It’s Google’s world and we just live in it.
That’s how it feels when Google releases one of its infamous core updates.Search giants always say they’ve updated their algorithmic black boxes, but they don’t exactly how.
The latest core update was released in March, but the winners and losers of this update and what content marketers and PR guys need to do to stay on top of these all-important search engines. We are just beginning to understand what there is. Result page.
SEMrush found that the amount of change in search rankings was “noticeable”, especially in the arts, entertainment and shopping categories.
PR Daily interviewed Derek Chu, founder and CEO of Florida-based digital media agency Full Moon Digital, to find out what this update means for PR professionals, and how it can help Google stay in good shape. I was told what to do.
Zhu cautioned against worrying too much about these changes, although his position on the SERPs could go up or down.
“This, above all, reinforces Google’s focus and commitment to continuous quality improvement of results.”
Follow users, not algorithms
Everything Chew says can be boiled down to thinking about your users: the words they read, the images they see, and how fast your site loads.
“Ultimately, it’s the interaction between users and content on the Google search engine, whether it’s video-written content or images, that engagement metric is what Google actually finds relevant. It’s what you use to make decisions,” Chu explained.
In general, this falls into two main buckets. There is the content we consume and the experience we get while consuming it.
“From the beginning, Google has always said, ‘We create content, we love content. That way, we can really deliver relevance and information to users,” Chu said.
And if you’re honest with yourself, you probably know if you’re falling into the mindset of a content mill that isn’t giving your readers the best possible experience.
But what does good content mean?
Chew recommends making sure the content is original to you and has not been extensively duplicated on the internet. Don’t overstuff your keywords. Remember, link farms fell out of popularity long ago.
It sounds simple, but as generative AI like Chat GPT and Google’s own Bard continue to gain momentum, we’re seeing massive waves of AI-generated content run by bots called “automated content farms.” , Chu predicts that it may be duplicated and filled on the Internet. Terrible content.
Still, Chu points out that Google hasn’t banned AI-generated content, at least not yet. And with the company’s focus on its Bard product, it will have to make some tough decisions about how to feed its search product. But for now, Chu said, we are in the very early stages of learning what AI can do in this area.
“I think there are far more uses for AI than people talk about for SEO content.
Before you get too carried away with AI, let’s all get back to the basics of good SEO. In many cases, this is technical SEO beyond the scope of your average PR pro, but you can be a strong advocate for best practices within your organization.
“There are a lot of opportunities to actually get to the heart of the matter before trying to understand the complexities, right?” Mr. Chu said. “And that’s really what Google is trying to get started with. Is the basics optimized?”
For most of us in the PR industry, that means creating great content for newsrooms, brand journalism efforts, or other materials posted on your website. Make sure your content is interesting, original, and helpful to your readers, not the favor of search engine algorithms.
“Engagement will be higher. Your content will appear to have more weight and authority. You’re looking for all the signals.”
Alison Carter is the managing editor of PR Daily.follow her twitter Or LinkedIn.
