Google shook the Internet last week with the release of their “freshness” update that was aimed at providing smarter search results based on the timeliness or “freshness” of the content.
Searchmetrics, which measures SEO visibility of sites across the Web, measured the impact Google’s search ranking algorithm, which affected around 35% of all searches. By measuring SEO visibility, Searchmetrics found that a clear category of sites gained prominence as a result of the update, while the few sites that lost are all over the map.
In this update, Google also put a premium on capturing real-time search results. Google signed an agreement with Twitter in 2009 in which the search giant got access to all of Twitter’s content in real-time and displayed them in its search results.
The Google Caffeine changes fine-tune the notion of “freshness” along three facets:
- Recent events or hot topics like breaking news – stories that might be only minutes old.
- Regularly recurring events like elections, conferences or sports games.
- Frequently updated info like product reviews.
For example, if you search for the phrase “olympics,” you’re likely to be looking for information about the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics, rather than older or more general information such as the history of the olympics.
Google let that deal lapse and is seeking a way to compensate that loss with real-time data from places outside of Twitter.
But what does this mean for the millions of websites out there that need Google to survive and bring visitors in?
Well, after several recent revisions that focused on authority and relevance, this one seems to be going directly after timeliness.
All these updates mean that Blackhats will have a harder time tricking Google to achieve higher ranking. It also means content needs to be good — really good.
In fact, any site that wants to be ranking highly in search needs to be producing autoritative, well-written, engaging, timely and relevant content.
Sound familiar? That’s newspaper-level content. We don’t mean that every site needs to be producing news per se. But the same journalistic standard that has applied to newspaper for years is now being imposed by Google on everyone.
So the good news is that sites that deserve to be ranked at the top of Google will be there, but that it’s going to require more time and resources to achieve content production at that level.
Winners and Lowers
Google Caffeine: What the “freshness” update taught us
Commentary
Google shook the Internet last week with the release of their “freshness” update that was aimed at providing smarter search results based on the timeliness or “freshness” of the content.
Searchmetrics, which measures SEO visibility of sites across the Web, measured the impact Google’s search ranking algorithm, which affected around 35% of all searches. By measuring SEO visibility, Searchmetrics found that a clear category of sites gained prominence as a result of the update, while the few sites that lost are all over the map.
In this update, Google also put a premium on capturing real-time search results. Google signed an agreement with Twitter in 2009 in which the search giant got access to all of Twitter’s content in real-time and displayed them in its search results.
The Google Caffeine changes fine-tune the notion of “freshness” along three facets:
For example, if you search for the phrase “olympics,” you’re likely to be looking for information about the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics, rather than older or more general information such as the history of the olympics.
Google let that deal lapse and is seeking a way to compensate that loss with real-time data from places outside of Twitter.
But what does this mean for the millions of websites out there that need Google to survive and bring visitors in?
Well, after several recent revisions that focused on authority and relevance, this one seems to be going directly after timeliness.
All these updates mean that Blackhats will have a harder time tricking Google to achieve higher ranking. It also means content needs to be good — really good.
In fact, any site that wants to be ranking highly in search needs to be producing autoritative, well-written, engaging, timely and relevant content.
Sound familiar? That’s newspaper-level content. We don’t mean that every site needs to be producing news per se. But the same journalistic standard that has applied to newspaper for years is now being imposed by Google on everyone.
So the good news is that sites that deserve to be ranked at the top of Google will be there, but that it’s going to require more time and resources to achieve content production at that level.
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