Google is Full of Low Quality Content (and that is about to change).
Published on September 28, 2023
Published on Wealthy Affiliate — a platform for building real online businesses with modern training and AI.
It's a FACT.
Google seems riddled with low-quality content. Across discussion forums, comments, and omnidirectional posts, a common theme of inadequate quality and obscured utility prevails.
Over the years, search engines, Google included, have become ever reliant on user-generated content, primarily from forums like Quora, for maintaining their rankings. A question pops up, people discuss, and Google presents these discussions as answers to queries.
This is part of the problem...
This reliance on commentary and forum discussions and chatter as a source of information has allowed for a great deal of shallow and unverified content to make its way into the search results. What they often offer is far from the comprehensive, well-built posts we could and should be seeing. This layered complexity, however, is part of a larger issue we need to address...
The "Content Gap". Its a real thing.
The looming gap between the wealth of content available out there, and the quality, reliable, useful data that searchers really need. has increased. Somehow, in the rush for rankings and visibility, the core essence of content—that of being helpful and informative—has been left behind.
I believe that over the coming years Google's focus is going to be filling this gap with higher quality, more helpful content. In the next section I am going to provide you with a glimpse of how that will be achieved.
The New Era of Content Quality and Value.
Let's look into the crystal ball for a moment, and aim to predict the the next stage of Internet.
Google has been surviving for a long time without the "long tail" of the Internet, they have gotten by with results that were not entirely relevant, but somewhat relevant. They have made it clear in recent updates, they are going to be pulling results from comments internally to posts, through discussion forums, and internally from within the content at a higher rate.
This to me says "we don't have the right content yet, so we are going to pull it from wherever we can get it from".
A "comment' on your website, is not the ideal result that Google is after. They want comprehensive, helpful content.
This shift isn't something that is years out, it is going to start happening now. We are witnessing the birth of a high-quality digital age. An age where FREQUENT and THOROUGH content is no longer confined to encyclopedias (or wikipedia). We as content creators are going to be responsible for building out this new internet.
Gone are the days though where we are having to white-knuckle our keyboards.
It's not just about creating content; it's about being able to architect content and build out "better" content with efficiency.
But this is where the plot thickens. How do we ensure our content adheres to Google's E-E-A-T standards, and complies with their ongoing "helpful content' updates that have been rolling out over the past year...with a big one taking place just a few weeks back?
People-First Content: A Shift From SEO to Valuable Information
We are standing at a pivotal point. This is a time when chasing algorithms, ranking factors, and SEO tricks is really going to be taking a backseat, and real valuable information is inching its way towards the driver's seat. The reality? This is GOOGLE'S direction, and it has always been. But now they are in a position where they want more granular, longer tailed content...the stuff people are precisely searching for.
A page on "how to make money online" is not relevant to "how to make money online with affiliate marketing" and that isn't relevant to "how to make money online with wordpress websites", which may not be relevant to "how do I make money with my wordpress website that is not making money".
These are all different topics, but through the years Google has not been at the luxury of delivering comprehensive results for each, it has had to "made do" with content that was as close to as relevant as they had available to them.
Content creators carry the burden and also the bliss of meeting this mighty task, as we are going to be building out the Long Tail of the Internet, and I know with what we have planned, the community here at WA is going to be at the center of a lot of this content.
This is a going to be a big improvement for information seekers. But for us, the content creators, this means the game just got a notch more interesting. The purpose of our creation is no longer just to rank higher on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), but ultimately, to serve and satisfy the end-user.
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Google's E-E-A-T Principles: The New Standard for Content Quality
Diving right in, let’s unmask these mysterious E-E-A-T principles that Google holds as one of their de facto blueprints for ranking. The acronym stands for Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This is the fundamental framework Google employs for discerning high-quality content.
E-E-A-T is Google's way of estimating the quality of content. It assesses whether the creator has the necessary expertise, whether the content carries authority, and if it instills trust, hence living up to the acronym's name.
What is particularly noteworthy about these principles is that adherence to these guidelines makes you not just a favorite for Google, but a go-to resource for users.
Include these principles in your content creation strategy, and you'll soon notice the difference.
Let's move onto the "Core Updates", with the most recent one happening a few weeks back with a focus on "helpful content". One thing's for sure: it's not just about delivering high-quality content for Google—it’s about delivering content that is HELPFUL too.
Google's Core Updates: Aiming for a Better, More Helpful Content
Having gotten a gist of Google's E-E-A-T, it's important we delve into the company's recent Core Algorithm updates. The main aim of these updates? An attempt to create an internet rich in 'helpful content'.
Now that isn't always possible, in particular with a good percentage of the content on the internet still underdelivering on quality, and in comprehensive nature to fill the void of what people are asking.
Google has made it clear they are going to be making big updates on the basis of helpful content. You can read about their policies on helpful content here.
In truth, these core updates aren't all that groundbreaking, not in the slighest. Instead, they're part of a continuum, a chain of iterative adjustments by Google that aim to prune, refine, and polish the user's search experience. They have always been after helpful content.
A process of wedging out less informative content interlaced with more resourceful results. It's clear, Google’s detaching from the old ways of purely ‘SEO-centric' content now that they have the luxury to do so (more content, means more options on their end).
These core updates influence the search engine's algorithm tweaking the definition of 'quality content'. They continually raise the bar demanding more than just compliance with SEO principles. They aim for content that's rich in detail, practical in addressing user queries, and superior in authority – that’s what Google defines as 'Helpful Content'.
So that should be your aim. Targeting highly relevant keywords to your niche, a long tail terms. You have an incredible tool at your disposal here within Premium Plus+ with Alphabet Soup X that will unveil long-tailed keywords in a second, and then of course with Jaaxy you can find these as well.
There are millions of "untouched" or underserved keywords out there, and LOTS within every niche. You want to capitalize on these, because your role in building out the long tail of the internet is going to be full of opportunity for you.
Navigating the Future of Content Creation.
In an era where the landscape of content is rapidly changing, the integration of WA's advanced AI capabilities is going to create a significant evolution. Content creation is not only evolving, but it's about to surpass everything we've known to date. With the power of AI, we are poised to position the community as stakeholders in the new "long tail" internet that is going to be built out over the next 5 years.
Deeply rooted in the principles of E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trust), AI advancements enable us to elevate the EXPERIENCE to unprecedented heights.
Every piece of content you create, can be better than the content that already exists and can be also targeting keywords that don't have sufficient content coverage on them.
There are billions of keywords out there that are going to be "up for grabs", and the current rankings in Google, can all be overtaken. That needs to be the focus, and , from articles to videos to forum posts, carries more than just information; it carries the possibility to transform the global knowledge sphere.
Let this be clear: the era of creating content solely for search engine algorithms is behind us. We're entering a phase where transparency, context, and utility reign supreme.
The bridge between the Quality and Quantity gap is becoming much smaller. The ability to create quality content with more speed than ever, is becoming a reality. This is our path FORWARD.
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