Google recently released a completely new version of their Quality Rating Guidelines, as well as launching a major update to their search algorithm. This latest Google Panda update has been dubbed “Pigeon” by some, though according to Google, there is no official name for the latest update. Here are 5 key takeaways from the latest update that you should know.
1. More than ever, content and relevancy are king and queen.
Google continues its quest to weed out spam from the search results and now, more than ever, great relevant content remains key to staying on top and getting found in search. The latest update shows a major emphasis on local search results, with local business searches changing dramatically. The new results show less duplication, which should be good news for local businesses trying to get on the first page of search results. Some findings also show that the radius of search has been reduced significantly, with businesses closer to the user’s current location showing up more prominently. Google continues to improve the relevancy of its search results, hoping to give users the answers they need on the first search. Webmasters who provide in-depth, helpful content and organize it in a way that is both beneficial to users and accessible to search engines will continue to dominate the results.
2. Show off who you are and what you know.
Along with relevance, Google is seeking out content that shows “expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness”. The reputation and authority of a content author is becoming more important than ever. Google wants to show authority and is looking for reputable content creators who are experts in their subject matter. While Google recently removed author photos from the search results, setting up Google authorship and developing an authoritative voice across distribution channels is key. (This includes your website, blog, and social media channels, as well as any other websites you create content for, like guest posts.)
3. User experience is paramount.
Always looking to improve the user experience, the latest Google Panda update takes a big swing at sites that show too many distracting advertisements. Google announced that they would be cracking down further on sites that show pop-up ads, large ads that appear at the top of the page and require the user to scroll before they can see real content, as well as sites that show multiple advertisements in between sections of an article or blog post. Also on the no-no list are links that appear to lead to additional relevant content but are actually irrelevant advertisements. (Like those “related article” ads that are often seen on questionable news websites.)
4. Google, and people, love supplementary content.
In the quest for relevance and a better user experience, Google will be rewarding supplementary content more and more in the coming months. In addition to building internal links throughout your site, both to help the user find additional related content as well as to help Google crawl your site, seek out new ways to add value to your user’s experience. Sites that feature recipes might add ways for the user to edit serving sizes & calculate ingredients, or save the recipe and create a grocery shopping list. Real estate sites could consider adding mortgage calculators and additional search features to help aspiring homeowners. Building custom 404 pages that provide helpful content is another great way to add supplementary content.
5. Give the people what they’re looking for.
Google is looking for authorities and experts, and now expects all sites to have some sort of contact & about us information. Any FAQ sections on a website should be fleshed out completely — questions without answers do the user a great disservice and Google’s quality raters will notice. If you have common questions from customers about your business, find ways to answer these questions on your website and build helpful content around them. Make it easy to find and understandable for your average customer to read.
If all of this sounds like common sense, it should be. Over the years, spammers and black-hat SEOs thought they could game the system and deploy tricks designed to get to the top of search with little effort. However, Google and other search engines continue to evolve and they are constantly updating their algorithm to weed out these spammy efforts. If you keep the end user in mind and develop content created for real people, not robots, you should be good.
Here at FSC, we’re devoted to a holistic approach to search engine optimization, and we are glad that Google continues to refine their algorithm. Contact us about developing a SEO strategy today.