If you’re a B2B marketer, you may have come across the massive leak and insight into Google’s search ranking algorithms earlier this year. The leak spilled over 14,000 factors that influence how content ranks.
But before you start rewriting all your content or tweaking every meta tag, let’s break down what this really means for your B2B demand generation strategy.
Hint: Quality matters!
In this article, I’m going to unpack the most important takeaways from Google’s leak and show you how to apply them to your content strategy. If you’re looking to boost your rankings, build your brand, and stay ahead of the curve, keep reading. This is the blueprint you’ve been waiting for.
As per usual, you can watch, listen to, or read the episode below!
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Understanding the Google Leak
Rand Fishkin, founder of SparkToro and former CEO of Moz, analyzed this information and gave his two cents. Rand highlighted the critical role of user interaction scores and content quality in Google’s ranking system. The leak serves as a wake-up call for B2B marketers to refocus their strategies. Instead of chasing every possible SEO tactic, the key takeaway from the leak is that it emphasises the ned to prioritize creating content that genuinely engages and helps your audience. As people who have been BANGING ON about helpful content, this is music to our ears!
Above is the generalized formula for getting content to rank in Google. Kev and I run through each part of the formula in this episode of The B2B Playbook.
For B2B demand generation marketers, the message is loud and clear: high-quality, user-centric content is no longer just a recommendation—it’s a necessity. Create content for your audience first, and Google second.
The Core of Google’s Ranking: User Interaction Scores
One of the biggest takeaways from the 2024 Google leak is the critical role of user interaction scores in determining search rankings. For a while now, we’ve known that Google’s algorithm isn’t just about keywords anymore – it’s about how users engage with your content. This confirms it.
This means Google is closely watching how people scroll, click, and explore your pages.
It’s clear that Google rewards content that generates meaningful interactions. When users stay on your page, scroll through most of your content, and engage with different media formats, Google sees that as a sign that your content is valuable. So if a user interacts in a positive way or a way that Google sees as positive, then hopefully that information is helpful. They’re reading it, they’re scrolling through the majority of that piece of content, potentially engaging with different media formats. These are all signals that this content is high quality and relevant.
That means we need to continue to deliver a top-notch user experience. If you create an article that’s stuffed with keywords and delivers little insight or value – there’s a good chance your target customer reading it will only skim it and click away. This is a sign to Google that it is of lower quality.
Make your content easy to navigate, visually engaging, and packed with value. If you can nail that, you’re not just going to rank better; you’re going to build a brand that people trust and keep coming back to.
This is why we’re such huge fans of creating content that is driven by subject matter experts (SMEs) in your business. Content that features SMEs is likely to be original and interesting. It will be of far great value and be more engaging that your standard ’10 things to X’ listicles.
The Role of Content Quality
Google doesn’t just measure the value of your content by its keywords but by the entire experience it provides. It uses several signals to assess content quality, focusing on factors like relevance, expertise, and how users engage with the content.
Google doesn’t stop at just evaluating the quality; it also applies relevance and quality boosts to this score. This means your content isn’t just judged by its inherent value, but also by how well it aligns with what users are searching for.
The takeaway? Google’s algorithms favour content that is not only informative but also authoritative and aligned with the user’s intent. Surface-level insights just aren’t enough!
The Growing Importance of Brand in Google’s Ranking
The leak made it clear that brand recognition and authority are more critical than ever in determining search rankings. Google’s algorithms increasingly prioritize established brands, treating them as trusted entities within their fields. That’s why SEO legend Rand Fishkin has advised marketers to build a notable, popular, well-recognised brand in your space if you want to improve organic rankings.
Google is focused on identifying entities—brands, authors, and authorities—and using these signals to rank content. Established brands naturally gain an advantage because they are recognized as leaders in their industry. This shift in focus means that Google rewards content from entities that users signal as authoritative.
Again, most marketers we speak to need to stop focusing solely on ranking for specific keywords, and instead start investing in creating high-quality content that establishes your brand as an authority in your niche. That’s exactly why we continue to write every article around Demand Generation – to show ourselves as the experts in it both to our audience and Google.
