SEO Experiments That Prove Everyone Wrong - Google Leaks, AI Myths & Ranking Signals

Summary

In this insightful podcast episode, Mark Williams Cook discusses the complexities of SEO, the impact of AI on content creation, and innovative SEO experiments. He shares his experiences with AI-generated content, the importance of recognizing and addressing AI 'blindness,' and how certain SEO practices can offer actionable insights. Additionally, Mark dives into the challenges of competitive niches, his personal SEO tools like 'Also Asked,' and details about a Google bug exploit he discovered. With a focus on intelligent decision-making and SEO optimization, Mark’s expertise shines throughout this engaging conversation.

Takeaways

• 😀 Core Web Vitals act as a tiebreaker in SEO ranking, but user behavior (e.g., bounce rate) plays a bigger role in determining whether a site ranks well.
• 🧠 User experience signals like time on site, scroll actions, and clicks are difficult to measure and may not be as impactful for SEO as assumed.
• 🔍 Meta descriptions have little to no direct impact on SEO rankings, contrary to popular belief, but may help with branding and user perception.
• 💻 Google likely doesn’t use Chrome telemetry data or renders to influence SEO rankings, debunking a common misconception in the SEO community.
• 📊 Small sitemaps are more efficient for indexing, allowing for faster ranking updates when URLs are split across multiple sitemaps instead of a single one.
• 🧪 Conducting SEO experiments is key to challenging conventional wisdom—experiments like cloaking, meta description testing, and sitemap structures provide valuable insights.
• 📅 The **People Also Ask** (PAA) section is a goldmine for keyword research, offering a window into what Google considers important for a specific topic.
• 🔑 Mark's approach to SEO focuses on **efficiency** and **practical results**. He avoids unnecessary tasks and prioritizes impactful actions.
• 📈 Understanding PAA data allows marketers to optimize content to address user intent, helping to improve rankings by covering all aspects of a topic.
• 🧳 Mark’s **AlsoAsked.com** tool helps automate the process of extracting valuable PAA data, which can be integrated with SEO tools like **Screaming Frog** for better content auditing.
• 🤖 AI-driven content creation tools like **ChatGPT** are leveraged to identify content gaps and optimize existing content for better SEO performance.

Q & A

What is the importance of identifying AI-generated content in SEO?

AI-generated content can sometimes be less trustworthy, especially if it makes grievous mistakes. SEO professionals are more likely to spot AI-generated content and may skip it, reducing the trust and engagement from users.

How does AI blindness develop, and why is it significant in the SEO field?

AI blindness occurs when people become desensitized to AI-generated content and fail to distinguish it from human-written content. In SEO, this could impact content selection and the effectiveness of strategies that rely on user trust and engagement.

What are some of the most competitive SEO niches?

The most competitive SEO niches are typically in high-revenue industries such as online gambling, payday loans, and drug rehab services. These niches often involve black-hat SEO tactics and a significant amount of aggressive competition.

Can you give an example of an SEO hack that involved a domain change?

An example of a black-hat SEO hack was when a school domain was purchased, and its homepage was replaced with a gambling affiliate page. Despite the site still containing other educational content, the homepage ranked for 16,000 gambling-related terms in the UK.

What is the impact of outdated or poor SEO in local businesses?

Local businesses, especially in sectors like law or gardening, often have outdated or poor SEO. This results in poorly optimized websites that may still generate significant business due to word-of-mouth or local demand, despite their online shortcomings.

Why is augmented reality an interesting niche for SEO?

Augmented reality (AR) presents a unique opportunity for SEO because the market for AR software has grown with lower barriers to entry. As many companies are still catching up with their SEO, there is an opportunity for early movers to dominate the market with better content and optimization.

How does 'people also ask' data from Google improve SEO strategies?

'People also ask' data reveals related questions that users are searching for. By targeting these questions and answering them on the site, businesses can improve their topical authority, enhance user satisfaction, and boost search rankings.

What is the SEO tool 'AlsoAsked.com', and how does it work?

'AlsoAsked.com' is a tool that mines Google's 'people also ask' data to identify related queries. This helps users find relevant questions to target in their content. It allows for localized queries and identifies gaps in content based on what Google expects to be answered on a page.

How do SEO professionals use 'AlsoAsked.com' in conjunction with tools like Screaming Frog?

SEO professionals use 'AlsoAsked.com' in combination with Screaming Frog's custom JS plugins to crawl websites, extract questions related to page headers, and determine if those questions are answered on the page. This automation allows for quicker content auditing and optimization.

What are the potential legal issues with scraping Google data for SEO experiments?

Scraping Google data can lead to legal issues, especially if it involves breaching terms of service, collecting private data, or exploiting Google's intellectual property. It’s important to approach such experiments carefully to avoid legal complications.