One thing you need to know about Google is that it uses an incredibly complex algorithm to identify which pages should appear on the first page of search results. We’re talking about a level of complexity that not even Google engineers totally understand anymore.
However because at its core, it’s still just math, you can run experiments on it to determine which ranking factors have the most weight and how Google treats them.
This is what I’ve been doing as an SEO tester. And in this SEO Butler blog post, I not only talk about what it takes to run SEO experiments but I also share my top discoveries thus far.
What are My Top SEO Discoveries?
Below are the most valuable things I found:
- Google can’t read.
- Grammar, spelling, bad words, and reading level are not ranking factors.
- Google can’t see a webpage – it doesn’t matter how pretty the page is, which fonts or colors you use, you must optimize specific factor areas.
- Contextual terms (NLP, TF-IDF, etc.) are a ranking factor.
- Click depth and the placement of internal links are factors.
Mind you, there are more things I discovered from my tests. But the 5 above truly affirms the fact that you can indeed figure out Google’s algorithm.
Conclusion
Rigorous SEO testing isn’t for everyone. But the unique insights I’ve discovered from over 400 tests have been more than everything to me.
Running SEO experiments has served me and my digital marketing agency well. Instead of relying on talking heads for advice, I’d run the test myself and see if a factor or strategy is worth pursuing. And the 5 discoveries I shared above are just the tip of the iceberg.
You can learn how to come up with your own SEO discoveries by reading my post on SEO Butler.
