I’ve added some recent long form content to my listing of Essential Readings for Web Analytics. Thanking for Mario Fisher for explaining how Search Ranking Works
Key Takeaways
Diversify traffic sources: Ensure you receive traffic from various sources, not just search engines. Traffic from less obvious channels, like social media platforms, is also valuable. Even if Google’s crawler can’t access certain pages, Google can still track how many visitors come to your site through platforms like Chrome or direct URLs.
Build brand and domain awareness: Always work on strengthening your brand or domain name recognition. The more familiar people are with your name, the more likely they are to click on your site in search results. Ranking for many long-tail keywords can also boost your domain’s visibility. Leaks suggest that “site authority” is a ranking signal, so building your brand’s reputation can help improve your search rankings.
Understand search intent: To better meet your visitors’ needs, try to understand their search intent and journey. Use tools like Semrush or SimilarWeb to see where your visitors come from and where they go after visiting your site. Analyze these domains – do they offer information that your landing pages lack? Gradually add this missing content to become the “final destination” in your visitors’ search journey. Remember, Google tracks related search sessions and knows precisely what searchers are looking for and where they’ve been searching.
Optimize your titles and descriptions to improve CTR: Start by reviewing your current CTR and making adjustments to enhance click appeal. Capitalizing a few important words can help them stand out visually, potentially boosting CTR; test this approach to see if it works for you. The title plays a critical role in determining whether your page ranks well for a search phrase, so optimizing it should be a top priority.
Evaluate hidden content: If you use accordions to “hide” important content that requires a click to reveal, check if these pages have a higher-than-average bounce rate. When searchers can’t immediately see they’re in the right place and need to click multiple times, the likelihood of negative click signals increases.
Remove underperforming pages: Pages that nobody visits (web analytics) or that do not achieve a good ranking over longer periods of time should be removed if necessary. Bad signals are also passed on to neighboring pages! If you publish a new document in a “bad” page cluster, the new page has few chances. “deltaPageQuality” apparently actually measures the qualitative difference between individual documents in a domain or cluster.
Enhance page structure: A clear page structure, easy navigation and a strong first impression are essential for achieving top rankings, often thanks to NavBoost.
Maximize engagement: The longer visitors stay on your site, the better the signals your domain sends, which benefits all of your subpages. Aim to be the final destination by providing all the information they need so visitors won’t have to search elsewhere.
Expand existing content rather than constantly creating new ones: Updating and enhancing your current content can be more effective. ContentEffortScore measures the effort put into creating a document, with factors like high-quality images, videos, tools and unique content all contributing to this important signal.
Align your headings with the content they introduce: Ensure that (intermediate) headings accurately reflect the text blocks that follow. Thematic analysis, using techniques like embeddings (text vectorization), is more effective at identifying whether headings and content match correctly compared to purely lexical methods.
Utilize web analytics: Tools like Google Analytics lets you track visitor engagement effectively and identify and address any gaps. Pay particular attention to the bounce rate of your landing pages. If it’s too high, investigate potential causes and take corrective actions. Remember, Google can access this data through the Chrome browser.
Target less competitive keywords: You can also focus on ranking well for less competitive keywords first and thus more easily build up positive user signals.
Cultivate quality backlinks: Focus on links from recent or high-traffic pages stored in HiveMind, as these provide more valuable signals. Links from pages with little traffic or engagement are less effective. Additionally, backlinks from pages within the same country and those with thematic relevance to your content are more beneficial. Be aware that “toxic” backlinks, which negatively impact your score, do exist and should be avoided.
Pay attention to the context surrounding links: The text before and after a link, not just the anchor text itself, are considered for ranking. Make sure the text naturally flows around the link. Avoid using generic phrases like “click here,” which has been ineffective for over twenty years.
Take note of the Disavow tool’s limitations: The Disavow tool, used to invalidate bad links, is not mentioned in the leak at all. It seems that algorithms do not consider it, and it serves mainly a documentary purpose for spam fighters.
Consider author expertise: If you use author references, ensure they are also recognized on other websites and demonstrate relevant expertise. Having fewer but highly qualified authors is better than having many less credible ones. According to a patent, Google can assess content based on the author’s expertise, distinguishing between experts and laypeople.
Create exclusive, helpful, comprehensive and well-structured content: This is especially important for key pages. Demonstrate your genuine expertise on the topic and, if possible, provide evidence of it. While it’s easy to have someone write content just to have something on the page, setting high ranking expectations without real quality and expertise may not be realistic.