Google vs Content Created Strictly for Search Rank
As more major companies are incorporating AI-generated content in their published works, Google is increasing concerned about both the volume of new content flooding the Internet, as well as how it should rank everything.
Automatically generated content is still against Google guidelines and they are getting better at identifying it even as the quality of AI writing is definitely increasing.
What if an article was produced by AI, but then edited and improved by a human being? How would Google treat this entry into their rankings? Where does the gray area begin for those who need to produce volumes of content, but at the same time wish to stay within the guidelines.
Plus the fact that AI copy is not without it’s risks, most if not all that can result in your pages getting punished in page rank, but that could be only the start of your problems.
TikTok, Instagram Are First Search Options for Gen Z
With today’s younger generations, everything is visual and they way they search online is no different. Almost 50% of Gen Z users first go to TiKTok or Instagram for Internet searches, and that fact has not been lost on Google.
In the previous edition of News You Can Use, we touched on the growing audience TikTok is attracting for search (TikTok is Impacting the Search Game and it’s Not Going Unnoticed by Google).
As visual search will do nothing but grow in 2023, its paramount that you start optimizing content for these search results. And don’t think visual search is limited to food, fashion, tourism or entertainment — strategize how you can take advantage of this opportunity to further promote your brand or service.
Quick Hits
- Google Adds Another ‘E’ to E-A-T : What the SEO world has known to date for Google’s content evaluation acronym E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness), has now become E-E-A-T, with ‘Experience’ now added to the front. More on this evolvement in future editions, but Google describes the update as such:
Now to better assess our results, E-A-T is gaining an E: experience. Does content also demonstrate that it was produced with some degree of experience, such as with actual use of a product, having actually visited a place or communicating what a person experienced? There are some situations where really what you value most is content produced by someone who has first-hand, life experience on the topic at hand.
- Knowledge Drop : Google will definitely run your web content through the ‘E-E-A-T‘ ringer when determining where to rank it, and the ‘Trustworthiness’ level is a major one in Google’s eyes. One way to address that and get on Google’s good side is producing original video content. Done well, quality videos are a proven ‘separator’, especially in crowded fields where most competitors engage in borderline plagiarism of each other. Original thought and creativity always wins, and those tenets applied to a well-crafted video are priceless.
- Hackers have successfully compromised Norton Password Manager (hat tip: Bleeping Computer). “Our own systems were not compromised. However, we strongly believe that an unauthorized third party knows and has utilized your username and password for your account,” NortonLifeLock said. The report continues to say the stolen login credentials were sold on the dark web, and Norton soon experienced an abnormally high volume of failed logins, as attacks were executed in bulk.
- End Of Support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Coming April 11, 2023 : If you’re still running 2013, you have less than 90 days to migrate to Exchange Server 2019, and here’s what you need to know about that process.
WordPress Roundup
- WP Y’all! WordCamp Birmingham Set For February 4-5, 2023 : Proudly hailed as the ‘South’s Oldest WordPress Conference, WordCamp Birmingham is an annual community event for WordPress users of all levels. Hosted at the WorkPlay Theater, 500 23rd Street South, Birmingham, Alabama 35233 — admission is $50. For complete details, including featured speakers please visit the official website.
- Get to Know WordPress | Block Patterns : The ease of creating beautiful web content with WordPress — without a stick of programming knowledge required — just keeps getting easier. Block Patterns open up a new world of possibilities and the learning curve is a snap!
WooCommerce Roundup
- An Easy Migration for Gumroad Merchants to WordPress and WooCommerce : WordPress has created a tailored migration guide to walk merchants through importing their online store from Gumroad to WooCommerce. This step-by-step process requires no technical expertise and will enable you to seamlessly transition your store. When the import is complete, you’ll have a ready-to-go site with your content preloaded. Your customers will never know the difference. Check out the guide here.
- WooCommerce 7.3 Released : This release is backwards compatible with the previous version, and new features include:
- Add Pinterest and Codisto extensions to the onboarding wizard.
- Add a warning banner to the user when the tax settings are mismatched and in conflict.
- Product management: improve the UI for creating attributes and guidance around product image size and format.
- Add a new Products block, which allows listing products choosing specific criteria, as well as controlling the layout of the products in the list/grid by the various element blocks. It’s currently labelled beta because we’re still polishing it, but as always users are encouraged to forward to any feedback on the block.
- Add 3 “commerce-adjacent” patterns for WooCommerce stores. “Commerce adjacent” means that the patterns are not connected to any WooCommerce data, which gives a bit more flexibility around what you link to, the images used etc.
- Add one-click installation feature in our multichannel marketing experience (beta). You can now directly install our recommended marketing extensions that are available in WordPress.org plugins directory, without leaving wp-admin dashboard.
