How Google’s New Rules Will Change the Way You Manage Your Content

 

One of the realities of managing an online web presence is that the factors that contribute to your overall strategy will always be changing. Seemingly minute adjustments to Google’s algorithm can send your once popular website to the depths of pages 13-14 in the results. For 2016, Google is establishing a new method of ranking content, making expert content a premium influence on your page’s relevance and ranking. Your company’s ability to leverage expert content will ensure its placement in the top of Google’s results this year and ones going forward.

So what defines expert content? It depends on your business and your audience. Google is going to look closely at your website to decide if the content matches your field. If you happen to be in the health care field, for instance, and you are giving medical opinions to patients online, your content must be written by a certified expert (in this case, a doctor or something similar) in order to be ranked high by Google. However, if your content is geared to where your advice is sought on a more casual basis, Google is applying a more informal definition of expert, and won’t penalize your page for not having a certification.

The benefits of having expertly written content extend beyond the compliance with Google’s rules. As Julia Spence-McCoy, the CEO of Express Writers explains, the versatility of expert writers can anticipate reader questions in advance, utilize unique sources of data, enlighten readers with new knowledge, focus on what’s most relevant in a sea of data, and provide a unique charm that their years of experience gives them.

In addition to the expert content stipulation, Google is cracking down on keyword density approaches to Search Engine Optimization. In general, loading your page with repetition of keywords is to be avoided. Besides appearing sleazy to website visitors, there is now a tangible reason for doing away with this practice. Google has employed what is known as a “Hummingbird Algorithm update” to its search methodology, which is causing the need for websites to be more sensitive to what are known as semantic searches. Semantic searches look beyond the mere repetition of keywords to the intent and relevance of the user query. This circles back to our advice about using expert content, as now, more than ever, having content geared to what users are actively searching for is paramount.

Sun Sign Designs can help you further understand the importance of expertly created content, and how to leverage the resources you currently have available along with those we will provide in order to create powerful material that appeals to your audience and ranks high with Google.  Reach out to us today!