Hey folks, I'm the author here and CEO of RankScience (YC W17). AMA about this growth hack or SEO in general!
"SEO Optimization" is difficult because it's such an imperfect science (or perhaps not, based on your company name!) What are a couple examples or anecdotes of SEO "hacks" / optimizations that are least obvious or things most people wouldn't think of, that have had the most significant impact on SEO?
Organic search is still where 80% of the clicks are in search. (only 20% go to paid - though this is changing)
These are easy wins and are considered "white hat" and legitimate tactics:
* Title tag optimization with SEO A/B testing - increase CTR from Google by 10-40%
* Using NLP Content Optimization to increase content relevancy
* Optimize internal linking structure of your site so Google can easily understand your site hierarchy and spread value to important pages
* Build natural backlinks by creating interesting content that people want to engage with and link to (like this post!)
Edit: the story behind this question. A friend of mine has a local business. He once paid an SEO agency to do optimizations for his website. After a while, the website was penalized because of some shady stuff the agency did (paid links?). The penalty is long gone, but it looks like Google never forgets anything, so the website is sitting there on 5+ pages for pretty much any keyword.
We've done studies with popular e-mail newsletters that showed URLs performing better in search on days when they've been sent out to hundreds of thousands of people.
Do you believe strategies such as outlined in the article are a net positive, negative, or a neutral tactic for search engines and the web at large?