{"id":6415,"date":"2022-10-17T14:51:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T14:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/"},"modified":"2022-10-17T14:51:32","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T14:51:32","slug":"7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"7 tips to turn Google\u2019s Search Essentials into strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Google\u2019s Webmaster Guidelines have a new name \u2013 Google Search Essentials. <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-replaces-its-webmaster-guidelines-with-google-search-essentials-388676\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new guidelines<\/a> tell us what is important to focus on when it comes to performing well in Google search.<\/p>\n<p>Much of what moved the needle in terms of SEO years ago is no longer effective.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What matters in SEO today are things like <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-eat-possible-evaluation-signals-382799\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">E-A-T<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-broad-core-algorithm-update-guide-382149\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">core update quality questions<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-product-reviews-algorithm-update-347568\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">product review questions<\/a>, and whether <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/what-is-helpful-content-google-387360\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">content is helpful<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>So what will give you the best chance of performing well as Google continues to refine and improve its ranking algorithms?<\/p>\n<p>What follows are my thoughts on how you can build an SEO strategy around the Google Search Essentials documentation. <\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#1_Dont_overlook_technical_SEO\" >1. Don\u2019t overlook technical SEO<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#2_Stay_up_to_date_with_Googles_spam_policies\" >2. Stay up to date with Google\u2019s spam policies<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#3_Use_Googles_SEO_Starter_Guide_which_is_loaded_with_things_for_SEOs_to_work_on\" >3. Use Google\u2019s SEO Starter Guide which is loaded with things for SEOs to work on<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#4_Refer_to_%E2%80%98Key_best_practices_for_what_content_Google_wants_to_rank\" >4. Refer to \u2018Key best practices\u2019 for what content Google wants to rank<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#5_Pay_attention_to_Googles_advice_on_how_to_create_helpful_and_reliable_content_that_serves_people_first\" >5. Pay attention to Google\u2019s advice on how to create helpful and reliable content that serves people first<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#6_Craft_a_strategy_around_Googles_quality_questions\" >6. Craft a strategy around Google\u2019s quality questions<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#Step_1_Find_keywords_that_lost_rankings_following_a_Google_update\" >Step 1: Find keywords that lost rankings following a Google update<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#Step_2_Determine_which_competitors_started_outranking_you\" >Step 2: Determine which competitors started outranking you\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#Step_3_Compare_these_pages_to_yours_in_the_eyes_of_the_quality_questions\" >Step 3: Compare these pages to yours in the eyes of the quality questions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#7_Dont_sleep_on_the_quality_rater_guidelines\" >7. Don\u2019t sleep on the quality rater guidelines<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/7-tips-to-turn-googles-search-essentials-into-strategy\/#Your_key_to_SEO_success\" >Your key to SEO success<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Dont_overlook_technical_SEO\"><\/span>1. Don\u2019t overlook technical SEO<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>You can do a lot of good things with technical SEO. This <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/critical-technical-seo-tasks-for-organic-success-383660\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a> discusses the importance of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Optimizing site architecture.<\/li>\n<li>Ensuring pages are crawlable.<\/li>\n<li>Making sure pages are indexable.<\/li>\n<li>Improving page experience.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I have seen many sites improve their search presence because of improvements made to help Google better crawl and understand a site\u2019s content.<\/p>\n<p>But this cannot be our only strategy as an SEO.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s documentation tells us there really are only three things required to rank on Google search:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Googlebot isn\u2019t blocked.<\/li>\n<li>The page works, meaning Google receives an HTTP 200 success status code.<\/li>\n<li>The page has indexable content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Every site I review gets a crawl with either Screaming Frog or Sitebulb (and sometimes Ahrefs\u2019 or Semrush\u2019s site crawl). Any of these tools will give you insight into the technical health of a site and whether there are significant issues that could be impacting quality.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For me, it has been a long time since improving technical site health has been the <strong>main<\/strong> focus of my recommended SEO strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In most corners of the web today, most sites are relatively sound when it comes to technical SEO. <\/p>\n<p>If there are obvious issues that can be repaired with a good possibility of a positive return on investment, fix these things. But for most sites I work on, the bulk of my recommendations are not technical fixes.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Stay_up_to_date_with_Googles_spam_policies\"><\/span>2. Stay up to date with Google\u2019s spam policies<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In 2012, my main line of work was helping site owners remove Google penalties. It was incredibly common to see legitimate businesses hiring <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/cheap-seo-risks-388596\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">low-cost SEOs<\/a> who built easy-to-obtain links in directories and articles at scale only to be demolished by <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/authority-link-building-real-time-penguin-259584\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google\u2019s Penguin algorithm<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Today, most sites I deal with do not have a problem with violating <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/essentials\/spam-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google\u2019s spam policies<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It is important for SEOs to be aware of these policies. If you suspect your client is using techniques like cloaking, keyword stuffing or republishing large amounts of scraped content, you need to be able to advise your client of the risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>These are sometimes difficult conversations especially when it comes to link building. <\/p>\n<p>If a client has performed well in the past on the power of paid or otherwise unnatural links, it is often hard to convince them that this type of practice goes against Google\u2019s guidelines and could result in either a manual or algorithmic action which could have devastating consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Google tells us:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cAny links that are intended to manipulate rankings in Google Search results may be considered link spam.