When it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO), there is no doubt that your priority is getting a page one ranking on Google. True, there are other search engines out there such as Bing, the dominance of one firm is clear.

For example, data from 99Firms noted that around the world, 78 per cent of desktop searches and 89 per cent of those from mobile phones are made via Google. Moreover, this figure is even higher when one excludes the most populous country in the world. Google’s absence from China means the nation of 1.4 billion sees a firm called Baidu accounting for 76 per cent of its searches.

The ubiquity of Google means your SEO must fit with it, which means when the Google algorithms that determine rankings change, so must your content. That means you could benefit from expert SEO services in Yorkshire to stay on track.

As SEJ reported earlier this year, the latest developments for 2022 included an increased emphasis on authenticity and usefulness in product reviews, a growing focus on context – which shows why someone is making a particular search, a growing focus on specific topics, which means not just a general topic but sub-topics too. 

All this is useful for those carrying out searches, as it makes finding relevant content easier. But it also highlights both the requirements and the opportunities content producers have had to respond to in 2022. What can reasonably be expected is that in 2023, 2024 and onwards ever more there will be further tweaks that require a response.

Google will not give all this information away for free, however. To reveal all would be to make it easier for cybercriminals to game the system. Indeed, Tech Radar has reported how some villains have been hacking Google Looker Studio to place their websites full of spam and pirated content high on the rankings pages through links to optimised copy, a process known as ‘SEO poisoning’. 

In time, of course, such sites will be rooted out by Google. But in the meantime, it is vital that legitimate companies stay on top of their SEO requirements to ensure that they can truly earn their page one rankings.