Did You Miss Google's BIG Update?

Did you know last year that Google made 3200 changes a year to its search algorithm? That’s a huge amount of differences for business owners to keep up with in digital marketing, let alone all the social media changes too.

Google have just made a big review which we think makes it easier to understand what content works best for websites.

Website Content Questions

So Google are still encouraging business owners to focus on their content and have updated their list of questions for you to self assess your website:

Content and quality questions

• Does the content provide original information, reporting, research or analysis? Aim to write original content.

• Does the content provide a substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the topic? Good article lengths and quality writing will keep the viewer engaged and will help them think positively about your business.

• Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
  Be helpful and offer advice.

• If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?
  Make your own conclusions and give a professional opinion. Don’t copy and paste.

• Does the headline and/or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?
  Headlines need to be catchy and reflect the content otherwise the article won’t get read

• Does the headline and/or page title avoid being exaggerating or shocking in nature?
  Don’ trick the user, Google can tell and you’ll end up annoying potential customers.

• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
  Everyone knows someone who is mega helpful and will recommend them. Your website can do the same, invest some time and help people out and they’ll likely share or engage with you.

• Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopaedia or book? Badly written articles are not better than no article. Invest time or get a proof reader.

Expertise questions

• Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page?
  Always share your links to other websites or sources of information.

• If you researched the site producing the content, would you come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely-recognized as an authority on its topic?
  Does the website match the expertise of the article? This maybe an issue if someone is writing blogs for you, do they sound more knowledgeable than your website shows you to be?

• Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?
  Research the detail. If it’s not in your expert field, either don’t write about it or send some quality time to find the best information.

• Is the content free from easily-verified factual errors?
  Nothing worse than clearly incorrect information. Double check your facts and try and keep blogs up to date where possible.

• Would you feel comfortable trusting this content for issues relating to your money or your life?
  We feel this is aimed at your trustworthiness, quality and consistency of your work. Blogs, reviews, testimonials and showcasing works help here.

Presentation and production questions

• Is the content free from spelling or stylistic issues?
  Use Grammarly if you’re prone to spelling mistakes and ensure words are easy to read.

• Was the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
  Again, take the time to spend helping people based on their problems, challenges and issues they are searching for.

• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
  Consistency is key here. Make sure you provide a good user experience for your user so they can easily access articles without getting lost or confused.

• Does the content have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content? Websites should help educate people and overcome their challenges, not just to make money from ads.

• Does content display well for mobile devices when viewed on them? Websites need to work on mobiles, tablets and desktops.

Comparative questions

• Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
  Type in a keyword in Google that you wish your website to rank high for and look at the content. You need to produce equally or better content than what is being shown for your website to rank higher than your competitors for that keyword.

• Does the content seem to be serving the genuine interests of visitors to the site or does it seem to exist solely by someone attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
  Focus on helping customers and not tricking Google. As visitors read your helpful content, your website will start to rank higher as the content becomes more trusted and consistent.

Conclusion

Google’s advice in short is to focus on creating quality content for the user. Start your journey by promising to write one article a week.

Have a question? Get in touch here or leave a comment below.

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