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The same page also contains good advice for affiliate site owners:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cNot every site that participates in an affiliate program is a thin affiliate. Good affiliate sites add value by offering meaningful content or features. Examples of good affiliate pages include offering additional information about price, original product reviews, rigorous testing and ratings, navigation of products or categories, and product comparisons.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A good SEO should be on top of whether your clients are at risk because of spam issues. <\/p>\n<p>But you are unlikely to improve your client\u2019s rankings simply by disavowing links or cleaning up comment spam.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Use_Googles_SEO_Starter_Guide_which_is_loaded_with_things_for_SEOs_to_work_on\"><\/span>3. Use Google\u2019s SEO Starter Guide which is loaded with things for SEOs to work on<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Google recommends we read their <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/fundamentals\/seo-starter-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SEO guide<\/a>. It\u2019s really really good. This <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-revamps-seo-starter-guide-288232\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guide<\/a> tells us what is important for SEOs to monitor and do along with instructions on how to do it. It includes advice on:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Common indexing issues.<\/li>\n<li>Best practices for title tags and meta description tags.<\/li>\n<li>Best practices for heading use.<\/li>\n<li>Best practices for using structured data.<\/li>\n<li>Understanding how to organize your site hierarchy.<\/li>\n<li>How to create good content.<\/li>\n<li>How to \u201cact in a way that cultivates user trust.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>How to demonstrate expertise.<\/li>\n<li>How to use anchor text for links.<\/li>\n<li>Best uses for nofollow.<\/li>\n<li>Best practices for image optimization.<\/li>\n<li>Tips for being mobile friendly.<\/li>\n<li>Tips for promoting your site.<\/li>\n<li>Tips for analyzing search performance and user behavior.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A good SEO can identify which of the above issues are a problem for their client and know how to prioritize fixes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tip<\/strong>: If you are unsure how to prioritize, ask your peers! <\/p>\n<p>The SEO community on Twitter is always happy to give their opinion on SEO issues. If you can get past the fear that someone may think your question is dumb, you can learn a lot when you get the community chatting.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve prioritized which fixes are likely to make a difference for your client, you can work through these tasks a little bit more each month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Again though, these are all things that can help your site achieve equal footing with your competitors. It is the next section of the Google Essentials Guidelines that give us clues as to how we can be seen as <strong>better<\/strong> than our competitors in Google\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Refer_to_%E2%80%98Key_best_practices_for_what_content_Google_wants_to_rank\"><\/span>4. Refer to \u2018Key best practices\u2019 for what content Google wants to rank<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Some of Google\u2019s key best practices are things SEOs have worked on for years:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use keywords in titles and headings and alt text.<\/li>\n<li>Make links crawlable.<\/li>\n<li>Tell people about your site.<\/li>\n<li>Use best practices for images, videos, structured data and JavaScript.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Again, all possible things to investigate and optimize as an SEO. <\/p>\n<p>Monitoring keywords in <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/guide\/google-search-console\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Search Console<\/a> and determining where you are getting impressions that could be better optimized is a great monthly activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The first item listed under \u201ckey best practices\u201d is to \u201ccreate helpful, reliable people-first content.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><strong>This<\/strong><em> <\/em>is an area where we can continually improve upon in ways that can help improve rankings.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"243\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/Google-search-essentials-key-best-practices-800x243.png\" alt=\"Google Search Essentials - Key best practices\" class=\"wp-image-388747\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color\">\n<p><!-- START INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<div class=\"nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0\">\n<p class=\"inline-form-text text-center mb-0\">Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0\">\n<div class=\"form-nl-inline\">\n<div class=\"row g-0\">\n<div class=\"form-group col-12 col-lg-8 mb-0\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-4 col-xl-4 mb-0\">\n<div class=\"d-none\">\n<p>Processing\u2026Please wait.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-dark inlineButton w-100 rounded-0 font-weight-bold\" type=\"submit\" name=\"submit_button\">SUBSCRIBE<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1\">\n<p class=\"text-center mb-0\"><a class=\"nl-terms\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/termsofuse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">See terms.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_Pay_attention_to_Googles_advice_on_how_to_create_helpful_and_reliable_content_that_serves_people_first\"><\/span>5. Pay attention to Google\u2019s advice on how to create helpful and reliable content that serves people first<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Google tells us that their ranking systems are designed to \u201cpresent helpful, reliable information that\u2019s primarily created to benefit people, not gain search engine rankings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Google Search Essentials document aggregates much of the advice that was previously given in Google\u2019s documentation on what site owners should know about core updates, product review updates, helpful content update, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you want to know how to create the type of content Google is trying to rank, you absolutely need to be paying attention to the information in this document.