Google is rolling out an update to its Search next week that will potentially downrank the artificial content and surfaces authentic posts from quality blogs.
Google counts this as one of the many steps it’s taking to prioritize content that’s made for its users rather than the Search algorithms. Also, it’s passing another update to surface the original and high-quality reviews in its Search.
Prioritizing Authentic Content
Since the beginning, Google has been asking only one thing from its content publishers – to be as original as possible. They’re advised to make content that’s authentic, and helpful to users rather than aimed at its search algorithms.
As Google pays eligible publishers for serving ads on their websites, most try to optimize their content according to Google’s wishes in order to earn more. As this sometimes creates ingenuity, Google is now taking new steps to contain such blogs and prioritize authentic content.
In a blog post, Google said it’ll be rolling a new update to its Search to downrank content resulting through artificial tricks like click farms or aggregators. Named the Helpful Content Update, this is aimed at surface quality content for users’ benefit.
An example includes surfacing a qualitative article with in-depth insights into a subject when the user searches for a relevant keyword. Google says it’ll refine this approach over time to be better. Also, it’s passing another update to Search with the goal of surfacing original and high-quality product reviews.
Advising users to avoid extensive automation and paying to push their content, Google said it’ll make changes accordingly over time to make it helpful for its community and not just for publishers who play with SEO tactics. The company already made thousands of changes to its Search systems last year, with some based on feedback from human reviewers.
