Back in 2016 Google announced a whole bunch of stuff, but what caught my attention was not the new "RankBrain" AI they've been putting together in the background, it was that backlinking is no longer the be-all-and-end-all of SEO.

It made so much sense. Why would you rank an article just because it had more backlinks than any other article? That's no indicator of quality. Google have known that ever since SEO began.

Quality backlinks are no different either. It's one thing voting for an article, but it's quite another whether that article answers the problem the searcher is looking to solve.

And if that article, when found and clicked on, does the searcher no good, then it does Google no good (and its advertisers lose confidence in Google's ability to bring them QUALITY traffic).

Google have a single job. Discover and highlight the best content on the web. Do that and advertisers will come in droves.

Shareholders may or may not understand that, but get it wrong (by relying on unreliable sources such as backlinks) and the traffic goes elsewhere, followed swiftly by the shareholders.

Which tells us one thing: you either write quality content or you'll no longer be in the game. But there's more to it than that.

This is why I've been asked to speak at the Peterborough Biscuit Business Show on February 6th 2019 (at the East of England Arena).

The presentation is called "The Truth About SEO" – and what you can do about it. See you there. Or if you can't make it, go to ProofMEDIA.uk and schedule a call.

Quentin Pain
ProofMEDIA