In total, there are about 8,000 attributes that are SEO related. Most of these are things that people like me who work to improve website rankings have been advocating for years. The attributes that were leaked all boil down to good construction and publishing content that helps people – these are essential ingredients for SEO success.
What does a “well-built” mean? It means that every page has a page title. It means that metadata that tells search engines what the page is about is important. It means that you need clear headers and keywords. It means that it's a site with a security certificate (the “s” in HTTPS). It means that it's a mobile-friendly or at least mobile-responsive site. Your website company or programming team should be able to handle these build basics to showcase your content.
What about content that helps people? That means having landing pages on specific topics, instead of having many topics on one page, because Google is a search engine and it's looking for answers for people. That means writing for people who are looking for the services or products you offer. What do they need to know? What do they want to know? What will help them? What will differentiate your content from theirs? And that means using words that people actually search for in that content, not your company's jargon.
After optimizing your website so that it can be found on search engines like Google and Bing with a great structure and useful content, comes Search Engine Marketing (SEM). This is what drives people to your website. You wouldn't plan a party and not send out invitations. Marketing spreads the invitation. Digital ads are direct invitations to your website. Emails to customers or potential customers are invitations to your website. Social media is engagement and ultimately an invitation to your website. Staff who are knowledge leaders on social media, podcasts, YouTube, and industry events are invitations to your website. It's generating traffic to your website and has been confirmed by Google leaks to improve your SEO ranking.
Finally, this month we wrote an article about SEO for our manufacturing friends. Use the tips above to improve your website for better digital discovery. Being found as a manufacturing resource will help grow your sales pipeline.