A very interesting post from the Marketo blog on how companies wishing to improve their online visibility should be aiming to boost engagement through superior content and NOT be aiming to achieve it through technical means, i.e. - optimisng site code etc.
What is particularly interesting is that this site optimisation - making sure all of the links works, getting rid of 404s, ensuring that the pages load quickly and that the site works well on mobile and desktop etc - is presented as being the strong foundation of a good site.
However, to really fly up the rankings requires more than just technical wizardry, people have to engage with your site and keep coming back for more.
"Thus, while the goals of SEO are commonly defined as improving rankings and increasing organic traffic, those goals are impossible to achieve if SEO is a primarily technical strategy. Instead, a modern SEO framework prioritizes engagement SEO to help brands build a library of content that’s the most helpful, engaging, and popular. It’s this focus on quality that leads to high organic search rankings." -Nate Dame