Surprisingly, there were very few surprises when the recently leaked Google search ranking signals had been digested. At least not for reputable, experienced SEO agencies that do things by the book.
The recent leak on Github.com simply confirmed a series of ranking factors, most of which had always been suspected, without indicating clearly how each factor was weighted. In that sense it did not provide a de facto To Do List of action points.
Don’t close your eyes to red flags
The leaks however did serve as a warning to businesses that employ SEO agencies that stick too closely to Google guidelines without using their experience, guile and knowledge of Google to predict sensible additional tasks.
That’s because the leaks helpfully acknowledged that Google has for a long time spread misinformation about which SEO tactics work and which don’t. Again, to us, not surprising. Would Google actually want everybody to know exactly what to do to rank at the top of the search results. Clearly not as it would eradicate the value that they bring to the party and on which the vast majority of their revenues are predicated.
There is however much good advice that tallies with obvious best practice like having a fast, mobile friendly, secure website. But there has also been lots of misleading quotes over the years from Google search staff and plenty of it has been blindly followed to the letter by unquestioning agencies that can’t think out of the box.
Volume of web traffic counts
We have known for a long time that content is king and increasing volumes of site traffic is a good thing. What better way to validate your site? Clearly there have been traffic thresholds to be met before hikes in the ranks. In turn this increases competition with higher ranking sites and the cream floats to the top. That’s the theory anyway.
Yet Google has always maintained that traffic and other user metrics were not ranking signals. Evidence from the leaked documents suggests to the contrary. The good old Sandbox is still alive and kicking it would seem.
The new site conundrum
It’s becoming de rigeur with a new SEO challenge to run paid ads in the initial stages of an SEO campaign to build up that initial volume of visits which then allows Google to confer boosts in rank based on the perceived upward trajectory and momentum of the site.
Every client demands the top ranks and associated traffic and they want it quick. So it’s crucial for agencies to ensure that clients understand the process, the limitations, the options and catalysts that may be deployed. Up to 12 months of sustained best practice may be necessary before they can compete in even remotely competitive phrase neighbourhoods.
Short cut at your peril
The fact that the leak revealed no surprises reinforces what good SEO agencies have always said. That the alleged short cuts are dangerous, at best short term and will only be deployed by agencies that don’t have the future wellbeing of the client domain and website at the heart of their proposals.
Natural, organic search still delivers the best results and ROI over time, but as soon as somebody tells you what that time will be then show them the door. Nobody can know that, not even Google.
