Google is perhaps best known for its search engine feature, the thing that, you know, launched Google into becoming the giant that it is today. However, it’s not always been plain sailing with search result quality dwindling over the years.
Don’t just take it from us; even Google themselves know that. They too understand the frustration of clicking on a search result thinking you’ve finally found a web page with all your answers, just to find out that it’s an ad-riddled site with SEO-friendly text just to farm clicks off people’s searches. Well Google is now trying to fix that issue by including more content by real people, for people in Search.
For starters, they’ll be launching a ‘helpful content update’ next week on Google Search, which is aimed at tackling content that has been created just to rank well in search engine results rather than actually having real answers. This new update will work towards pushing away ‘unoriginal, low quality content’ from the upper echelons of your search result, with Google’s internal testing already showing improvements in search queries related to online education, tech, shopping, arts and entertainment.
“For example, if you search for information about a new movie, you might have previously seen articles that aggregated reviews from other sites without adding perspectives beyond what’s available elsewhere. This isn’t very helpful if you’re expecting to read something new.
With this update, you’ll see more results with unique, authentic information, so you’re more likely to read something you haven’t seen before,” – Danny Sullivan, Google Public Liaison for Search
On top of that, Google is also rolling out another update to get more helpful product reviews amongst search results when you’re looking at specific products. Specifically, they want to make it easier to find high-quality, original reviews based on first-hand expertise in search results. For Sullivan’s full post, you can click here to find out more on their blog.
