’ve advised our clients to dedicate greater resources to their Google Business Profile. Without exception, this has paid off nicely.

Google is signaling this trend will continue, introducing greater business profile capabilities. The plan from the beginning was for local businesses to make a Google Business Profile its digital home.

That may sound great, but not so fast.

Don’t build your house on rented land. You need a modern, fully functioning website on a domain that you own. However, optimizing that website for search is a long game that’s only getting longer.

So, use your Google Business Profile to build traffic to your website. Make “updates” that link back to your primary site. Our clients are seeing anywhere from 50-200+ clicks per month with this tactic.

Compared to the miserable traffic Facebook pages generate, this is one of the best free tactics going nowadays.

The Future of Local SEO 

The future of SEO will always be prioritizing content, always and forever, because that’s what drives search.

Either directly or indirectly, original content supports the most productive tactics for websites, social media and of course, Google Profiles.

That said, in 2022 marketers will need to dig deeper with their content to go beyond expertise, authority and trustworthiness. Nowadays, there’s an expert around every corner. What then? 

In a word … meaningful.

To accomplish every marketing goal, especially revenue conversions, it is necessary for content to collectively build a meaningful narrative that supports the brand experience and the value it delivers to buyers.

No matter what changes come along in the future, this strategy promises to work.

Content has been fundamental to every local SEO tactic so far, and that will not change.

I know some companies will dedicate greater resources to paid ads because they work. True, but the keyword research, headline crafting, and storytelling that goes into great content make online ads, social media updates and the like better.

Paid advertising is an expense. Content marketing builds assets. The most successful strategies employ a balanced combination of the two.