As we all know, Google is constantly changing and tweaking its ranking algorithm to provide the best experience for searchers. As a website owner, there can be a lot to keep up with to make sure that your site is up to date and performing at its very best to provide a seamless experience for users. With that said, one thing Google continues to take into account and values is providing a good user experience. 

As we look further into 2022, a well-maintained site will continue to be a pressing factor on your site’s health and competitiveness. Without a solid and well-maintained foundation for your website, this will negatively affect your site in the search results. As a result, you will lose traffic, fall behind competitors and miss out on revenue. In the sections below, we will cover some of the most popular development trends that will help take your website to the next level in 2022. 

Chatbots

The demand for chatbots is rising every year, and so is their complexity as we need to continue to meet the needs and match the behaviors of users. How is this done? Developers continue to leverage machine learning, natural language processing, and data retrieval techniques.

These chatbots can also prove a much better user experience as they can help answer frequently asked questions, fix problems clients are having, answer questions in a timely manner, and many more benefits. They can also help the business by collecting data on the needs of their clients or potential customers.

As mentioned in the section above, user experience is an essential part of ranking well and having a successful website. These chatbots are playing a more significant role in providing a great user experience.

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

Progressive Web Apps are becoming more popular as we move forward. These are apps that function as a website with a full mobile app experience. In other words, users interact with them as a normal app, but they run as a normal website.

Why are these becoming more and more popular? Here are some of the benefits these apps have provided to users and businesses:

• Easy installation
• Flexible distribution
• Decreased development expenses
• Smoother updates and maintenance
• Quicker launch to market

While these are not super new, they are beginning to gain more traction as mobile activity continues to increase. In fact, it is projected that the mobile landscape will become 4.4 times larger than it currently is, reaching 288EB monthly in 2027. As a result, progressive web apps will most likely replace web apps for good in the future. 

Dark Mode UI

The trend of dark mode has become increasingly more popular. In fact, a recent study showed that 82.7% of the participants used dark mode on their devices. Research conducted by Android Authority and Polar yielded similar results with 91.8% and 95% of participants using dark mode.

Users may be making this shift for several reasons, which we will list below:

• Reduces blue-light on the user’s eyes
• Lowers eye strain when in a low light setting
• Makes UI content accessible and legible to all
• Preserves the battery life of the user’s device

Internet of Things (IoT)

As we all know, technology is developing at extremely fast rates and becoming a part of our lives more and more. IoT is probably one of the most vital trends to keep an eye on as we move forward, as it will have a significant impact on web development. 

What is IoT? According to TechTarget, IoT devices are devices that contain a sensor and are continuously sharing data by connecting to an IoT gateway of another edge device where the data is either sent to the cloud to be analyzed or analyzed locally. An IoT ecosystem can be defined as a system that consists of several web-enabled smart devices that use embedded systems such as sensors, processors, and other communication hardware to collect and send data.

These devices are making more of a presence every day and will have a heavy impact on Web development.

While there are many more website development trends to watch throughout 2022, these are just a few that could play a huge role in helping your website get to the next level. As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is still essential to make sure that the foundation of your website is in a good standing point before you venture into these trends.

If you have any questions or comments on this article, please feel free to post a comment in the sections below for open discussion.