Improve Search Relevance of Content For Google Core Update
Improve Search Relevance of Content For Google Core Update
Google has recently announced several updates to their core algorithm. Google has said that they do this several times a year and that these updates primarily focus on “search relevance”. So how do publishers ensure that they aren’t bitten by Google’s core algorithm updates and how do they improve their content’s _search relevance_?
Above, you can watch a recent web event I recorded outlining an exact strategy that publishers can use to improve search relevance for keywords that are low-hanging fruit.
This means improving content that is currently not ranking high enough to produce lots of organic traffic… but could be.
Below, I’ll walk you through this strategy step-by-step. I’ll show you how to improve search relevance and come out on top when Google updates their core algorithm.
Can you improve search relevance?
Screenshots from SEMRush of sites that have used this method to improve search relevance and their content rankings
The secret to improving search relevance is augmenting existing content. This means updating your existing posts with information regarding specific keywords and queries that you may already rank for…. just not as high as you’d like.
Will this really improve search relevance — according to Google?
How to recover from the Google Core Algorithm update
Identifying the right content to update
> **Note:** Position filters are set to 10-30 so that I can be sure to see content on pages 2 or 3 of search results. Volume for this site is set at 200, but many sites will want to set this number higher; as they will rank for so many keywords that the highest impact will come from focusing on the largest first.
My original post was optimized for “MCL sprain”. However, I only talked about “rehab” briefly in the article. Clearly, there is room to improve my relevance for keywords relating to MCL rehab.
Improving keyword relevance to get your content to rank higher
Augmenting content to make it rank higher
Letting Google know you made the content more relevant
The secret weapon to making all content rank higher
Now, before you start any of this, there is one more important piece of data that you should have before augmenting any content.
Page engagement is a really important factor for Google. We highlighted how Google looks at [authentic engagement](/?page_id=1739) favorably [in this blog post](http://blog.ezoic.com/engagement-time-important-top-publishers/).
One of the best things to know as a publisher is how the _Word Counts_ of your content affects average page engagement.
Surprisingly, it is not always linear like this. Often shorter articles can prove to have higher engagement times and lower bounce rates. The only way to know for sure is to measure your site.
Recover from Google Core Algorithm update or make old content rank higher
