Unsurprisingly, as was the pattern when Google introduced changes previously, the biggest winners appear to be those who publish what Google considers “high quality” content.  Primarily what they mean by this is original, timely and relevant material.  The change rewards content publishers who post informative and well sourced articles, images and videos.

As with all search formula changes, those who have seen their search rankings deteriorate will now be trying to figure out their vulnerabilities and correct them, making their site more visible in the process.  What is clear is that the only way to boost search engine rankings is to start publishing “high quality” content and to do so more regularly.

PureNet’s director of digital marketing, Daniel Warren, said: “The old SEO tricks alone will no longer suffice and organisations will have to think like an editor to get noticed.  Google is trying its best to direct web surfers to the original source of content.  This gives added prominence to brands who publish and who do a good job of making their content share-able. 

“In an effort to make its search results more socially relevant, Google says the new search formula will give higher weight to “user feedback signals”.  In all likelihood, this will mean Google’s “+1” sharing function will become a more significant feature for Google in the future.  The good news for original content writers is the latest tweak should give even more prominence to quality online reporting.”