A new feature that Google will be releasing progressively is something that they are calling ‘about this result’ and this will actually tell the searcher why Google is ranking the top pages for their search. It’s a level of transparency that we haven’t seen from Google before and there are a number of speculations about why Google is doing it, the most common being that the antitrust lawsuit that Google has been involved in is applying pressure to the search engine. Regardless, this update will give users a nice insight as to why they are seeing the results that they’re receiving. It will also mean that some aspects of SEO will become more competitive as we will all be able to see why our competition outranks us.
What Details Will Google Search Pages Show?
Google has said that it is adding the feature “because just as these factors help Google decide if a result may be relevant, they may also help people decide what result is useful for them”. So, as you’re scrolling your first results page, you can see why each page is displaying for you and that gives you the opportunity to decide if that ranking factor is what you’re looking for. What specific details that will be displayed will most likely be an evolving list but for now here are the starting factors that will be displayed:
- The search term that is related to the content on the page.
- The search term that is related to html, title tags and meta information.
- The images on the page that is related to the search term.
- The language and location that is relevant to the page.
There will be certainly more to come and different people will receive different ranking factors displayed. Depending on when, when and how you are searching, you may receive very different results.
Keep an eye out for these newly displaying ranking factors and see how they influence your decision making when you make your searches.
Get In Touch
For more information on ranking factors or if you want to discuss your SEO performance, get in touch with the 427 Marketing team today and check out our blog for further updates with this new ranking feature.