Google’s Helpful Content Update continues to be talked about after its application. While most local marketers haven’t noticed a significant change, the Core Algorithm Update and whether it directly interacts with the HCU remains to be seen.
In the meantime, this update has reminded us of the value of good SEO and the impact of sites for local advertisers like newspapers, especially in gaining visibility within the community they are targeting.
On the other hand, TikTok has positioned itself as a new search tool among Gen Z users, thanks to its algorithm and the simplicity of its tutorials. Although it has not replaced the use of Google, it is an alternative to finding quick and accurate answers.
Why Newspaper Advertisers Keep Buying
You might think the purpose of advertising is to drive sales, but there’s a more subtle goal for businesses that keep buying newspaper ads. Borrell unlocks the secret by dissecting a recent survey of 900 businesses that buy newspaper advertising and 1,000 that did not.
Some results of the survey are:
- The percentage of building awareness is higher in businesses that are advertised in newspapers compared to those that are not.
- 43% of businesses that use local newspaper advertising think they support their community.
For Gen Z, TikTok Is the New Google
Generational differences are taking a new direction in the informative use of social networks, which TikTok is leading. In addition to finding 60-second videos with dances and storytimes, diverse informational material has gained popularity on this social network, like cooking recipes and tutorials.
NYT tells that TikTok’s custom algorithm is so precise that Gen Z users enter their search intent into the search engine just like they would on Google. Although Google is still the leading search engine, new generations are turning to new search platforms to find answers to daily life questions in video format.
The Helpful Content Update: What Comes Next?
With Google’s Helpful Content Update, the objective is to show quality content to the user, placing in the first results those pages that respond directly to the search intent and not articles designed to rank in the SERP. This update has caused uncertainty, mainly about what will happen to the authority of the sites and SEO content in general.
According to the survey of local marketers who are BrightLocal users, 33% saw no difference after the first update, 22% saw a slight increase, and 21% saw a small decrease. It is essential to mention that these small fluctuations could be due to the usual ranking changes and not due to the implementation of the Google update.
Some actions you can implement if you are concerned about your site are to avoid plagiarizing content, don’t use keyword stuffing, answer questions that do have an answer and, mainly, follow the recommendations of Google on good SEO practices.
New Google Issue May Affect Ad Serving
On September 22, Ginny Marvin, Ads Product Liaison at Google, used her Twitter account to report an issue with the Ad Manager. This issue directly impacted ad serving, and the product and policy teams worked to resolve it.
According to Ginny Marvin’s second post, on September 23, the Google team fixed this problem.
How to Measure Duplicate Content?
A Twitter user asked Google’s John Mueller if there is a percentage to detect duplicate content on sites, to which he replied, “There is no number (also how do you measure it anyway?)”. So how does Google detect duplicate content?
Duplicate content is widespread to find, so much so that between 25 and 30% of the content available is duplicate. However, not all of this content has been maliciously plagiarized, so Google will not penalize this content.
Google’s method uses a content check to analyze how much of the content is original and how much is duplicated. It also carries a lot of weight if the entire content is plagiarized, so sites that cite another site within their content do not count as duplicate content.
New Local Search Updates coming in 2022
Google’s Search On 2022 arrived with news about the updates that will be coming soon. Among these stand out:
- Multisearch Update: This update is confirmed to be coming soon to the US, bringing a new way to search for places and stores near your location.
- Google Maps Live View: The Maps overlay will allow you to pick up your phone and find details of the place you’re pointing at.
- A new method of searching for food: with the help of text and images, you can find a specific dish near you and consult the menu of the restaurants that offer them.
