My presentation for the SEMrush webinar with Aleyda Solis and Mordy Oberstein on the Biggest Developments in SEO in 2021 and what to do about them in 2022. I focused on Google Discover and Google's SERP 'Microsites'.

1. 2021 Biggest (Quiet) Developments In
SEO & What They Mean for 2022
@dan_shure

2. 1. Google Discover
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/mobile/google-discover - read this for the basics!

3. Google Added Discover Data To the API (Google Is Investing Resources In Discover)
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2021/10/search-analytics-discover-gnews

4. Mobile SERPs are
Becoming More
Discover-Like
● Visually / Images
● Stories have been in regular
mobile SERPs
● Maybe Discover Feeds as
Cards/portion of
normal/desktop SERPs one
day?

5. Google Keeps Building Features Into Discover
- Trending Searches
- Topics pages you can
follow

6. Google Is Using
Discover To Push
People To Traditional
Searches

7. Google Discover Strategies and Tactics
● Use Discover as a user for ideas
○ Sign in with the Google account you use to do regular searches in your space!
● Image Optimization
○ Technical: Use max-image-preview, 1200px wide
○ Visual: CTR!!!
● Title Optimization
○ 730px / 85 characters seems to be approximate max limit
● Update Content
○ Add new internal links to old posts
○ Updating in general can help trigger new promotion
● Quickly post follow ups on recently successful content
● Monitor for low CTR’s and update titles/images
○ 8% or lower tends to be poor but get to know your space

8. 2. Google’s ‘Microsites’
Let’s call this what it is! These are not just ‘filters’ - these are
microsites - multi-page SERPs vs a traditional single page
SERP.

9. It Started With COVID....
https://searchengineland.com/how-covid-19-may-change-the-serp-forever-333183

10. Google Has Been Quietly Adding These To More SERPs

11. This Is Changing The Entire Concept a Single Page Result
- Original query “Sanditon”
- User clicks “Cast” Bubble
- Query in URL does NOT change, but SERP does (technically, NOT a new search)
- PBS "ranks" for "Sanditon Cast"
- BUT GSC shows impressions/clicks to that page for just "Sanditon" and at avg pos 19.2

12. Pages In Microsites Drive Users Down-funnel For Google

13. Pages In Microsites Drive Users Down-funnel For Google
- Video Page in Google’s
Jill Scott Microsite
- Every link on this page
goes to.... YouTube.

14. Super Large Snippets With No Attribution?

15. What To Do About Google’s Microsite SERPs (For Now)
● Understand Your Data
○ Know where you rank in a microsite vs traditional result
● Don’t Be *Too* Scared About “Zero-Click” SERPs
○ As much traffic as Google ‘takes’ there is still a lot to go around!
● Pay Attention! Not ALL Important Google Developments are “announced”
○ We don’t know where this is going, but impacts could change Search as we know it...

16. 2021 Biggest (Quiet) Developments In
SEO & What They Mean for 2022
@dan_shure