Thanks to the leak of thousands of Google Docs in March 2024, we have a better understanding of search rankings. According to Search Engine Land (SEL), there are a few SEO lessons to be learned from the documents. Here’s what they are.
Focus on Your Client’s Brand Image
SEL says that brand matters more than anything else when it comes to search rankings. “Build a notable, popular, well-recognized brand in your space, outside of Google search,” SEL recommends.
How can your client accomplish that?
Creating content is one of the best ways. Thought leadership content specifically can:
Boost your client’s SEO
Inspire other organizations to link to your client’s content in their own content or on their site
Increase your client’s sales by establishing them as a trustworthy leader in their industry
Partnering with influencers can also work wonders for your client’s branding. According to a previous SalesFuel blog based on data from Traackr, influencers push brand awareness to new customers.
Influencers of all popularity levels have this effect, according to 54% of marketers. As long as your client partners with an influencer relevant to their industry, even a micro one will show results. Get a cheat sheet for selecting the right influencer for your client here.
Pay Attention to Links
According to SEL, “link diversity and relevance remain key” to search rankings. Linking other content to your client’s own can boost their authority and credibility.
But you can also create a backlink and call it a day. A backlink refers to a link another company has that circles back to your client’s site. SEL says that when a link doesn’t match the target site, it can cause a search demotion. And that’s more common than you might think.
According to a previous SalesFuel blog based on data from SEL, broken backlinks are a huge problem. They “occur when an external link from a site points to a non-existent page on another domain. This most commonly occurs when a page URL has changed or the linking sire added an incorrect URL.”
Even if your client had the correct link at first, the backlink might be broken as time passes. SEL says that over 50% of backlinks can be broken after five years and that percentage grows with time. So, your client needs to regularly check backlinks to make sure they take consumers where they’re supposed to.
Keep Your Content Fresh
Freshness matters, says SEL. “Google looks at dates in the byline, URL and on-page content.” So, your client needs to have a plan for consistently publishing new and relevant content and updating their website.
Yeah, that’s a lot of work, but AI can help lighten the load. AI can help with content creation tasks like:
Brainstorming new topics
Researching headlines, keywords, etc.
Writing drafts
Outlining assignments
Proofreading content
Just make sure your client isn’t writing content just for the sake of creating content for search rankings. The content needs to be high quality and provide fresh insights. SEL says that “low quality content on part of a site can impact a site’s ranking as a whole.”
AI can help with that too by showing your client what questions people are searching for related to their industry. Creating content that answers those questions is a great way to not only boost SEO, but brand awareness and sales. It’s a win-win-win.
Want some additional information on who your client’s target audience includes and what they’re interested in? Check out their profile on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel.
Use these three tips to help your client boost their search rankings and sales for the rest of the year.
Photo by: KOBU Agency