Google Revamps Search Quality Raters Guidelines Yet Again
Sep 12, 2019
Sep 12, 2019
10 min read
10 min read
Before we get into discussing the changes in Google’s QGR, let us understand briefly what it is all about. As we know, Google’s search algorithm is updated numerous times during the year. Suffice to say that updating the entire search algorithm for the biggest search engine in the world is no easy task. This is why Google employs dedicated teams of search quality testers, who follow a predefined search guidelines to test each web page and rates them accordingly. This pattern of quality ratings is then translated into Google’s search algorithm which enables Google to perform automated tests and rate each page that we can see in Google’s search index.
The first glimpse of significant updates to these guidelines came about back in May 2019. With the recent push on EAT & Page Quality gaining more and more importance for Google, these updates laid special emphasis on how each content and advertisement media is presented on a website. For instance, the pop-ups, information and page relevancy to where the ad is shown, user readability or navigation hindrance due to information obstruction (ad size exceeding specific sizes, incomplete or misleading information, etc).
This leads to a very important question for a lot of marketers and webmasters alike.
How Does This Affect My Website?
Unlike core search algorithm updates like Panda or Penguin which had direct impact on search rankings for website, Search Quality Raters Guideline is more of an instruction manual from Google for websites and Quality Testers alike, to see how Google wants to rate the quality of a website or page.
So, this update may not have a direct impact to your overall search positions. However, it still should be treated as a strong checklist to make sure your site content adheres to it to get a strong preference from Google.
If Google rates your site content high, then that quality parameter would go a long way in boosting your site’s visibility on the SERP.
To summarize, you can say that quality guidelines doesn’t impact the ranking signals but rather helps in predicting algorithm trends. This makes these updates a lot more important as it can help you identify the change in trends for any core algorithm updates that have or will be taking place in the near future. This is because the algorithm changes affecting ranking signals or site evaluation for search engine positions, would be governed by these QRGs.
What Changed in QRG
The major chunk of changes this time round has been centered around YMYL, EAT and Main Content (on the website) and it is quite significant for all marketers and seo professionals. These changes are bound to keep SEO experts and online marketers on the edge as they can use these updated guidelines to predict the next set of changes that could be coming in the Google’s core algorithm.
Let’s take a closer look at the changes and updates in the recent Quality Rater’s Guidelines.
Your Money Your Life (YMYL)
The first set of changes can be noticed in section 2.3 of the QRG under YMYL section. With special focus on the News and Government topics available online. The news topic section now gets its own section as against earlier when it was clubbed under Public/Official Information Pages.
With this latest update it becomes clear that Google wants to emphasize information available on news sites and evaluate it more consistently based on the merit of the content and information sources.
“Civics, Government & Laws” were also categorized under their own category further reflecting Google’s intention on evaluating these sub-sections separately than just as another news and information content. Some of the other significant categorizations in the YMYL sections are:
- Shopping and Finance to get separate categories
- Medical Information section has been renamed to Health & Safety
- Groups of People has been added as a new section
‘Main Content’ Evaluation
Content quality guidelines across the world have a subjective nature to it when being evaluated by human beings. But for a machine or program to set the benchmarks, a specific set of guidelines needed to be administered. This time round, the QRG has been updated with new paragraphs about evaluating and rating content across various industries.
News
For any news based sites, Google has indicated that it will be looking at the source, relevancy and bibliography of citations that can verify the authenticity of a particular news article.
Creative Content
Focusing on content like videos, photographs, vlogs, infographics, etc. Google would ascertain the quality of the content, uniqueness and skillset of the content creator/publisher posting these content. Google algorithm is programmed to evaluate visual content quite capably.
Research Content
Setting examples of scientific research papers & a simple stamp collection article in terms of given weightage of evaluation, Google has signaled it would rate these types of content on the basis of consensus and expertise to validate the claims and information being presented in the article. Adding to this Google would also set different evaluating parameters for each of the content depending on nature, purpose and importance.
Linguistic Change in “Hate Pages”
Some of the changes in language of their evaluation checklist for websites/pages that promote hatred or violence.
