Learn This Google Ranking Element Over Morning Coffee

March 15, 2018

To understand Google, we first must ask what its algorithms consider as quality content. Second, we must assess how we can wield this answer to improve our standing in searches. SEO teams have been wrestling with this quandary since the Hummingbird algorithm came out in 2013. Prior to that Google update, we knew the answer resided in keywords — using them correctly and in high quantity. This update, however, relegated keywords to a secondary position and prioritized context above all. With context up first, this told us that Google’s spiders were not only locating keywords, but they were able to determine if the context surrounding these keywords was also related to them — the algorithm could now understand the meaning behind and the reason for the text. This search engine monster is no longer using keywords and metadata alone; it is reading the site for relevance to the keywords.

Does This Mean Longer Content Is the Solution?

Many teams of Local SEO specialists have toyed with the use of longer content. These teams yielded mixed results, with some small successes. What these moments of both success and failure told us: length is not the answer. It’s something else. It’s the true objective behind Hummingbird: depth of content.

Rich and Deep Content Holds the Answer

How does this play out for us to use for our own sites? Let’s imagine that we did a search “how to find an attorney?” The SERP (Search Engine Results Page) would give us results like this:   Those results are exactly what we would expect to find. No surprises. Within all these sites, they should have collectively written about all the topics to do with finding an attorney. Each site would have parts of the topics, but not the whole. Example:

• Site A discusses topics 1,4,5,6
• Site B discusses topics 3,4,6
• Site C discusses topics 1,3,6
• Site D discusses topics 2,6

At the completion of our research, we would have a thorough list of every topic (1-6) and we can see an order of priority surfacing. In our example above, topic 6 is discussed through the content of all four top sites. We would label this piece as a type of mainstay content and prioritize it. In theory, if we were to write a piece of content that incorporated all six topics and emphasized the sixth one, we would have the most thorough and all-inclusive content for this particular topic. Because we constructed the most exhaustive content, we should have the top quality ranking result. Our page should fulfill all the qualifications for those searching for our site. Beyond that, we should have created a quintessential resource that included everything a person could desire or need for this search.

How to Identify Topics to Use

Is there a way to scientifically gather this data for future content to be written? Yes.

Topic Discovery

Nonautomatic

• (AKA manual): this is the process we discussed above; it can be time-intensive, but for small projects is worth it

Automatic

• Bring your team at Attorney Marketing Network onboard to use the tools they have created for your site
• Build and use sites online with tools that allow you to research this; if you don’t’ know what you are doing, this too can be labor- and time-intensive

The Process

1. Single Out Content Worth Improving

We can use new content or take older content that isn’t ranking as high as we would like it to be. Let’s assume we took an older piece of content that is ranking in fourth position when searched. If we use the top twenty searches that showed up, and do the process we laid out above, we can find what topics our page is lacking. When we rewrite this page with the needed topics, we can simply have it re-indexed by Google and still use the same URL. A page that was ranking fourth can, within sixty seconds, be ranking number one. Another look at this process can be through the keywords and where they are ranking. Some of the keywords might be ranking highly, yet others are ranking low even with strong content. The content simply needs to be brought up to the level of the others with all the topics included.

2. Evaluate Your Already-Written Content

We need to take an intuitive look at the content that is ranking lower than we would like it to.

• Is it a thorough piece of content?
• Is there value in updating examples?
• Does it need updated media?
• Is the branding out of date?

3. Determine and Establish Topics

We know we can do this a few different ways. We can invest the massive amount of time and labor needed to conduct the research, or we can ask our SEO teams to do this research for us by using their online tools. Once we have these results, we will be able to see the topics:

• Aced: topics mentioned in all or most of the top-ranking results, including ours
• Underrepresented: topics mentioned in all or most of the top-ranking results, but not in ours

4. Revise the Content

The content might be slightly out-of-date, or it might need a complete overhaul. We must determine what is needed for our piece, and then get knowledgeable writers involved with our rewrite. Finding Copywriters:

• We can be our own copywriter and rewrite the material for our sites — if we believe we have all the knowledge needed and the time required to invest in the projects
• We can employ the teams at Attorney Marketing Network — these copywriters understand the needs involved with rewrites and are capable of redeeming the content with robust information that revolves around the keywords

5. Update the Published Content

It is important that we do not create a new link (URL) for our content. This will cause the ranking to start over and will not improve the original link that we are attempting to help. Instead, we must preserve the link equity. We open the old content and replace it with the newly created content.

6. Let Google Know the Content Is Updated

We then must ask Google to re-index our content. This ensures that the crawlers come back through the page and rank it according to the new content.

7. Verify the Outcome

Go to your browser, open an incognito window, and review the new position of your post. To open an Incognito Window:

• Safari
• Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Internet Explorer

Ask Our Team at Attorney Marketing Network to Help

It’s time to make sure your site’s content is in the top-ranking spot that it deserves. If you would like to find out what content on your site needs to be spruced up so Google can rank it higher, or you need a team to do the rewrites to rank your site, reach out to a representative at attorneymarketingnetwork.com today. You can contact a rep to request a free audit by phone at 877-899-8311, or by email at info@attorneymarketingnetwork.com.