Why Relevance and Authority Matter
Relevance is very important when you’re looking at the content that you want to create. You want to create it in an area where you have subject matter expertise or you have someone who has brought that subject matter expertise in.
Google’s algorithm multiplies content quality scores by relevance boosts, making it clear that your content must align closely with what users are searching for.
For B2B marketers, this means staying within your area of expertise is more important than ever. By focusing on creating content that aligns with your core competencies and meets your Dream Customer’s needs, you ensure that your content remains both relevant and authoritative.
Practical Application: Consistency is Key
Consistency is key in the eyes of Google. Showing up with quality content once in a while isn’t enough – you need to do it regularly.
But consistency isn’t just about frequency; it’s about reliability. Your audience expects you to show up regularly with valuable content, and Google’s algorithms are tuned to recognize that. If you think about it logically, your Dream Customers will expect consistency. And that is another factor beyond helpful content that helps to build that sense of trust.
For you dear marketer, that means having a well-oiled system in place to consistently produce and distribute expert-led content. This is something we cover in detail in our Demand Generation Course – The B2B Incubator.
The Need for Going Long-Tail and the Importance of Expert-Led Content
Another big takeaway from this Google leak is the value of focusing on niche markets and long-tail keywords. If you’re a smaller brand trying to compete with industry giants, going niche is your secret weapon. Start more niche because there’s those long-tail searches out there that the big brands who typically would rank better for just aren’t paying attention to.
By zeroing in on these specific, lower-competition keywords, you can dominate a space where your brand’s expertise shines.
This is where expert-led content really makes a difference. When you consistently produce content that demonstrates deep knowledge in your niche, you don’t just fill a gap—you establish your brand as a go-to resource. Become incredibly important and relevant to someone. No matter how small that pond is, that’s going to create a great experience.
So, if you’re looking to build a strong, authoritative brand, don’t try to outgun the big players on broad terms. Instead, focus on owning your niche. Produce expert-led content that speaks directly to your audience’s needs, and Google will reward your relevance and authority in that space. This strategy not only helps you rank but also builds lasting relationships with your target audience.
Key Takeaways
Here’s the key takeaways from this leak:
- Google’s ranking algorithm considers multiple factors, including user interaction scores, content quality, link scores, relevance, and quality boosts.
- Behavioural elements are becoming increasingly important in Google’s ranking system. This includes how users interact with a webpage, traffic volume, and engagement with page content.
- Brand reputation matters significantly in search rankings. Building a notable, popular, and well-recognized brand outside of Google search can greatly improve organic search rankings.
- For small and medium businesses, focusing solely on technical SEO may not yield significant returns until they’ve established credibility and a strong reputation among a sizable audience.
- Consistency in publishing high-quality, expert-led content is crucial for building trust with both users and search engines.
Action Steps
- Invest in a well-designed website with intuitive architecture to optimize for NavBoost, Google’s metric for user navigation.
- Focus on creating helpful, expert-led content that provides value to your target audience rather than solely optimizing for search engines.
- Maintain a consistent publishing schedule for your content to build trust and improve site-level quality scores.
- Prioritize building your brand reputation through valuable content and industry engagement rather than solely focusing on SEO tactics.
- Consider starting with a niche focus to compete more effectively for long-tail searches that larger brands may overlook.
- Implement basic SEO practices (like relevant page titles and ensuring content is indexable) but prioritize content quality and brand building over advanced technical SEO, especially for newer or smaller businesses.
- Create content that encourages user engagement, as Google considers behavioral signals in its ranking algorithm.
- Develop a system for consistently producing and distributing content across various platforms (e.g., podcast, YouTube, LinkedIn, newsletters) to build brand authority.
Remember, the overall message is to focus on creating valuable, expert-led content for your target audience while building a strong brand reputation. You need a system for doing this – and that’s exactly what we give you in our Demand Generation Program, The B2B Incubator.