- Citizenship, Socio-economic, political beliefs, victims of atrocities were removed from their evaluation parameters.
- Gender was renamed to Gender or Gender Identity
- Ethnicity was changed to Ethnic Origin
Reputation Checks for YMYL Content Creators
Let’s take an example of ecommerce sites to best explain this point. Based on the updates on QGR, Google is suggesting that it would evaluate the authenticity of the site based on user reviews of people who have made a purchase on the site. This small instance would apply according to each service or product based business or informational website available online. However the degree and nature of authenticity would vary depending on the details that are on offer and value proposition of each site.
Reviews, Testimonials and trustable citation sources will become strong parameters that validates the quality of a site which should be a food for thought for all content creators across all domains and industries operating online.
Journalist Quality Parameter Expands
Uptil the last guidelines, Pulitzer prize was the predominant benchmark based on which any journalistic piece was measured on the basis of credible citations or accreditations to Pulitzer prize winning authors or publishings. This has now been revamped with significant change to the language of the guidelines now suggest “...Newspaper (with an associated website) has won journalistic awards. . . . “ where as previously it didn’t feature extension of the newspaper in terms of its association with one or other award winning site.
Source
Outcome
While it is still early to comment on these changes as they don’t reflect directly on your websites performance as of yet, but we are sure to see some incoming changes and patterns of shift in terms of the overall content and trust evaluation of each website and thereby its’ positioning by Google.
Popular influencer Glenn Gabe has taken to twitter to highlight some of the more indepth changes and sections and shared his opinion with his followers that has been sparking constructive debates.
Source
With these latest updates, Google has cleared the shroud of ambiguity on content quality evaluation and reinstated that it is going to give importance to YMYL and EAT parameters for evaluating the quality and trust of the website which consequently could have a long term impact on your site’s visibility on SERP.
If you’re concerned or even worried about what these updates could mean for your business, you can schedule a free consultation call with our SEO experts today.
How To Stand Out From The Noise On Instagram
Instagram is undoubtedly the most prominent social media platform out there and is on its way to close the gap with its parent company Facebook - which currently boasts 2.2 billion monthly active users. Instagram is huge! With 1 billion monthly active users and more than 8 million brands present on the platform collectively sharing more than 40 million pictures on an average day, standing out from the crowd can become a bit difficult if you are actively marketing yourself on the platform organically or inorganically. Yes, building a highly engaged following on the platform is hard but it’s certainly not impossible. If you are maintaining a presence on the platform and are seeing little to no results or are just starting out from scratch, the tips I’m about to tell you will help you stand out on Instagram and build a highly engaged following for your Instagram business or personal account - Create a profile and optimize Creating a profile on the platform is easy but you’ll have to choose if you want to create a personal profile or a business profile. The reason I’m mentioning it is that if you create a business profile, you’ll get additional analytics for your each and every post made on the platform. While you can choose to create a personal profile as well, going for a business profile will always be beneficial if you are looking to establish yourself strongly on the platform. Data always helps. Optimizing your business profile on the platform is easy! Just focus on providing as much information to your audience (in about 200 words) about yourself in your profile bio. And don’t forget to add your website link and contact information so users can easily give you a call when they feel like it! If you’re going for a personal profile, make sure it’s not set to private by checking it’s settings. The kind of images you upload matters Instagram is a highly visual image sharing platform in nature, so it makes sense to upload only your best on the platform. So, focus on uploading only high-quality images on Instagram that are high on aesthetics and visual appeal. You can also upload videos on the platform, they receive a ton of engagement as well. But, on Instagram, images are the king and receive the most engagement. Try keeping a unique theme in all your pics and keep it consistent to stand out. Don’t waste that caption space Talking about posting images, with each image you post, Instagram allows you to add a 2200 words caption than you can make use of to tell your audience a story to add more depth to your pictures, add relevant hashtags or tag other people, but do make good use of all that space. National Geographic, which is currently the most followed brand on the visual platform, does it perfectly by adding a lot of depth to all their images by adding heart-warming and witty captions that keep their ever-increasing fans wanting for more. Use stories, hashtags, and other Instagram marketing features Like Snapchat, you can create stories on Instagram