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CM SEO 2023 Recap
Alex Horsman
November 17th, 2023
If you get nothing else from this article, please remember user engagement.
This is king.
Content and links will get you to the first page.
If you’re not already there, this is what I would focus on.
But once there, optimize for user engagement and behavior.
This will keep you in that number one slot.
This was a heavy talking point due to the ongoing lawsuit against Google right now:
Google has redacted a ton of information within the documents (obviously) that they shared with the court, but there are still some valuable insights.
For instance:
They go on to show:
Now, these slides are from 2016, and no doubt there have been a few (haha) updates to the algorithm since then, but I have no doubt in my mind that this is crucial for ranking content.
As Kyle Roof said during his talk…
Google is an algorithm.
Treat it as such.
It’s not an all-knowing being.
It’s math.
If you take a look at Google Search Console whenever you update a page (assuming you’re already on page one), you will notice that Google “tests” your new version of the page.
They will throw you in and out of the number one slot.
They are doing this to see how users react to your page.
As mentioned in my previous post, Big G is collecting millions and millions of data points every single day via Chrome.
They have to rely on user behavior to get an understanding of how “good” a page is.
The algorithm doesn’t know.
It’s a computer that does the maths.
So it uses its users' data and interactions to figure this out.
I’m kicking myself because this is something Kevin Indig wrote about months ago, but the past is the past, and time to start now.
That said, what is Google measuring?
What should you be optimizing for.
The big thing here is making sure that users aren’t clicking “back” after they have viewed your page and viewing another result.
If I search “best running shoes” then I click and land on the #1 page.
But if I don’t find a pair that fits my needs, then I go back to the search results and click on the #2 page.
Now on page #2, I find a pair of running shoes that are perfect for me and go and purchase them.
And I don’t return to Google and search this query again because my problem is solved.
This. Is. A. Win. For. Page. #2.
Google will want to rank Page #2 higher than Page #1 because they are solving users’ problems.
Remember this.
Page #2 solved my problem.
I was using Chrome the whole time.
They tracked my behavior.
They saw that I purchased a product and didn’t need to search again.
Mission complete.
Now, this is grossly simplified but hopefully, that puts you in the right headspace.
Not every page is going to solve the same problem.
Therefore not every page should measure the same metrics (clicks, scrolls, etc).
I could dive deep into this but instead, just read Kevin’s article.
No reason for me to rewrite it:
With the above information in mind, we can clearly see a way to “game” this.
You black/gray hat people in the room might have thought of this idea already but if not…
Hire a bunch of people for “micro tasks” and have them:
Google your keyword
Click on the first result
Click “back” after 5 seconds - this should take you back to the search results page
Then have them find your page
Click on it
Have them stay on the page for 20 - 30 seconds
Click a couple of on-page elements
Click an outbound link or two
Etc
Then, close out the browser and don’t search that query again
Note - make sure they are using Chrome and are logged into a Gmail account.
One person (who will not be named) I spoke with is doing this on a large scale.
He told me to figure out the monthly traffic for a page and send 110% of clicks to that page.
If you get 1,000 pageviews per month on a single page.
Hire and have 1,100 people do the above steps.
Now, I don’t think this is the most sustainable business model but it sure as shit can be lucrative.
He doesn’t do this for every keyword or page but just think about this in the casino niche.
For instance: “best online casino”
Ranking number 1 for that single keyword will make you 7-figures a month.
So even if you only rank for a month or two, you’ll make plenty of money.
Again, I don’t think this is the most sustainable but I am going to test it out on a few money pages to see what happens.
If nothing else, I’ll learn first-hand if it works or not.
Note: A big takeaway for me is just trying and testing tactics out. I’ve always considered myself a “white hat” SEO, but doing some gray/black hat tactics will teach you what Big G is really looking for.
Okay, so what else did I learn?
The list is long and I think I’ll spend the rest of the year creating dedicated posts to each topic.
To give you a brief overview of each topic won’t do them justice.
I’d much rather put all my thoughts into deep dives for each one.
That said, I guess the title of this article is a bit of a lie.
But whatever.
I hope you still love me.
Articles to come:
Email Outreach tips
ICE decision-making framework
A.I. use cases (outside of just writing)
Transitioning to e-commerce
Parasite SEO on steroids
Affiliate Program Optimization (lifetime commissions)