Internet giant Google has released an update to its search algorithm that it says will deliver more accurate results and reward sites that rely on comprehensive content.
Google says the changes will help users “better understand associations and concepts related to your search, and therefore…deliver a more meaningful search experience”.
The new algorithm makes search results more relevant by using the wording from the original search, plus any related search topics.
“When you enter a longer query, with more than three words, regular-length snippets may not give you enough information and context,” a company blog post says.
“In these situations, we now increase the number of lines in the snippet to provide more information and show more of the words you typed in the context of the page.”
The changes mean that if a user searches for a topic such as “principles of physics”, then the related topics offered will include “theory of relatively” and “the big bang”.
Jim Stewart, director of SEO consulting group Stewartmedia.biz, says that the new algorithm will also reward businesses that have comprehensive content on their websites.
“Rather than being a dumb search engine and search for words, it’s going to reward sites that have more information about a particular topic,” he says.
“If someone Googles ‘climate change’ and a long question about it, the science that will rank higher and have more exposure will be the ones that talk more about the related information around climate change, such as Kyoto protocol, the emissions trading scheme, and so on,” Stewart says.
“The algorithm is based on how phrases relate to each other rather than the words themselves, and businesses that have more content will rank higher in results.”
The changes to the company’s search technology also have an Australian flavour, after a PhD student from the University of New South Wales developed the programming behind the new developments.
The changes are based on “Orion” technology, developed by Ori Allan in 2006, before Google acquired the technology and hired Allan to work at its California headquarters.
SmartCompany held a webinar on search strategies this morning (see the SEO for CEO forum for more, and link from there to the free recording of this webinar).
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Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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