to get in front of your audience with the help of a colorful circle which appears at the top of news feed. Also, you can make use of relevant #hashtags on the platform to get seen by an audience browsing through that specific hashtag and gain exposure. Or you can make use of Live Video on the platform for instant engagement as each time you start a LIve Video on your profile, all your followers will receive a push notification about it. You can use the platform to market yourself in various ways, make sure you know all about their nitty-gritty marketing features that let creators on the platform get really creative. I would suggest you to keep a close look at Instagram Press to stay abreast with all their upcoming features and latest updates. Keep your audience interested Keeping your audience interested on Instagram by uploading engaging posts every now and then is of utmost importance. Only when you are actively working on engaging your audience and post consistently, you’ll be able to pave way for new audiences to find and follow you. So, post consistently, engage with your audience by regularly replying to their comments, share their images and get involved in the community to build a solid fan base on the platform. Spend some money If you want to gain quick exposure and build a solid fan base on the platform, going the paid way is always an option. You can make use of Instagram’s in-feed ads to get your message across to a ton of targeted users depending on your budget. Instagram provides you the functionality of displaying photo, video, carousel, stories and collection ads to fulfill all kinds of your business objectives. While you get an option to promote your each and every post, you’ll have to use Facebook Ads Manager to set-up, optimize and target all your paid marketing campaigns on the platform. If you've never done paid marketing on the platform, don't worry we can help you with setting it all up. Use the above-mentioned methods to convert your Instagram presence from NOT to HOT!. While there are many other ways you can use to gain exposure on the platform, the ways I mentioned above will surely help you gain a lot of traction on the platform. If there are other great ways to build a solid fan base on Instagram that may have helped your or someone’s else business take off on the platform, do let us know in the comments. ...
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3 Ways You Can Use Inbound Marketing For Cross Product Selling
With the increasing competition in the business world, the marketing procedures are constantly evolving. As Inbound marketing is on the rise, it has become easier for the companies to promote their cross product selling. To thrive in this highly competitive market, the companies need to include sound strategies. This helps in incorporating cross sell into the marketing strategy so as to make complete utilization of the hard won existing customer base. While the companies are busy marketing their products, they often tend to forget their existing customer base. This base can provide a huge cross product selling. This blog will discuss in detail about the ways in which you can boost up your cross product selling by using inbound marketing. 1. Focus on existing customer data The whole concept is to sell new products to your existing customers. Since, you already have earned their trust before, they will be more open to hear about your new products as well. The first step is to check the analytics and take a note of the valuable information. You can do the following: Create a separate customer list for each service and product. Have a look at the customer’s past purchase history and send emails accordingly. Focus on particular segments in the content The positive impact of cross product selling and it’s success will depend highly on the segment that you create for the customers. In short, the analytics plays a major role in taking up the cross product selling of your company. 2. A smart content is necessary Since, content is the ‘king’ now, you can make full utilization of a smart content to enhance the cross selling of your product. You can use a content, tailored and personalized to suit the needs of your customers on the website. The basic trick is to have a proper understanding of the products which are highly beneficial for the existing customers, based on their purchase history. An important way by which smart content can be leveraged is by sending promotional emails. The importance of promotional and properly written emails will always be there in marketing even after your contact have become your customer. So, to have an effective cross product selling, you need to generate smart contents. 3. Make use of social media Social media is the best platform, where you can promote your products and engage with your customers and contacts. Give them the platform of the social media to share their experiences. Make LinkedIn group/answer areas, promote on facebook and start a discussion. The basic idea is to make all the existing customers get involved in the discussion about the new product. Social media is a powerful tool and you can use it for inbound marketing to enhance your cross product selling. Therefore, inbound marketing is not just a simple way of creating leads, but also to ensure that you can reap the maximum benefit from your existing client base. The basic tricks is thus to take full advantage of a smart content and email marketing, making use of social media and maintaining product pages that is often customized as per client requirements. ...
