Year in Review 2022: In the Name of AI – Stay hungry

Yes, it's that time again. The 2022 year in review is here and comes with an outlook for 2023 right along with it. What exciting things happened this year and what awaits us next year? Let's go!

Review

In the Name of AI

Chat GPT, Mid Journey, Jasper, and Co. — the AI tools are here and already provide helpful support with SEO work. Google, too, has set the first accents here with the Content Helpful Update. So is the search engine afraid of AI texts? Not per se, of course — the search engine is simply trying to recognize and sort out “bad” content even better.

You can find out what opportunities, for example, AI image tools offer for SEO in this video: https://youtu.be/hcXt9Cdv_3Y

And we showed how you can use Chat GPT for SEO in this video:

Corona is somehow over, right?

For quite a long time, the pandemic dictated large parts of our lives. And even if many people don't want to hear it anymore: Corona is far from defeated. Of the precautionary measures, however, you now notice nothing at all in the winter of 2022. Whether that's good or bad remains to be seen. In any case, I'm glad that conferences are taking place again, but throwing all hygiene measures overboard does strike me as a bit questionable …

Google and indexing problems?

Google has (apparently) tightened the indexing of content. At first it looked like the number one search engine had problems indexing a lot of content. But then it turned out that Google had tightened the thumbscrews and simply no longer wanted to include, so it felt, everything in its index. John Müller certainly put it a bit drastically: “Well, lots of SEOs & sites (perhaps not you/yours!) produce terrible content that’s not worth indexing.” (Source)

In any case, this led to increasing problems for websites that simply were not added to the index.

You can find out how to solve indexing problems, e.g., improving crawlability but also content quality, here: https://youtu.be/-KhjGhV9P1w

E-A-T is applied to all pages

It was somehow clear, but no one had really confirmed it until now: the E-A-T principle is applied not only in YMYL topic areas, but on all pages (Source).

Therefore, the E-A-T rules are now equally important for all webmasters: write truthful content, build trust, and back up your statements with sources. The more content you create on a topic cluster, the greater your authority in a field can become. Links from other topically relevant websites that also have high authority enormously support your own expertise.

You can find more tips on E-A-T here: https://youtu.be/gdldbt4hHGI

Insights

How did it actually go with …

… our new website?

Since mid-2022, the Farbentour website has been shining in new splendor. The overhaul was sorely needed, and the new team photos now make the website appear considerably more appealing and friendly. The feedback has been very positive so far, which we also notice in user behavior. Great! Thanks @Martin Hahn.

… YouTube?

We regularly try to upload new YouTube videos to our channel. The most important thing: it's a lot more fun than “just” writing a blog post. Especially interesting here are so-called YouTube Shorts, that is, short videos in TikTok style. These actually manage to appear in the Google SERPs as well.

… TikTok?

Okay, yes, we uploaded a few videos on TikTok for fun. Quite nice, but our target audience is rather (not yet) represented there. Still, we'll keep an eye on this channel.

… LinkedIn?

Some people really rave about LinkedIn, but I can't quite understand it … Yes, we too have already received inquiries through it. However, very rarely and rather sporadically, hardly plannable. The efforts of many “active” users on LinkedIn who post regularly seem more like entertaining their own bubble. Some posts even have strongly narcissistic traits — a bit creepy.

In general, I find: winning leads via LinkedIn is not as easy as some claim. Anyone who wants to take off on this platform has to plan accordingly and (at least at the beginning) have a lot of stamina.

… Twitter?

At Twitter, things are in chaos. The platform was never really good for content distribution, yet you regularly found interesting articles and gems on the topic of SEO here.

After the takeover by Elon Musk, it remains to be seen where Twitter will develop. I find the current developments — unblocking suspended user accounts that repeatedly violated rules and decency — more than concerning. Will Twitter develop into a right-wing conspiracy bubble? In my opinion, Elon would do well to continue blocking all the right-wing conspiracists and other cranks.

Thank you

• My first thanks go to my wonderful wife and our two kids. My elixir of life, so to speak.
• Of course, a big thank-you also goes out to all our clients, without whom we wouldn't be so successful.
• Thanks to our @Team for the great work we do here at the agency every day.
• Thanks @Tamara, our editor, who always has to proofread my dreadful texts.
• Thanks @Martin Hahn, @Martin Brosy, and @Thomas Czernik for the regular exchange — hopefully we'll see each other at Campixx 2023.
• And thanks @everyone else whom I've now forgotten.

Outlook: Stay hungry

Last but not least, my personal conclusion and a look into the crystal ball: what's coming in 2023 and what should you absolutely have on your radar?

My SEO tip for 2023 for all readers: “Stay hungry”!!!

What does that mean?

At the moment, a bit more action is coming into the SEO world again. The last two, three years were relatively quiet and no real big game changers were to be seen in SEO. You could feel that especially at many conferences. Where perhaps earlier the hot tips and game changers were still presented, lately there was nothing really new to be seen/heard in many talks. Please don't misunderstand: (SEO) conferences are still excellent and we like to attend them regularly for the professional exchange and networking.

A big challenge for Google will be, or already are, AI tools for texts, images, and more. What is real and what isn't? How and when can you trust a source? The Helpful Content Update shows that Google is already trying to sort out content spam produced with AI tools.

But anyone who now thinks this sounds as if AI tools were evil is mistaken. With these tools, even small teams or even solo players have the opportunity to create large amounts of good content that ranks. What's important is to optimize the quality and workflow accordingly. Anyone who experiments now with AI tools for texts, audio, video, and images can gain a pleasant (SEO) lead over the competition.

Nevertheless, much of it is still in its infancy. My advice, therefore: “Stay hungry (and a bit foolish)” à Try out what works, and fall (almost) flat on your face doing it — pushing the limits gives you the best experiences in SEO!

I wish you, dear reader, a Merry Christmas and a good start into the new year!

-Fabian