Tech giant, Google is now modifying its search algorithms to prioritize “content by people, for people” and fight back against the affliction of clickbait, the company says. “We know people don’t find the content helpful if it seems like it was designed to attract clicks rather than inform readers,” Danny Sullivan, from Google, said in a blog post. “Many of us have experienced the frustration of visiting a webpage that seems like it has what we’re looking for, but doesn’t live up to our expectations. The content might not have the insights you want, or it may not even seem like it was created for, or even by, a person.”
Google’s Updated Search Algorithms Will Bring Up More Informative and Helpful Content for Users
The update for search algorithms covers a number of tweaks to the company’s ranking algorithms that attempt to identify content “that seems to have been primarily created for ranking well in search engines rather than to help or inform people”. Google says that, in tests, the update for search algorithms has resulted in particular improvements for searches related to online education, arts, and entertainment, shopping, and technology.
“Any content – not just unhelpful content – on sites determined to have relatively high amounts of unhelpful content overall is less likely to perform well in search, assuming there is other content elsewhere from the web that’s better to display,” Google says. “For this reason, removing unhelpful content could help the rankings of your other content.”
Online Publishers May Need to Change Their Content Strategies
In one example, Sullivan says, a search about a recent movie can sometimes bring up articles that simply aggregate reviews from other sites; now, “you’ll see more results with unique, authentic information, so you’re more likely to read something you haven’t seen before”. There are winners and losers from such changes, of course, and online publishers may fear that their content strategies will see them caught up in the net.
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