SEO experts now know they were right all along.
This week there was a leak of a Google API document that revealed some parts of how the search engine works. SEO people were excited to finally get a peek behind the curtain.
The leaked document pretty much confirmed what we already guessed all along, since SEO has been primarily guesswork.
We try things and if our websites improve in rankings, it means that thing worked. If our ranking doesn’t improve, then that thing isn’t a signal for Google to rank the website.
It's trial and error.
The document includes a few signals that Google takes into account when it pushes a website up or down in rankings. Yes, it includes a few signals that's a bit worrying about small web publishers.
For the SEO industry, the document's most valuable lesson was this:
Never trust Google's employees again!
To save you time, I'm including the key parts below on how I'm planning to improve my website's rankings.
