Elizabeth Tucker, director of product management at Google Search, recently spoke at SMX Advanced and shared valuable insights on SEO. In a wide-ranging interview with Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz, Tucker discussed creating helpful content, the largest Google core update ever, and the volatility of search results. Here are 13 key takeaways from her interview:
1. Focus on helpfulness, satisfaction, and experience when creating content. Google’s goal is to provide users with satisfying and helpful results, so content creators should aim to create content that meets these criteria.
2. Don’t get caught up in technical details. SEOs often focus too much on technical aspects and lose sight of the big picture. It’s important to prioritize creating great content that provides a satisfying experience for users.
3. The March 2024 Core update took 45 days to roll out because it involved significant changes to multiple core systems. Google had to carefully monitor the rollout to ensure a smooth transition.
4. The March 2024 Core update was the largest core update in Google’s history. It involved multiple updates to different core systems simultaneously.
5. Google didn’t announce the completion of the March core update until a week after it was finished because it was a complex operation. Google wanted to be absolutely certain that all changes had rolled out successfully before making an announcement.
6. The reduction in unhelpful content was initially estimated at 40% but increased to 45% after rolling out to 100% of Google traffic. This discrepancy is due to differences in performance between testing environments and real live traffic.
7. Google defines quality based on various factors such as accuracy, comprehensiveness, talent, skill, page experience, and E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness). The guidelines for evaluating page quality are outlined in the Search Quality Rater Guidelines document.
8. Radical fluctuations in Google Search rankings can occur due to changes in search behavior, constant updates to web content, and the refreshing of Google’s core systems at different intervals.
9. The number of systems involved in Google’s core updates is difficult to determine. Different search quality engineers may have different opinions on what constitutes a system, making it challenging to provide an accurate count.
10. Google declined to discuss specific signals mentioned in the leaked Google Content API documentation due to concerns about abuse and misuse of the information.
11. Statements made by Google spokespeople are accurate at the time they are made. However, search systems and signals are constantly changing, so statements made years ago may no longer be true today.
12. Google values feedback from SEOs, content creators, and publishers. They are committed to improving Search and encourage ongoing communication with the community.
13. SEOs play a vital role in Google Search by creating great websites and holding Google to high standards. Tucker expressed gratitude to the SEO community for their contributions.
Overall, Tucker’s insights shed light on Google’s approach to search and the importance of providing helpful and satisfying content. SEOs and content creators can use this information to optimize their strategies and enhance the user experience.
