what is the secret to ranking in google?

A brief history of SEO

Alternative title: ‘Why your ranking probably sucks’

The Glory Days Past

• Link building software• Spun articles• Article directories• Thin sites• Spam your way to the top

Release The Algorithms!

• Farmer• Panda• Penguin• Hummingbird

Bad news for SEOs?• Loss of ranking• Good people/businesses

hurt• An attempt by Google to

push for quality

• Create chaos and fear to control SEO

Rise of the Machines

• Smarter search started emphasizing – Location– Language – Intent

– Machine learning to generate/refine SERPs

Machines dictate results

• Google’s algorithm is teaching itself and learning as it goes.

• The future of SEO looks like your analytics variables (CTR, bounce, engagement, etc)

What is a SEO to do?• Stick with good onpage SEO• Don’t be afraid of link building • Make it your goal to get visitor engagement

– Titles/Meta descriptions pique interest– Web design– Super-fast site loads– Fresh, good content– Drives visitors deeper into the site– Brand building and loyalty

But wait, there’s more…

• Aim for thorough content• A site/page about fitness that doesn’t

mention ‘diet’ or ‘calories’ probably isn’t very informative, since most other sites/pages about this topic almost always mention these terms.

• Social matters (some correlation between position and social signals)

In a nutshell• Aim to outdo your

competitors by orders of magnitude.

• Sloppy, inconsistent, unshared sites/content are rarely leaders in the SERPs

• Be the answer that visitors are searching for

• If you’re a SEO, deepen client’s content

• Think ‘interaction’ rather than ‘links’

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