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5 strategies to ace your dental content marketing game
91% of B2B companies and 86% of B2C use content marketing to attract and engage customers. Content marketing is an effective way to reach out to your audience as 70% of people learn about companies through their blogs, posts, or any other forms of online content. So to increase your customer engagement, you must publish content regularly on your website. Your dental content can also help you to upsell your dental practice services. You can take your dental practice a notch higher by implementing effective content marketing strategies. Here are the five strategies to ace your dental content marketing game. Strategy and Goal Development Before rushing towards content creation and publishing, take a step back and strategize. Make a comprehensive list of all the areas you wish to cover or the end goals you intend to achieve with your content. For example, if you are an established dental practitioner, you might want to expand your customer base based on your previous customer testimonials and feedback. If you are just starting your dental practice, then your needs might be different from an established practitioner. Therefore, you need to keep your end goals in focus and then develop strategies accordingly. After you have clearly identified your goals, it’s time to develop strategies. Develop clear strategies that help you achieve your goals. Also, do not get ahead of yourselves and set goals that are next to impossible. This will hamper your content creation strategy, and ultimately you will find yourself disappointed. So, assess your current situation and create goals and strategies accordingly. These goals may not be attainable in one go. So you need to be patient and develop a step-by-step strategy that approaches each goal in a given time frame. Content Creation This is the most important part of your dental content marketing tactics. The content is the cornerstone of your marketing strategy. If your content is not attractive enough, it will not capture the attention of the customers. So, you need to create attractive content with catch titles and interactive structures. Most people online prefer to consume data in a listed or bulleted format. Hence you need to keep such pointers in mind while developing the content structure on your website. Apart from this, your content must also be engaging. It should not be all smoke and no fire. There must be some enriching information in your content. The readers must attain some knowledge or gain some insights after reading your content. This keeps the readers engaged. This engagement further leads to sales conversion. So, it is rightfully claimed by digital marketing gurus, “content is king” You also need to take care of the intervals of your content. The content must be published at regular intervals so that your user base is updated with the information. Also, if any major events or conferences take place regarding your field of study, you must cover that too. This reflects that you are constantly updated in your field and provide fresh and recent information. Content Distribution Producing and publishing content will not attract customers by itself. You would need to strategize your content publishing. Like in the above section, we discussed the content intervals; you need to assess the user response and interaction your content is generating for your dental practice and then decide the intervals of your content. For example, a majority of your users would not be able to read your posts daily or they simply like to engage with your content on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. So plan accordingly to get the best response from your user base. The next important factor in your content distribution strategy is to decide the mediums and platforms you are going to publish your content on. Surely, the first choice of publishing your platforms would be the ones that are wildly popular among the readers, such as WordPress and Medium but you also need to keep looking out for the other platforms. These platforms drive small yet significant traffic to your website. This is the quality traffic, which has a high lead conversion rate. So, content distribution is also crucial for the success of your dental content marketing strategies. Reporting and Analyzing Reporting and analysis is also an essential part of your content marketing strategy. After you have implemented the strategies, you need to measure and track the results too. The analysis must be carried out in a thorough manner. You must focus on the keywords that bring you higher conversions. The areas in which your content is lacking must also be taken into account. Also, this analysis must be done at regular intervals so that you do not lag behind your competitors. The reports must give an in-depth analysis of all your strengths and weaknesses. Directories and Citations After you have developed the content and published it on all the appropriate platforms, you need to create citations for your dental practice. This will help your practice to gain maximum online visibility and your platform will attract more customers. These customers can then engage with your content and your dental practice will gain much-needed exposure. Why should you work with us? Having industry experience of over ten years, Saffron Edge provides the best content marketing services. We help your content to reach the right audience. We implement all the steps mentioned above, starting from the development of goals and strategy to reporting and analysis. We carefully carry out each task with utmost precision and finesse. Our specialists have the skill set to level up your content marketing game. They have the experience and knowledge to implement content marketing strategies and increase your user base effectively. We also have full-service offerings that cover a wide range of services. Also, with our quality content, we help you to build credibility and help you to gain new customers. This also helps you to build customer loyalty. Content Marketing is an efficient way to target new customers and build a good rapport with your existing customer base.Click Here to learn more about content marketing. ...
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