By Liz Lancashire
Google has announced it is to make some major changes to the way its search algorithms work. Users have for some time been making complaints about the quality of the results in their searches, sometimes claiming up to 30% of search results are effectively junk. The problem is, many sites that appear highly in a search result are 'content farms', websites which churn out a large amount of low quality content which is loaded with keywords, but devoid of any real value or interest. Many of these articles are copied from other websites or bullet pointed keywords, or the web page contains a lot of ads which contain the relevant keywords. These articles are written in such a way that they will appear highly in Google search results but in reality they offer little or no real value or insight to the reader.
Google's new search method, currently being rolled out now in the US, awards more merit to well written content and researched articles and white papers containing original thought.
So what does all this mean? Well, an original piece of work should now have more of a chance of being seen by a wider audience, who will be able to make the decision themselves as to whether it is a valuable piece of work, rather than the reader having to sift through page upon page of keyword packed blurb before reaching a web page of any real worth and relevance.
Of course, keywords still need to appear in copy, it's what makes your search results relevant. But hopefully, as a result of these changes, you will start to see better quality content returned, and therefore more valuable information. The age old adage, content is king, still rings true, with that extra ‘quality’ thrown in. Don’t overlook the quality of copy when building, revamping or refreshing your website. You might have the prettiest or flashiest site in your sector but if it has no quality content it might remain an unseen masterpiece and you will lose out to other sites whose visitors convert into paying customers.
Google has announced it is to make some major changes to the way its search algorithms work. Users have for some time been making complaints about the quality of the results in their searches, sometimes claiming up to 30% of search results are effectively junk. The problem is, many sites that appear highly in a search result are 'content farms', websites which churn out a large amount of low quality content which is loaded with keywords, but devoid of any real value or interest. Many of these articles are copied from other websites or bullet pointed keywords, or the web page contains a lot of ads which contain the relevant keywords. These articles are written in such a way that they will appear highly in Google search results but in reality they offer little or no real value or insight to the reader.
Google's new search method, currently being rolled out now in the US, awards more merit to well written content and researched articles and white papers containing original thought.
So what does all this mean? Well, an original piece of work should now have more of a chance of being seen by a wider audience, who will be able to make the decision themselves as to whether it is a valuable piece of work, rather than the reader having to sift through page upon page of keyword packed blurb before reaching a web page of any real worth and relevance.
Of course, keywords still need to appear in copy, it's what makes your search results relevant. But hopefully, as a result of these changes, you will start to see better quality content returned, and therefore more valuable information. The age old adage, content is king, still rings true, with that extra ‘quality’ thrown in. Don’t overlook the quality of copy when building, revamping or refreshing your website. You might have the prettiest or flashiest site in your sector but if it has no quality content it might remain an unseen masterpiece and you will lose out to other sites whose visitors convert into paying customers.
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