Monday S.E.O’s - Google Comments on A.I.O, The Importance of Topical Authority & Google Search Data Leak

Google Comments on A.I.O Nonsense

Google has recently commented on the state of AI Overviews and the comedic responses it has been outputting to searches.

In a recent update, Google released a statement addressing the nonsensical responses that have been emerging from the AIO. Despite these issues, Google continues to assert that the system is still leading to higher user satisfaction and allowing users to find answers to more complex queries.

According to Google, these responses have been appearing at a ratio of one in every 7 million queries. Sounds like a very rare occurrence? However, when you consider that there are 1.3 billion searches made on Google in the USA daily, that ratio doesn’t sound so small at all, working out to just under 200 inaccuracies a day.

With the criticisms that Google has faced, they claim to have already made over a dozen amendments to the AIO in order to improve its efficiency and filter out satirical responses.

These include:

- Restricting the visibility of AIO on the least effective queries.

- Improving quality control for topics of health, safety, and news.

- Increasing detection of nonsensical queries.

- Updating systems to limit the use of potentially misleading UGC (user-generated content).

As mentioned in last week's issue, Google explained that the most common reason for these inaccurate results is the further development needed to detect satirical content online in order to provide credible results.

With these improvements, I believe we will start to see fewer of these anomaly responses from Google (unfortunately). However, with Google being such an expansive playground, I wouldn't rule out the occasional result slipping through the cracks in the AI.

Topical Authority - What is it? How does it help?

Let's say, hypothetically, that you are a coffee wholesale business and you want people searching online, asking questions surrounding different coffee blends and beans, to come to your website. Topical authority is your gateway to achieving exactly that.

What is Topical Authority?

Topical authority refers to the level of expertise and credibility a website has in a specific area. This is created by using comprehensive content that thoroughly covers a topic and its associated subtopics.

For example:

- Coffee

??- Most popular coffee beans

??- Coffee roasting explained

??- Coffee brewing techniques

By demonstrating your expertise and knowledge within a field, Google starts to see your website as a hub for original and topical information. Topical authority is achieved when various aspects of a topic are covered, rather than just top-level information.

Why is Topical Authority Important for SEO?

Google works on the basis of semantics, meaning that Google has to associate a website with a subject/topic in order to rank it for relevant results to the keywords being searched.

This greatly highlights the importance of internal linking on your site to demonstrate how the content on your website relates to each other. It also allows Google to understand the authority of your pages, a key ranking factor.

The Importance of E-E-A-T

The exact science behind how topical authority works isn’t entirely clear, as Google likes to keep its precise methods closely guarded. However, what Google does explain in their quality rater guidelines is that experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) are key factors in getting ranked on Google.

But what does that mean? For Google to understand the quality of your website, they judge it based on whether the contents of your site meet this four-part criteria. There is a lot of subpar content online, and Google uses E-E-A-T to filter through what is credible and what isn’t.

Creating topical authority on your website, demonstrating to Google the level of expertise you have on a particular topic, is going to benefit you in targeting that ‘A’ (authority) in E-E-A-T.

Conclusion

While topical authority plays a strong role in improving your SEO, it’s not a one-size-fits-all fix. Topical authority requires a lot of time and attention to see good results. However, given the right time and attention to detail, you start to build a strong foundation online for Google to trust you and your website.

Google Data Leak - Not Something to Take Too Seriously..Yet

You may have recently heard about a data leak from Google, as experts have attempted to clarify its authenticity. This data leak is rumoured to contain key ranking factors that help with SEO and other essential elements for high-performing websites on Google.

Well, recently, Google themselves made a statement regarding the documents, confirming their authenticity. Rand Fishkin (co-founder of Moz) has been very vocal about the supposed leak, saying that he himself has spoken with three ex-Googler's to confirm whether the documents are legitimate.

It's important to keep in mind that this scenario is very vague, and it’s best to wait before making drastic changes to your SEO campaigns. However, here are a few of the key findings from this leak, predominantly link-building related:

1. Toxic Links are Penalised

Toxic links are indeed monitored by Google, and you can be penalised for them. Recently, John Mueller stated, “The concept of toxic links is made up by SEO tools so that you pay them regularly.” Yet, the documentation clearly shows a tag of ‘bad backlink penalised,’ indicating that poor-quality links do affect Google’s analysis of your site.

2. Local Relevance of Links

Links from sources within your own country are more prominent than those from overseas. An attribute within the document refers to the Local Country Code, suggesting that local relevance could contribute to the link’s value, making links from nearby sources more significant than those from far away.

3. Site-wide Quality Score

Google allocates your website a site-wide quality score rather than just focusing on domain authority and domain rating. The documentation mentions a ‘site authority score,’ implying that Google does pay attention to overall site quality, contrary to its previous statements dismissing domain authority and domain ratings from tools like Ahrefs and Moz.

4. High-Quality Site Links

Google identifies and tags links that come from higher-quality sites. Although previously speculated, this has now been confirmed. Google values links built from reputable news platforms such as The New York Times and BBC News. This emphasises the importance of Digital PR.

5. Trusted Sources for Links

Google uses ‘trusted sources’ to differentiate between legitimate and spam links. While it’s still unclear what constitutes a ‘trusted source,’ the document suggests that credibility is calculated based on the link source and the platforms it also links back to.

Context Matters

It's best to keep an open mind when reviewing all the information that has come out. Even though it has been confirmed that these are official Google Search documents, it’s not clear whether this is sound SEO advice to be followed and what the context is behind these snippets of information.

In conclusion, while the data leak provides intriguing insights, it’s important to keep an open mind and not to make any hasty changes just yet based on this information alone. Continuing to follow established SEO best practices until further information is released is what I would recommend

Until next week,

Oliver Eardley