Google Rolled Out a Helpful Content Update; What Does That Mean for Your Business?

Good user experience should be the guiding factor behind your website’s content and design. Providing value to your consumers is the best way to ensure sales and engagement across platforms. 

To better engage with their users, Google’s new automated ranking systems prioritize useful information that benefits users over content created specifically to rank highly in search results. 

The internet has been inundated with clickbait articles that provide little-to-no value to users but instead were created with the intent of ranking in top search results. Google’s new automated ranking system combats this by focusing on the quality of content over quantity, giving websites with valuable information priority. This is a boon to small companies who previously had to contend with a seemingly endless supply of clickbait articles that were rapidly produced with keyword stuffing as their foundation.

The primary focus of Google’s search engine is to intuitively connect its users with the most relevant information or products. A review of your content and how well it matches with Google’s new algorithms might help you in gaining visibility in the future.

What You Should Look for in Your Content

In their article addressing the update, Google asked brands to self-assess their content through a list of questions. These questions centered on the informational value of the content that the brands produced and how they add to the discussion. Some of the questions that Google listed in their article show an emphasis on original content.

Content that supplies original information and research will now be placed higher in search rankings alongside content that includes insights beyond the obvious. If your content uses other sources, you should focus on adding to the discussion and avoid simply paraphrasing or copying content produced by these sources.

Your content should be informative to keep your Google search engine rankings moving in the right direction. While reviewing your content, consider how relevant the information contained in your content is to the subject matter.

Are you creating content to inform or simply meet content quotas? Most modern content creators know how to avoid obvious keyword stuffing, and Google’s new update makes this practice even more irrelevant. Your content should be as long or as short as it needs to be to communicate relevant information and answer search inquiries. Google’s algorithm doesn’t inherently favor certain word counts over others, although the length of relevant content may influence the time users spend on your site.

Beyond originality of the information presented, Google is looking at the quality. Your content should be trustworthy. Your information should come from industry experts and should be factual. Your business’s role is to be a reliable source of information for users.

What to Avoid

• Avoid page titles and headlines that are inaccurate or that exaggerate the body of information contained in the content (such as suggesting an answer in the headline without providing one in the copy)

• Avoid repeating information or stating the obvious

• Avoid creating content that only exists to trend

• Avoid relying on automation to create your content

Use the acronym E-A-T to develop and analyze your content ; expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. This isn’t the only metric by which you should judge your content, but it can be a helpful guide.

How to Review Your Content

1. Create a comprehensive checklist of content. Is there any repeated content?
   
   
2. Review content that isn’t performing well. How can this content be improved to better match Google’s new automated ranking systems?
   
   
3. Find gaps in your content. What information are you not providing for your users?
   
   
4. Are you neglecting any buyer personas or purchasing decision stages with your content? How can you better reach them?
   
   
5. Identify the KPIs you will use to rank your content. Are you focusing on conversion, education or on the share-ability of content?

A content audit is challenging work, but it’s worthwhile to ensure that your website gains visibility online.

Contact REV77 for a free digital audit of your website. We work within several digital marketing fields and employ a dedicated team of subject matter experts. No matter your location or budget we offer plans to supplement or fulfill your businesses' marketing needs.