Discover the transformation of search engine algorithms through AI, revolutionizing SEO practices and reshaping keyword research and content creation.

This excerpt is from “SEO in the Gemini Era” by Marie Haynes ©2024, reproduced with permission from Marie Haynes Consulting Inc.

Much of today’s online SEO advice originates from community insights developed before Google actively integrated AI.

Many standard SEO practices derive from a search engine reliant on heuristics—handwritten rules programmed by humans. The landscape has significantly evolved since then.

For instance, consider the task of creating a new article for your website. It typically begins with keyword research, understanding that comprehensive coverage of a topic and the use of semantically related keywords are crucial for search engine relevance.

The current content creation process often includes:

• Conducting keyword research to review competitors’ content.
• Crafting content that surpasses theirs in quality or comprehensiveness.
• Performing additional keyword research to identify content gaps.
• Developing content to fill those gaps.
• Using People Also Ask research to address related questions, thereby enhancing content relevance and completeness.
• Generating additional content to answer those questions, even if Google already offers answers.

However, this approach seldom results in creating content that is truly original, insightful, and significantly more helpful than existing online content—precisely what Google aims to reward.

SEO agencies often dedicate many hours monthly to enhancing a site’s technical SEO, optimizing internal link structures, and acquiring external links and mentions. While beneficial for improving a page’s appearance to search engines, these efforts typically do not substantially improve content usefulness to searchers, which Google ultimately values.

Let me clarify: I’m not suggesting technical SEO is obsolete. A technically sound, fast-loading site that search engines navigate easily remains advantageous, especially for large websites.

Schema can significantly aid Google in understanding your business and its E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trust), particularly for new businesses. In some sectors, technical enhancements can offer enough advantage to improve rankings somewhat.

Yet, the true key to creating more helpful content is not technical alone.

Are you ready for this profound insight?

Here it is…

The secret to content that Google considers genuinely helpful lies in creating content that users genuinely find helpful.

A Shift in SEO Mindset

For over a decade, my primary income has been advising businesses on improving their search presence.

I’ve meticulously studied every Google publication on their desired rewards and created extensive checklists, training materials, and advice.

My goal was simple: Help people grasp what Google values and guide them to achieve those results.

Do you see the irony here? The more I reflect on it, the more amusing it becomes!

While advocating for “People-first” content, as Google now terms it, much of my approach focused on satisfying Google rather than truly serving searchers.

Other SEO experts are also starting to embrace this mindset. User actions on our websites are crucial. User behavior significantly influences Google’s rankings.

Historically, I treated Google’s guidance on creating helpful content as a checklist for improvement.

Author bio? Check. Descriptive headings? Check. Demonstrating expertise? Gaining information? Another check.

My first book on creating helpful content guides you through multiple such checklists, with noticeable improvements when implemented.

However, Google didn’t hand us a checklist to follow!

In reality, Google was communicating that its systems are designed to reward what users find helpful and reliable, offering ideas on what these elements might be.

It’s not a checklist but rather a guide to content that searchers typically appreciate. The algorithm rewards what resonates with users.

An author bio isn’t a direct ranking factor, but in many niches, showcasing your authors’ expertise is appreciated by users.

Core web vitals—metrics measuring load times and performance—once aimed for a score, but the real reason to improve these metrics is that users prefer fast-loading, stable pages.

Google doesn’t assess every page’s quality with a checklist or scorecard. Their AI-driven system aims to predict what users find useful.

In the past, I suggested examining these ideals individually to inspire site improvements, and I still find this approach valuable.

However, I’ve come to realize I missed the main point. I’ve approached helpful content primarily from an SEO perspective.

If you genuinely create People-first content, you’ll naturally align with Google’s criteria for helpful content.

I had it backward.

Understanding your audience’s needs and questions and crafting content that addresses them aligns with creating People-first content that Google rewards.

People-First Content Is:

• Typically crafted by those with real-world experience in a field. For instance, a store selling a product can offer more useful content about it. Similarly, a professional advisor can provide fresh, timely content addressing current audience needs.
• There are exceptions: sometimes authority outweighs experience. For example, Forbes might rank highly for “BBQ reviews” due to its journalistic authority. With strong E-A-T, Forbes is a trusted source, satisfying users and maintaining its high ranking. This might evolve as truly helpful content creation advances, potentially elevating content from subject experts.

Ultimately, valuable content for searchers should be:

• Clearly and concisely written, easy to understand.
• Original and insightful.

But how does Google determine this?

In the next section, we’ll delve into something SEOs have recently discovered: how extensively Google uses user engagement signals.

Google grasps what users find helpful from every interaction in search, using machine learning to improve. The aim is to present searchers with the most useful information.