Practical Guide to SEO After Google's Leak

Everyone is talking about Google's internal search documentation leak.

I was a former PM on the Search team at Google and saw a lot of this documentation back in 2017. But how each of these factors were being used or IF they were even being used was changing everyday.

This begs the question of whether the signals in the leak are actively in use, and if they are, how much weight they're given for SEO. This is anyone's guess.

If you're really into SEO, maybe you find the leak fascinating. But the reality is it doesn't change how anyone approaches the channel.

Here's a practical guide on some SEO best practices to pay attention to in the wake of the leak.

Key Takeaways from the Leaked Google Documents

In May 2024, a huge leak of Google's internal documents pulled back the curtain on how Google's search ranking algorithm works.

iPullRank's CEO Mike King wrote an extensive breakdown of the algo leak if you're interested in a deep-dive — I'm here to talk about practical next steps for SEO.

Here are my key takeaways from the leak:

• Website authority: The leak revealed confirmed that Google has a factor called "siteAuthority", which means a website's overall reputation and trustworthiness can influence the ranking of its individual pages. So if you're publishing a bunch of AI-generated garbage or are going really broad on your topic coverage, it's going to hurt individual pages.

• Links matter: This isn't a new thing. Link diversity and relevance are crucial, and PageRank is still alive. My personal guess is the weightage of this has decreased over time since the introduction of LLMs.
• Titles have site-wide implications. There's title-match scoring for your entire site. This means that even if you're a well-known brand and are experimenting with more creative, non-specific titles, your ranking may be affected. Try to keep your page titles close to the original
• Clicks and engagement matter: Google considers user clicks as a proxy for content quality. The less bouncing around people do, the more time they spend on your site, etc, the better. Your site needs to be a destination visitors WANT to spend time on.

• Brand reputation: Rand Fishkin (SparkToro, Moz), who was at the forefront of breaking the story on the leak, pointed out a module in the docs that refer to number of mentions (persons and brands). So if we have the term "Letterdrop" scattered across the internet on LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, review sites, other publications, that helps us in rankings.
• Freshness: Google considers dates in the byline, URL, and on-page content to determine how recent your content is. Regularly updating your content with fresh information can improve your ranking.
• Authorship: Google stores information about the author of a piece of content. Authorship by a recognized expert in the field can boost your ranking (think EEAT)

• Chrome data: A module named ChromeInTotal suggests Google uses data from Chrome browsing history to influence ranking. This means factors like browsing behavior anSE
• Whitelists: Google continues to try to protect users from misinformation by whitelisting important information and sites.
• Small sites: There's a feature called smallPersonalSite, hinting that Google might have specific ranking mechanisms for small websites and blogs. This also proves that Google's sandbox is a thing.

What You Should Change About SEO After the Google Leak

We have always encouraged folks to take a people-first, data-first approach to SEO here at Letterdrop in order to:

• be genuinely helpful
• stand out in the sea of sameness out on the SERPs

My advice now in the aftermath of this leak is honestly no different.

Lead with Expert-Driven Content

It's even clearer now that who writes your content is just as important as what's in your content. Think about your own search experience. For an important topic, you'd rather learn from someone who knows what they're talking about instead of a junior writer or an LLM. We're all looking for informed opinions at the end of the day.

According to Rand Fishkin, it seems that Google prefers one leading expert over multiple, lesser known contributors.

1. Get an expert to write, or in the very least inform, your content. Copycat or purely AI-driven content won't help you stand out and rank. You have access customers, executives, sellers, partners, and product managers at your company to begin with — interview them as SMEs for a start.
2. Deliver proprietary, first-party data and related assets. Use multimedia assets wherever you can, including screenshots, charts, and videos supported by internal data and research. Google values this expertise and diversity — plus, your competitors can't copy you.

Diversify Your Online Presence

It's always been important to diversify your online channels and to build a brand presence wherever your ICP hangs out online.

If Google uses Chrome data and mentions to determine ranking, it's more important than ever to show up elsewhere.

1. B2B brands stand to benefit from turning LinkedIn into an acquisition channel, and in turn making everyone on their GTM team into social sellers. It's the future of ABM.
2. Distribute blog content and links across other channels — for example, tease blog sections in your newsletter with a clear CTA to read more.

Optimize All Your Content For Conversions

While the fact that Google does value clicks may come as news, the importance of engagement with your site doesn't.

1. Follow best practices for your CTAs, aligning them to specific funnel stages for your blog and newsletter. Use a clean, visible, and branded designs; use power words; strategically place CTAs at the top and bottom of pages; personalize them as much as possible, and include social proof.
2. Audit your site to improve user experience and prolong their time on-site. You may be overlooking page structure and technical SEO checks that are causing users to bounce. It's also worth adding long-form video and other content that users will spend a longer time consuming.

Here are some rules to look out for:

1. The title shouldn't be cut off in the SERP (and it should properly reflect what the article is about.)
2. Images need alt text.
3. Images need proper file names.
4. You shouldn't have more than one H1.
5. You need at least two or three internal links.
6. You need least one high domain authority external link.
7. No broken links.
8. Optimize your Core Web Vitals (minify code, lazy load images, etc)
9. Create skimmable structure with bolding and lists.
10. Use your keyword naturally in the introduction to make it clear what this article answers.
11. Use your keyword naturally in the conclusion to make it clear what this article answers.
12. No keyword stuffing.

Focus on Legitimate, High-Value Backlink Building

Google's emphasis on links for ranking (which is also not news to anyone) means that you need to:

• Internal link to the right pages
• Backlink to other credible websites

And don't even think about trying to buy your backlinks (Google's Link Spam update will get you), but get them legitimately through:

• PR efforts
• Co-marketing with other businesses
• Asking for guest posts
• Writing for reputable sites like Medium
• Answering questions with sites like AskAB2BWriter and HARO

Google's "smallPersonalSite" module makes it clear that backlink building and PR efforts isn't really worth it for small sites without significant authority.

Keep Your Site Updated

It goes without saying that Google values fresh, relevant content over stale articles that have not been updated in over a year.

You need to perform a regular content audit and update your pages for SEO — your site is only as strong as your weakest-performing article.

• Update or delete pages that are outdated
• Keep links updated — and fix your broken links and redirects

Good on-page experience translates to positive signals to Google.

As Ever: Focus on User-Friendly Content Before Bot-Friendly Content

It's unclear whether Google is actively using this documentation as of now. But it's fair to say that if they have cared about these ranking factors historically or care about them now, there may be a few things you need to change about how you approach SEO today.

You need to see your pages through the lens of the user. Is what you're saying uniquely helpful to them? Is it structured and optimized in a way that allows for smooth loading and on-page experience? Is there an easy pathway to a next step?

We can help you automate for user-first SEO best practices today.