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Google told us many years ago in the initial <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/blog\/2011\/05\/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Panda update announcement<\/a> \u2013 which first introduced questions like this \u2013 that this type of questions should give us some insight into how [they] try to write algorithms that distinguish higher-quality sites from lower-quality sites. These questions are important.<\/p>\n<p>The document on <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/fundamentals\/creating-helpful-content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">creating helpful content<\/a> starts by explaining how their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search\/howsearchworks\/how-search-works\/ranking-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ranking systems work<\/a>. Here, Google tells us there are a few important steps to ranking:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, Google understands the meaning of your query.<\/li>\n<li>Next, they find content that appears to be a good match.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is the third step that has quietly snuck into the algorithms and that I believe Google continues to improve with each core update:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Once these matches are found, Google does more work to \u201c<strong>prioritize those that seem the most helpful<\/strong>.\u201d They tell us they do this by identifying \u201csignals that can help determine which content demonstrates E-A-T.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/Google-search-helpful-content-800x106.png\" alt=\"Google&#039;s advice on helpful content.\" class=\"wp-image-388748\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>This seems to me to be a very important step.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If Google prioritizes content that seems to be the most helpful based on whether it demonstrates E-A-T, then we should be paying close attention to the questions Google gives us to <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/e-a-t-audit-386611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">self-assess our E-A-T<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that these questions can give us many ideas to help our clients improve their content.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The bad news is that in many cases if a site wants to recover after a core update hit, what\u2019s required is a massive overhaul of the site\u2019s content\u2026 one piece at a time.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6_Craft_a_strategy_around_Googles_quality_questions\"><\/span>6. Craft a strategy around Google\u2019s quality questions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The problem with Google\u2019s quality questions is that there is so much that is open for interpretation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>How do we know whether our content is considered as having \u201coriginal information, reporting research or analysis?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When Google recommends \u201cclear sourcing,\u201d how do we know which sources to cite and does it matter whether they are inline links or references at the end of the content?<\/p>\n<p>How do I know if my client\u2019s content is considered expert-written by Google?<\/p>\n<p>Here is what I do when assessing sites in the eyes of these questions:<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_1_Find_keywords_that_lost_rankings_following_a_Google_update\"><\/span>Step 1: Find keywords that lost rankings following a Google update<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Click around GSC and find examples of keywords whose average position dropped in conjunction with an announced Google update.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_2_Determine_which_competitors_started_outranking_you\"><\/span>Step 2: Determine which competitors started outranking you\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019m currently finding Ahrefs\u2019 position history to be the best tool to help me here.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"207\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/competitive-analysis-position-history-800x207.png\" alt=\"Competitive analysis using Ahrefs position history\" class=\"wp-image-388749\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_3_Compare_these_pages_to_yours_in_the_eyes_of_the_quality_questions\"><\/span>Step 3: Compare these pages to yours in the eyes of the quality questions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If your rankings dropped for a query due to a core update, then it means that when Google made changes to their core ranking algorithm, the newly weighted algorithm preferred your competitor\u2019s content over yours.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In Google\u2019s words:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cAlso consider an audit of the drops you may have experienced. What pages were most impacted and for what types of searches? Look closely at these to understand how they&#8217;re assessed against some of the questions outlined here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Look for clues among the questions that tell you what it is Google may have changed. Below are some made-up examples to help explain my thought process.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Example 1: Affiliate site<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say you are advising an affiliate site owner who reviews baby supplies. The site used to rank well for \u201chow to use a baby thermometer.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>But two sites started outranking them following a core update. Both of them have content that is written by a physician who treats babies in their practice.<\/p>\n<p>In this case, there\u2019s a good chance Google\u2019s newly weighted algorithms have determined that when searchers type this query, one of the factors they should consider more heavily is medical expertise.<\/p>\n<p>It is important to remember that the algorithms that determine this type of thing are weighted algorithms. This doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that only a page with a medical author can rank in this position.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But, most likely having a medical author is something that is now being weighted heavily in these SERPs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To compete, you can discuss the following with your client:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is there a way they can bring their article up to a level of expertise that a searcher would feel just as comfortable with? Perhaps by adding quotes from experts or asking a doctor to rewrite it?