Recently Google announced that they’re rolling out new search updates. These are expected to occur over a few weeks. Their goal is to make it easier for Google search users to find high-quality search results by reducing how much low-quality content that’s seemingly ranking high within the search results pages (SERPs). Google says that its main target is what’s known as “SEO-first” content – content that’s created mainly for ranking on search engines instead of for people who are reading it.
What to Expect From Google Search Updates
According to the tests that Google has recently run, this update will improve search results that users are given when they’re searching for certain types of content (e.g., educational materials, arts, entertainment, shopping, tech-related).
Google says that, for example, when its users conduct a Google search for new movies, they’re currently encountering articles that have aggregated reviews from other sites without adding any new information. Google understands that this isn’t very helpful for anyone who wants to find some new information about the movie. Once the update is made, you’ll start seeing more results that contain unique information in them. Therefore, it’s likely that you’ll be reading something that you haven’t encountered in the other search results.
With the new update to Google search, the number of low-quality results will be removed, making room for those websites that aren’t creating content that’s meant to game the system. Google expects that this will allow its users to start seeing more useful content. While these initial changes to Google search will be beneficial, Google is planning to continue to refine its system and build on these improvements over time.
All of this is being made possible by Google’s AI model, the “Multitask Unified Model.”
Why Google is Launching These New Improvements Now
Google recently acknowledged that TikTok is cutting into its search product. Recently, Prabhakar Raghavan, Senior vice president of Google’s Knowledge & Information organization, acknowledged that younger users are more often using apps (e.g., Instagram, TikTok) instead of Google Search or Maps for discovery purposes. He noted that some studies show that 40% of young people use these apps when searching for things like restaurants instead of using Google search. Now Google is implementing this new update to their search results.
This seems to be something that TikTok is already ready to capitalize on. Currently, they’re testing a new feature that enhances the search functions of their short-form video app. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense for Google to start working on improving itself. Google seemingly wants to use these ranking improvements to regain users’ trust in their ability to deliver relevant results that are of high quality.
What Else Google is Up To
Besides announcing ranking improvements for its search results, Google also announced that they’re going to launch an update regarding its reviews section. The goal here is to make it easier to find original, high-quality reviews. This is something that Google started working on in 2021. At that time, they launched a series of updates that were designed to show more helpful, in-depth reviews. This is something that the upcoming updates will build continue to build upon.
TikTok is known for its product review videos, so it should come as no surprise that Google would want to make improvements here. Their goal is to create higher-quality reviews to ensure that people will turn to them instead of turning to social media. They believe that if they can accomplish this, then people will turn to them instead of turning to social media.
What All of This Means
These announcements regarding Google search results and reviews were made shortly after Google announced that they were going to work to enhance their featured snippets section (the small bite-sized results Google gives at the top of many search results pages). They said that they were going to have an update that’ll improve the answers that are seen in these boxes.
If you need some help with your website’s search results, contact us at the Local SEO Tampa Company in Tampa, FL, today. We understand that all of these changes may be difficult for you to keep up with, so we want you to know that we’re here for you.
