What Google's Search Updates Mean for Your Tech Company

Before

Unlike the Olympic games or local championships, everyone who owns a website on Google understands that there’s a race that never really comes to an end. Yes, you guessed it, the SERP race.

This is every business or web owner’s dream to rank first in Google’s SERP. Over time, web owners have developed means to climb to the summit of Google’s SERPs, according to google's guidelines.

Some of these rules include

• Creating good, relevant, and specialized content
• Optimizing web design
• Taking time to get out of Google’s sandbox
• Getting active on social media
• Using the right keyword
• Sticking to guidelines

Now, while these rules may still be very well valid, they just might not be enough to get the highest ranking and this is where the new SEO rules come in.

Now

Let’s say you’ve been following the rules, playing by the book and your website has skyrocketed from the seventh page on google’s SERP to the second. You are already counting down till the next few weeks to move to the first page and all of a sudden you’re back to the third page.

C’mon, I mean, what could you have done wrong? Short answer- Nothing.

Long Answer

In May 2022, which was just a few months ago, Google, as usual, made some core updates to its search algorithms. Now, the good news is that these core updates are improvements to the ranking process and don’t exactly target any particular website or content. The not-so-good news is that google doesn’t exactly say what these core updates are.

While the intention of these core updates is basically to optimize search results and bring up the best content for readers, these updates may have skewed the rankings in a way that maybe doesn’t favor your website. While Google doesn’t exactly share what these core updates are, SEO experts (God bless their soul) have done a fine job of deciphering exactly what these core updates might be. And more importantly, how you can optimize with them in mind.

What to do

Now the first thing to note as a tech business or product owner is that you shouldn’t fret. No, you didn’t get subjected to an algorithmic or manual action and No, you didn’t violate any guidelines either. The only thing is the rules changed a bit, and so you have to too if you want to get back up.

Here’s how!

Push video content

I initially thought that the “video-is-king” rule only applied to social media networks these days, but it turns out that Google caught the fever too. It’s a no-brainer that users are generally more drawn toward audio-visual content and sites with videos may have better metrics such as a lower churn rate. Because Google is all for user optimization and bringing the best content forward, their SERPs may rank video content higher.

How do we know this? well since the updates, video websites saw a 25% visibility increase on average, and news publishers experienced a 4-6% visibility decrease that could be due to the lack of video content.

Now, I know you get the point but there are some details that bear mentioning. While it’s advisable to include video content, it’s more important that these videos are useful to the user.

For instance, in addition to images and GIFs, you may include short clips at intervals that either transcribe the preceding or following written content, or gives further details. Alternatively, you may include illustrative videos that help readers better understand complex concepts. As a tech product owner, you might include a video illustrating how to use such products.  Essentially, creating a wholesome page retains visitors and can be sure to increase your ranking.

Go Niche

While google’s web crawler largely focuses on bringing the best content to visitors, there has been a slight change to prioritize the “person” behind the content. What this means essentially is that while your content may be stellar, you may only rank higher if the web crawler perceives you or your website as a person of authority. In addition, it may prioritize specialized content over random or general content.

While this may sound tricky, there’s definitely a way around it. Your first point of focus should be your domain or website name. Ensure that your domain name speaks to a niche topic or industry and is easy for the web crawler to identify. Then, you may curate content and include products over time that speak to that particular area in the industry.

When google indexes your page and reads it as a specialized page, it’s easier for your page to rank higher when users search for related keywords. For instance, there are more chances for a food blog or website with properly curated content to rank higher when users search for a particular food than a blog that references meal choices. Finally, you should understand that this slight change still complies with Google’s EAT recommendation when ranking sites.

Final Thoughts

While SEO specialists have been able to identify the changes above, there are other aspects that you may still look into to optimize results.

First, evaluate the core updates and how they affect your page to identify a pattern and try to understand what Google is up to. If your website got pushed down the rank, you may observe webpages that are ranking high on the first page and try to see what they have in common. Then come up with solutions from your findings and apply them to your page. You must remember that the algorithms behind Google’s SEO may be a little tricky and take time. So be patient and be more strategic with your changes. Who knows, you might just get to the first page as planned.

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