Google algorithm updates add shiny new functionalities to search results. Users typically find these highly effective. Digital marketers, on the other hand, approach the updates with a bit of trepidation. Google algorithm updates are frequent and marketers should adjust their content to match the new requirements accordingly. Google released a number of notable updates in 2018, most of which would remarkably affect content marketing in 2019. Read this article to learn more about what you need to do to optimise content following last year’s algorithmic overhauls:

Content Must be Highly Credible and Authoritative

Towards the end of 2018, Google unveiled the Medic update. It was so called because the update primarily targeted websites offering health advice to consumers. Plus, financial advice sites were affected as well. Soon as the update went into effect, it upended the existing ranking system. As many as 40 percent of sites lost their rankings. The medic update was followed by an unnamed update that also focused on the “Your Money Your Life” sites. With the updates, Google wanted these sites to offer more accurate and better quality content, particularly when it came to nutrition and medical devices. It’s easy to understand the reason here. There are tons of sites out there hawking dubious diet plans, miracle cures, and alternative therapies. Google was facing its own fake news crisis, albeit in the health field rather than politics. The company took pre-emptive steps to strike down on spurious health websites and focus on the authoritative sites. This brings major new changes to both YMYL and other sites. Google is indicating that the algorithm would take credibility into account in rankings from now on. That means, not only do content has to be well written and well optimised, it has to offer truthful information as well. Brands need to take big steps in 2019 to improve the authoritative nature of all content. While maintaining quality, the information in marketing or web content must come from credible sources. Get rid of links that originate from possibly dubious websites. Use .gov or .org-based links to cite in articles, for example. Also, try to get your content published or linked in credible websites to bolster your site’s overall credibility. Astute digital marketing agencies are now offering “authority optimisation” that aims to do just these things. It’s highly recommended to hire a SEO company that can boost your brand’s authority online to enjoy better page ranking results.

Quality Should be Present in All Around

Quality content is not a new concept to online search. Companies, in general, understand that web pages and marketing material must offer only the best quality content. Last year, Google released the Brackets update. It was a quality roundup that included not just major content, but snippets as well. That’s right; Google now considers quality of even little snippets of information presented on websites and marketing material. That means marketers must be keenly vigilant regarding all information presented on all component of a website. Updates like the Brackets one point out that Google is increasingly interested in making all content as highly accurate and relevant as possible. There are no shortcuts available anymore. Even a brief keyword stuffing could result in the page rank getting hurt. Google, understandably, wants to eliminate scam websites. Digital marketers, therefore, must invest heavily on quality to keep up with these changes.

The Need for Speed Reaches Content

Google went mobile a long time ago. The search engine giant certainly prioritises the site loading speed, especially on mobile. In 2018, there was a new mobile speed update that affected web rankings. The recent update upped the speed stakes for desktop sites as well. The company also introduced a mobile-first index soon after the speed update. The mobile index is now a separate set of web rankings for mobile search results. Before the update, the search engine used the desktop ranking system as the default mode for displaying search results on mobile devices. Not anymore following the update. Mobile ranking is now officially separate. This means that websites have to be speedy and mobile responsive more than ever. Marketers are now forced to consider two sets of content as well—one for desktops and one for mobile. That is to say, marketing material would have to be specially optimised for mobile devices. To best optimise sites for mobile, companies must keep loading times as low as possible. Your SEO strategy would have to take speed and optimisation for mobile as seriously as possible. Marketers should familiarise themselves with the above mentioned Google algorithm updates for creating content for the new year. As explained above, what matters most now is credibility, relevance, mobile responsiveness, and speed. Optimise content with these qualities in mind.