During a recent conversation on Reddit’s r/SEO forum, John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, warned against placing excessive trust in third-party SEO metrics. His response came after a user expressed worries about notable changes in tool-based measurements and their potential effect on search performance. The discussion was initiated by a website owner who shared the following sequence of events:
- A 50% decline in the Domain Authority (DA) score of their website.
- A surge in spam backlinks.
- A spike in spam comments—on average, 30 per day—on a website that receives roughly 150 visits every day.
- The disparity in backlink data displayed by various SEO tools.
The website owner, who insisted they had never purchased links, expressed concerns about how these spam links might be affecting their site’s overall performance.
Mueller’s Take on Third-Party SEO Metrics
In order to quench these worries, Mueller emphasized the shortcomings of third-party SEO tools and their metrics. He remarked: “Many SEO tools have their own metrics that are tempting to optimize for (because you see a number), but ultimately, there’s no shortcut.” Referring to many of these strategies as “smoke & mirrors,” he warned against making hasty decisions based on these metrics. Mueller also emphasized an important aspect in relation to it, i.e., the metrics generated by SEO tools do not directly reflect how search engines assess websites.
He emphasized that since these businesses do not have access to Google’s data, practices like using disavow files have no effect on the metrics that SEO tools provide. The fact that SEO tool metrics are not exact indicators of search engine rankings emphasizes how crucial it is to understand the sources and constraints of such data.
Prioritize Value, Not Numbers!
Mueller advocated for a comprehensive SEO strategy, emphasizing the importance of delivering unique value rather than focusing on specific metrics such as Domain Authority or spam scores. Mueller recognized that producing truly unique content is a challenging task. He also added that being unique doesn’t simply refer to a distinctive arrangement of words; it means offering something that others are not providing, ideally something that is difficult for others to replicate. This process is demanding, requiring significant effort and time. According to him, if it were quick and simple, many others would likely be doing it already and would have more experience in creating such content.
Mueller’s observations above motivate us to put user-centric methods first because they are what really count. This strategy will truly foster long-term gains in addition to aligning with Google’s goals.
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