In this guest post, Tug’s SEO director Darran Hong (lead image) confirms the old mantra that “content is king” when it comes to Google’s new SEO requirements and brand’s search marketing…
The search marketing landscape continues its evolutionary trajectory, and in order to stay at the top of its game, Google has introduced another algorithm change designed to continue providing the best search experience for users.
This year alone, there have been five official updates that have been publicly announced and that’s not taking into account the regular updates that Google doesn’t share widely.
Google’s latest update has implications for marketers wanting to ensure their search results remain strong and it sees a return to a focus on content and quality.
In summary, the update is aimed at awarding a better search presence to websites that produce content that is focused on addressing users’ queries, while at the same time, devaluing content that is specifically written for search engines.
This is not new. One of Google’s top tips for success in SEO has always been around the point of optimising websites with the intention of solving search queries, and not just for the sake of keyword rankings. This incarnation is more of the same, but with a little difference.
Content is king has been the mantra for brands and marketers for several years now. It has been central to their search marketing strategies, in the hope of driving a stronger presence in search results. With the subsequent explosion in content generation that has results, it is perhaps only fitting that Google is now revisiting the space.
So, what is Google’s intention here? Essentially it is a quality control issue. With so much brand created content now in existence, the aim is to filter out the poorly written content, to establish a higher threshold around creation to ensure that the best pieces continue to gain maximum presence.
Google is subtly informing brands to relook at their existing content strategies and update or amend them accordingly. For marketers this shouldn’t be a concern if they are investing in executing their content programs correctly. For those that don’t, the warning is clear.
So content, or to be more accurate, quality content, remains all powerful when it comes to search marketing. Well written and informative work delivering utility to the user will enable brands to stand out from the competition, and now will most likely result in a better result showing. But quality content is also a driver for backlinks, which many in the industry argue is still the most important ranking factor.
There are other clear benefits of generating quality content too. Well-crafted content extends a website’s presence beyond search as it creates opportunities for external websites to share your articles on their site. This is particularly important for younger, start-up brands, who not only want to take a share of the pie, but also want to drive brand authority and awareness.
But we should not forget the fundamentals. Technical SEO remains the foundation of SEO, because no matter how strong the content is, it will not have presence on search if search engine crawlers are unable to crawl and index them. It’s all about the brilliant basics after all.
We believe that if white hat techniques that follow Google’s best practice are used to optimise websites, while also putting the user first with exceptionally created content, there shouldn’t be a reason to be concerned with this latest algorithm update.
Google has made its intentions to pursue a policy of rooting out poorly conceived or badly executed content. Content is still king; in fact, I’d argue that it is now king of kings in Google’s eyes at least. For those already investing to ensure they are, there should be nothing to be concerned about. For those that aren’t, be prepared to change or see rankings slip.