\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Is there a way they can improve their article to be significantly more helpful than the ones outranking them? If they are still ranking in good positions, this means that Google is satisfied that they have enough E-A-T to trust the content on the first page.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible that significant content improvements that make it a better option for searchers than what currently exists could result in improved rankings.<\/li>\n<li>Are they bordering on writing on too many YMYL topics while lacking E-A-T? If so, a content prune or revision may be needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Example 2: Multi-topic statistics website<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A client suffers a drop at the end of November. They have a site with hundreds of thousands of pages of helpful statistics on many topics, most of which are auto-generated from a database.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When you compare pages that improved when your client dropped you can see that these pages have similar content, but it is human-written rather than autogenerated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Their content and the design of the page make it easy for searchers to find the answer they were looking for.<\/p>\n<p>There are several things that can be discussed with this client:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The site may have been impacted by Google\u2019s helpful content classifier that runs all of the time now. Some of Google\u2019s helpful content questions address this:\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cAre you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cAre you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cDoes your content leave readers feeling like they need to search again to get better information from other sources?\u201d (I personally think this question \u2013 whether content fully meets the needs of searchers \u2013 was more strongly assessed in the September core update.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Your job in this case would be to brainstorm strategies to make their content truly more helpful to searchers. Perhaps they could:\n<ul>\n<li>Add well-moderated, user-generated content.<\/li>\n<li>Work on manually rewriting the most important of these pages.<\/li>\n<li>Hire an expert to add content to these pages based on their personal expertise<\/li>\n<li>Find additional ways to answer searcher questions that are important but competitors don\u2019t cover.<\/li>\n<li>Consider whether there are UX changes to the page that could greatly improve its usability for searchers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your goal in each case should be to determine which of Google\u2019s quality questions would be important to users. And then help your client make a plan to improve in this area.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A good regular strategy for SEO is to continue to look for keywords that are no longer ranking as well as expected and come up with ideas on how you can make these pages appear more helpful to searchers than what is currently ranking.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"7_Dont_sleep_on_the_quality_rater_guidelines\"><\/span>7. Don\u2019t sleep on the quality rater guidelines<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Google\u2019s final piece of advice in this document is to \u201cget to know E-A-T and the <a href=\"https:\/\/static.googleusercontent.com\/media\/guidelines.raterhub.com\/en\/\/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">quality rater guidelines<\/a>\u201d (QRG).<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"314\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/google-e-a-t-q-r-g-800x314.png\" alt=\"Get to know E-A-T and the quality rater guidelines \" class=\"wp-image-388750\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>I have written extensively on this topic in the past and also have written a book with my advice on how we can assess our sites like quality raters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While the QRG is not an exact blueprint of Google\u2019s algorithms, they give us many clues that can help us understand what kind of content Google wants to rank well when they write their algorithms.<\/p>\n<p>Google ends their documentation on creating helpful content by telling us that doing so can help us rank better:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cReading the guidelines may help you self-assess how your content is doing from an E-A-T perspective, improvements to consider, and help align it conceptually with the different signals that our automated systems use to rank content.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Your_key_to_SEO_success\"><\/span>Your key to SEO success<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There is no shortage of things that an SEO can be working on to help improve a site\u2019s presence in Google. <\/p>\n<p>Some of our tasks, like technical improvements, help us keep our sites running well and improve Google\u2019s ability to find and crawl our content. Keeping our sites technically sound is always a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s Search Essentials guidelines give us so many things we can work on to have good healthy sites that are competition ready.<\/p>\n<p>My bet though, is that your clients did not hire you just to keep their site technically sound. <\/p>\n<p>They are likely paying you money to help them <strong>improve<\/strong> their Google presence and make more money as a result.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There are technical improvements that can help sites. But if you want to get ahead of your client\u2019s competitors, the answer is going to be determining where and how to make content more helpful. <\/p>\n<p>This could mean making E-A-T-related improvements or it may mean making substantial changes to how content is written and presented to searchers.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve been struggling to move the needle for your clients, I\u2019d urge you to dedicate some time reviewing their sites in the eyes of Google\u2019s Search Essentials documentation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I especially encourage you to obsess over the quality questions Google tells us to ask ourselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you can crack the nut and help your client create content that truly is seen by searchers as the content that they wanted to land on to fulfill their search needs, this is your key to success.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-search-essentials-strategy-tips-388744\" target=\"_blank\">7 tips to turn Google\u2019s Search Essentials into strategy<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google\u2019s Webmaster Guidelines have a new name \u2013 Google Search Essentials. The new guidelines tell us what is important to focus on when it comes to performing well in Google search. Much of what moved the needle in terms of SEO years ago is no longer effective.\u00a0 What matters in SEO today are things like E-A-T, core update quality questions, product review questions, and whether content is helpful. So what will give you the best chance of performing well as Google continues to refine and improve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}