This week’s big news in content marketing has been a leak of documents on Google search APIs. The leaked data sheds light on factors Google’s algorithm weighs in determining search results.
Not much is new, but the data supports some of the most hotly debated SEO theories over the years.
Theories Google reps often dismissed or suggested were wrong.
But before we dive in…
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Now, back to the leak…
I’m no technical expert on SEO, but I can share with you three key takeaways from analysts so far. (To read analysis from SEO experts, start here.)
2. Links do matter
Not so long ago, two Google reps caused a stir when they claimed links have become much less important to search engine results page (SERP) ranking. The leaked docs show those statements to be obfuscations.
The leaked data indicates Google considers the diversity of domains linking to your page, as well as the authority of the sites that are linking to you.
This correlates with one trend I noticed when I analyzed SERPs for Singapore searches of “SME financing” and related terms: Almost all sites in the top 10 results had strong domain ratings. (Domain rating is a metric made by Ahrefs that describes the strength of your site’s backlink profile.)
Turns out this metric still matters after all.
3. How people engage with your site affects your SERP visibility
Do people find your site on SERPs but not click on it? That’s a signal to Google that your page may not be the ideal result for the searcher’s query.
But if people find you through search, read your content, and maybe even click to other parts of your site, that’s a strong signal to Google that you deserve to rank for the given query.
So, what now?
Nothing changes—if you can honestly say you’ve been giving site visitors a good experience and making content for humans, not algorithms (or corporate gatekeepers, for that matter).
Content that solves real problems and resonates with your audiences on practical, professional, and personal levels.
If not, here are a few things you can do:
Assess your entire site for content freshness and quality, and for user experience.
Create and promote content that’s so good people will want to share it by linking to it. Think original research, industry perspectives, and opinionated content.
Audit your content to make sure every single piece answers the search intent behind its relevant keyword. Cull irrelevant content from your site.
Who’s nervous?
With tough competition, a deluge of AI content, and now Google’s rollout of search generative experience (SGE), it’s hard not to be scared about the future of content marketing.
I know I am.
It’s more difficult than ever to rank. And when sites do rank, there’s no guarantee they’ll get traffic, given the summaries and AI excerpts that appear above it on SERPs.
So how can our content reach our audiences online?
The answer sounds both trite and impossible at the same time. But it’s also inevitable:
Make content that’s so irresistibly good people will want to click on it, spend time with it, and share it. Promote it often in the (virtual) spaces where your audiences hang out.
This kind of content may look different on different platforms. But its core is consistent: deep audience knowledge, solid evidence, lived experience, and compelling storytelling.
Let’s raise the bar of content marketing in Southeast Asia
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Thanks for reading!
Katrina
with help from Jolene
