There’s sadly an abundance of misinformation regarding how Google determines its search rankings. So much so that it can deter B2B companies away from thoughtfully creating SEO strategies and optimizing their digital channels. While there are undoubtedly a ton of nuances that go into building an effective SEO program, why Google makes the decisions it does is actually pretty straightforward.
Google is a business, just like any other. And their algorithm is just a product. Their searchers are just customers. (Technically, advertisers are their customers, but we’ll save that conversation for another day.) Good businesses offer the best products they can to keep their customers as happy as possible. The major updates Google makes to its algorithm are done for that exact reason: to keep customers coming back again and again.
And they’re really good at that. Keep in mind, Google still controls nearly 90% of the search engine marketplace. They didn’t do that by arbitrarily determining how many keywords need to be crammed into your page copy or whether you used all 150 characters in your meta description.
Still don’t believe me? Take the word of John Mueller, Google’s webmaster trends analyst and SEO spokesperson, who ranked “awesomeness” as one of the company’s most important ranking factors.