Leaks, Secrets, and SEO’s Big Summer: What Content Marketers Need to Do Differently

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The last few months have been a wild ride in the world of SEO. From major Google document leaks shedding light on their secretive search ranking process to the increasing presence of AI-generated search results, there’s no shortage of hot topics. But what does it mean for content marketers? While much of this news influences how we should think about more technical off-page SEO tactics, there are plenty of takeaways relevant to those working in content.

Thinking tactically, here’s what these SEO developments mean for content marketers.

Rewarding “High-Effort” Content — Especially in the Age of AI

After years of SEO experts pointing to the positive signals associated with high-effort content, there’s finally some substantial evidence coming out of the recent leaks to support this theory. As noted by Cyrus Shepard of Zyppy SEO, “There’s growing evidence that Google deliberately designed its systems to recognize [and] reward ‘High-Effort’ content.” 

To make his case, Shepard highlighted points in the leaked documents where an undefined category — “contentEffort” — is listed as a factor in Google’s ranking system. But what exactly qualifies as ‘high-effort content’? Shepard, who worked as a search rater for Google, shared that Google’s own guidelines for scoring search results described this ranking factor as, “The extent to which a human being actively worked to create satisfying content.” 

Image Credit: Cyrus Shepard on LinkedIn

This could be great news in the face of a deluge of AI-generated drivel clogging up search engines: Google will apparently subtract points from content that appears to be low-effort and not written by a human. However, something else Shepard noted was that LLMs may now be responsible for part of that content effort scoring process. A bit ironic, isn’t it? As some experts have observed, tools that detect AI writing can be highly inaccurate. 

So, while high-effort content may be rewarded, whether it’s AI-generated or not may be difficult to determine for some of Google’s systems.

Content Should Have an Experienced Author

Having an author on a piece of content matters, according to Fishkin’s analysis of the leak. It’s even better if that author is an experienced writer with other published bylines. So, what does this mean for content marketers?

Fishkin’s response to this? He reports his team at Sparktoro will plan to use fewer total freelance writers for their blog. In practice, we think expecting one or two authors to carry a large-scale content program could be unrealistic, especially for larger brands. 

However, this does support the idea that ghostwriting content and attributing it to internal SMEs or other more experienced writers could be an effective strategy.

All in all, you’ll likely be safe in continuing to use a variety of writers, but you may want to reconsider and/or change who actually gets the official byline on your site. Just be clear with writers upfront about whether they’ll be publicly credited for the piece.

Cross-Linking Strategies May Be Less Impactful

For years, it’s been common knowledge in the SEO community that cross-linking has benefits for ranking. However, the leaks appear to discredit this idea. 

For example, outlinking — putting links to other top-ranking pieces in your articles —appears to be less important than originally thought, and could even be a negative if it’s done in a way that doesn’t make sense for the piece. In the leaked documents, outlinking was revealed to only be connected to spamscore, a negative ranking factor. 

So, you can ditch the link-stuffing practice encouraged by many SEO guides and instead only link out to pieces that are relevant (good advice either way).

The way we think about backlinks should also change. It was once thought that the more backlinks you have to your content or site, the better. However, “Google appears to be using the Chrome clickstream data to devalue links from sites that don’t get much traffic,” Fishkin says. This means that link-building agreements between low-traffic sites provide little value. Instead, your energy is better spent on trying to land one big source linking back to you.

Paid Search May Have Some Downstream Positive Impact on Search Rankings

Something SEOs have long suspected is that paid search campaigns lead to boosts in organic traffic and — consequently — search rankings. 

“Over the years, many have reported a lift in organic rankings after a sizeable PPC investment,” Rand Fishkin, CEO of Sparktoro, noted in a piece about the leaks. He also reported there were some elements in the leaked documents that could support this, but ultimately determined the final results were inconclusive. 

The idea is that Google discounts the clicks from PPC in calculating page rankings, but it’s possible that the resulting site experiences that follow from the paid clicks are counted to potentially boost ranking and organic traffic. 

For example, you might visit a site due to a paid search ad and then navigate to a different page or share another piece of content from that site with a friend. There was no evidence in the leaks that Google is discounting that traffic. 

And since traffic is a factor in search rankings, there appears to be some potential SEO benefits to paid search.

So, if you’re a content marketer, consider linking to high-value, relevant pieces of content on pages that are part of paid search campaigns. Don’t let it detract from the main CTA of the page, but present it as a potentially valuable addition to these efforts.

Rethinking How Zero-Click Content Strategies Impact SEO

Zero-click content strategies, which focus on providing all of the key concepts for a piece in places that don’t require further click-outs — like social media posts or emails — may have some negative impacts on SEO. The leaked documents show that Chrome clickstream data, which comes from clicks to your site, may have an impact on rankings. 

So, surrendering that traffic by creating lots of zero-click content could cost you some traffic that would’ve helped your SEO.

The benefits of zero-click content stem from the positive user experience, which can help improve brand sentiment and recall. Given this, content marketers should think about whether a particular piece of content matters more to their brand-building efforts or audience growth efforts, which could help guide whether they present it as a zero-click experience or require users to click through to engage with it. 

Keyword Research Still Needs to Level Up

Something else these findings emphasize: the value of using search intent while doing keyword research and content planning. If you’re a content marketer, you should, for the most part, focus on informational keywords for thought leadership and other types of top-of-funnel content. 

Commercial intent keywords can be useful for content, but that’s more for content that becomes relevant at the late-consideration or decision-stage of the customer journey. 

Jake Ward, made famous in the content community by his SEO heist post, points out that some of the best-performing content types are commercial in nature. Think about the “product lists” or “comparison” type articles you see dominating searches related to software and consumer products.

TL;DR What Do Content Marketers Need to Focus On?

For those focused on content, the message is clear: Valuable, well-organized content written by an expert in a given field is rewarded by both users and search engines. 

To the extent that you have control over your organic traffic or how you rank for top keywords, focusing on quality remains the best way to make a difference.