Four Takeaways from the Google Search Algorithm Leak
The Google search algorithm has always been a bit of a guessing game for marketers and SEO specialists. The only solid evidence of Google search determinants up until this point has been culled from search and website data from testing various SEO strategies (i.e. trial and error) and statements from Google itself. The guessing game, however, while far from over, has been flooded with new clues.
In March, thousands of documents from inside Google’s Search division were leaked online, detailing what has been described as 14,000 ranking features. As reported on May 29, Google confirmed the authenticity of the documents in an emailed statement to the The Verge, while also attempting to downplay the relevance of the information.
And while the leak does not provide a definitive guide to conquering Google search, it does confirm many things we have been hypothesizing about for a long time—and reveals contradictions that suggest that some of what we’ve heard from Google isn’t true.
We recognize that the information from thousands of documents can be overwhelming, so here are four key takeaways from the leak.
1. SERP Click-through Rates Are Important (Despite What Google Has Said)
Even though Google has previously denied the prevalence of click-through rates in determining search results, the leaked documents suggest they are still very much an important ranking factor. But how can you increase your click-through rates? It starts with extensive keyword research to identify the search habits of your target market. Your core keywords then inform your SEO strategy. Not only do your page titles, meta descriptions and headings need to be highly relevant and contain keywords, they also need to read well and be compelling to your audience.
Furthermore, it’s important to keep track of key website user metrics, like average session duration and bounce rate, since Google monitors user behavior to determine “good” and “bad” clicks. If a user bounces back to search results quickly after clicking on a result to your website, Google will count that as a bad click. If you are seeing low session duration and high bounce rate on key webpages, it may be time to revisit your messaging and/or page experience.
2. Make Your Website a Knowledge Center
As digital marketers, our strategies and goals can often be moving targets, but one strategy has continued to be effective: making your website a center of knowledge about your core business.
The documents indicate that Google has two ranking factors that track this: siteRadius and siteFocusScore. These metrics track how much of your website is dedicated to a certain topic and how relevant each page is relative to your topical identity. This means that creating highly relevant and informative content for your website is more important than ever and that old and non-relevant content could actually have a negative impact on your search visibility. Also, make sure to implement structured data across your website, because Google uses this content to further hone in on your website’s core topic.
3. Continuously Improve & Update the Most Important Pages on Your Website
SEO experts and marketers have known for a while that content freshness and depth has been a part of Google’s algorithm; however, this hypothesis seems to have been both confirmed and expanded. Reviews of the documents suggest that Google keeps track of when you update your webpages and stores the last 20 versions of each webpage.
Google also has a ranking factor called pageQuality that assesses the complexity of a page, meaning Google tries to determine how much effort you put into creating it. From this, we can see that Google favors pages with images, videos and other dynamic elements, as well as good user experience (clear navigation, fast loading times, etc.).
Thus, if you haven’t updated some key pages on your website in a while, you may want to think about refreshing them with new content and visual elements to maintain or improve your rankings.
4. Links Still Matter
From number of linking domains to anchor links with keywords, the leak reinforces the evidence that links can help (and hurt) your rankings. It’s important to get links from websites that Google values (one tool to help with identifying Google favored sites is PageRank).
Google wants to see your website being linked for a broad set of relevant keywords – and that people are actually clicking on those links. However, be careful of constantly using over-optimized anchor text, as this can trigger a spam demotion.
Internal linking on your website is also important. By linking to relevant content throughout each page of your website, you help encourage users to continue exploring your content. This helps with avoiding “bad” clicks from SERPs.
The leak also suggests that Google reads bolded text differently than non-bolded, so it can’t hurt to bold your keyword links.
Work with a Partner Who Understands SEO & Your Business
Juggling all of the latest updates with SEO best practices can be exhausting, but having an SEO partner that understands your business as well as non-SEO marketing can be the difference in increasing leads in addition to website rankings and traffics.
Innovaxis offers extensive experience with on- and off-site SEO, both of which are crucial for maximum search engine rankings on Google, Bing and other search engines – and generating sustainable, double-digit revenue growth.
