I no longer see ranking factors. All I see is user satisfaction.
A series of tweets by Google Search Link Danny Sullivan about doing things for Google and users set the SEO scene on fire. The main point: focus on users, not Google.
Screenshot from X (Twitter), March 2024 (Image credit: Kevin Indig)
Each polarization point has two opposing fields. SEO is no exception.
Camp One believes that Google can measure, understand and reward user satisfaction. All that matters is helping users achieve their goals. Google is smart.
Camp Two believes that content optimization, technological SEO and link building are the keys to SEO success. Machines follow algorithms and algorithms follow equations. Google is lazy and stupid.
But there is a third camp: both are true.
Image credit: Lyna™
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The most simplistic model of SEO: Technical optimization, content optimization and backlinks get you top 10 results, but strong user signals get you top 3, as long as you arrive user intent.
This simplified model is correct in my experience, but it clashes with reality in five ways:
1. Google’s systems are not flawless. They don’t always reward the best content. Some spam tactics still work. Some content of goods still classified. Long tail responses are terrible.
The top ranking of Reddit results was clever thinking, but many answers are questionable. SEO is full of six and whens: the definition of algorithms.
2. User journeys are not linear. I talk too often about the funnel, but the best model consists of intent, multiple touchpoints, and a purchase.
Customers are exposed to buying triggers through friends, social media, ads, or serendipity: I see a cool shirt on a YouTube video and immediately want to buy one.
Then they go through cycles of exploration and evaluation: I paste t-shirt articles into Google, watch YouTube videos, and read reviews.
Finally, they find an offer they like and pull the trigger: I go to site.com and buy the shirt. User journey complete.
Non-linearity makes the impact of content more difficult to measure. A very important piece can get a lot of traffic but no conversions. Attributing income to this piece is very difficult.
3. Google has he lied on the use of user signals in classification. Is it lying about other things too?
4. In practice, I always see it a positive impact by adding more “best practices” elements to the page.
A point of concern on X (Twitter) was things like author bios, publication dates, or the table of contents. Whether the Google system actively searches for and rewards them or users prefer them, they have a positive impact.
5. My biggest struggle and criticism is the subjectivity and imprecision of statements such as “useful content”, “good for users” or “user experience”.
What does it mean? Taken to the absurd, it can be argued that almost everything is being good or bad for the user. It is too subjective and simplistic.
A better approach to navigating the confusing state of SEO is a mix of SEO, conversion rate optimization (CRO) and good market research.
CRO and SEO are connected at the hip and should never have been separated.
From here’s how the pros do conversion rate optimization:
For the past two decades, the roles of SEO and CRO lived and grew in isolation. At the same time, we are preaching to break down silos in organizations. In engineering, we are breaking down monolithic applications into microservices. Most growth and product organizations work in teams where members from different trades come together to form a group that pursues the same goal. So why are SEO and CRO still two different crafts?
Both start with user intent and end by removing friction:
Conversion rate optimization is based on three basic principles:
Understand user intent, motivation and friction. Run experiments Focus on business impact
Understanding what users are trying to achieve (intent, how to buy, evaluate, find inspiration, solve a problem), what motivates them (price, features, value, status) and where they encounter friction is key to developing unique ideas instead of blind copy/paste them from blog articles.
CRO playbooks combined with market research can answer “what’s best for users” much better than what many consider “pure SEO.”
Market research can shed light on underserved topics regardless of search volume.
Hotjar and Mouseflow are valuable tools, but often the only ones in a belt that can hold much more.
Talking to users, either directly or asynchronously, is back on the menu at a time when asynchronous video tools and AI make it simple, fast and efficient to learn from users. Writing this sentence seems very basic, but we just don’t do it because we are stuck in old mindsets.
Old ways are powerful drugs because they prevent us from having to be uncomfortable and learn new things. But the old ways also prevent us from adapting. risky business
Search volume is the best proxy for a market we have in marketing. But it is as complicated as using productivity for economic growth.
From the inaccuracy and defects of the search volume:
In summary, search volume is:
Not available for many keywords, especially transactional keywords Often inaccurate Averaged over the year, meaning seasonality is not reflected at all.
But selecting topics to create content is not enough. We also need more user input for content gist.
aggregators understand this principle much better than integrators because their focus is so product-based and SEO teams are typically housed in the product organization.
It is much less common for integrators to get qualitative user feedback on content or conduct expert interviews before writing. Some of the best integrative brands have in-house specialists, and it shows.
Tech SEO, which is primarily a job done for Google, is still important no matter what field you’re in.
Google has become allergic to unhealthy sites and commodity content as it reaches the limits of its own resources. Simply focusing on the user is not enough.
Image credit: Kevin Indig
This site had a technical issue that caused many pages to be indexed. Organic traffic was shut down immediately.
“Maybe we need to speak more clearly that our systems are chasing what people like, so if you’re ‘chasing the algorithm’, you’re behind. If you’re chasing what people like, you’re ahead of the algorithm “.
One of my unpopular opinions is that you should chase the algorithm. In fact, you want to be on point.
But because you have to periodically adjust as Google’s algorithm changes, you’re always chasing slightly.
Why wouldn’t you want to be in front? Because you never know how far you are from something and when it will catch up with you.
Google rewards what works. If being ahead of something was rewarded, people would adapt their playbooks.
It seems the time is ripe, perhaps too ripe, for more CRO in SEO. But don’t forget to make the machine happy.
“You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt and disbelief. Free your mind.”
One more thing: I’m speaking at the Digital Olympus Summit in Eindhoven on May 31st. RSVP for a free ticket. I have two First come, first served.
Featured image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
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