Google Passages and Your Content
Google’s New Algorithm
On Thursday, October 14th, Google announced a new aspect of Google search, which the company refers to as passages. Google can now identify individual passages on a web page and process them as perhaps being most relevant to a search.
This new algorithm is a shift from looking at an entire page to finding the exact “passage” that answers an online query. What’s important about this shift is that the passage will rank the entire page for the answer. Even if the rest of the page does not answer the query, the specific passage search results present the specific passage as the most accurate answer to the query.
Passages and featured snippets are similar query results. So focus on clear writing and concise, explanatory text.
For a detailed explanation of how Passages work in search, read Bill Slawski’s, Go Fish Digital, article Selecting Candidate Answer Passages.
What Do Passage Results Mean for Your Business?
Not much...if you are already creating your content according to SEO guidelines. The significance is about the same as what happened with RankBrain.
“We expect this will improve 7% of search queries in Google.
”
Be yourself. Be clear. While RankBrain associated concept relationships to give targeted answers, Passages select the most detailed and appropriate answer to the specific query. The algorithm is drilling down on the specifics within the web page.
The one aspect that is different for Passage results is the meta description displayed in the search result. It will be Google’s choice from text within the selected passage. In other words, it will probably differ from the meta description you write for the page. Even so, Google has always had the ability to ignore your suggested meta description and then choose something else to display.
Content Writing Refresher
When select passages can be singled out as a response to a query is more important than ever to follow basic guidelines to create content.
Pick One Topic
Pick one topic that answers a customer concern or question. Don’t try to tell your customers everything about your business in the article. You can link to your home page in the article. (more about links in a minute).
As you work through the steps, you’ll see how one topic will have added benefits in constructing your article strategy.
Select Your Topic (Keyword) Phrases
Choose a keyword that reflects the main point of your article topic. A keyword serves as a signpost to search engines to what your article is about.
Sophistication in artificial intelligence in current search engines sees and recognizes not just your keyword but all the related phrases like synonyms in your blog article.
Create Titles
You have three opportunities to title your article. Take advantage of the differences.
The H1 Title - The title of your blog when a viewer arrives on the page. Header 1 (H1) is the first header of the article. This title stresses the benefit for the reader for continuing to read your blog post. It needs to be so clear your reader understands the benefit within a second. Create this one first because it describes the point of your blog post. It’s aimed toward your reader.
The Title Tag - The page title on your website. Keep it to 60 characters max. This is the HTML title tag. It is displayed in the browser tab for the page of your blog post. All browsers use it the same way. It is displayed as the name of the page in search results. Search engine crawlers use it as a key to the content and meaning of your page.
The URL Title - Also known as the slug. This title appears after the forward-slash of your URL. Keep it short, readable by humans, with words separated by hyphens.
Here are examples of the difference:
H1: The Best 3 Ways to Cut a Pineapple and Save Your Fingers and Your Sanity
Title: The Best 3 Ways to Cut a Pineapple for Safety
URL: TropicalFruitstand.com/blog/best-ways-to-cut-pineapple
Professional writers brainstorm a title by writing a list of potential tiles from ten to 50. Use your keyphrase in the title. Often the first title that comes to mind can’t compete with combinations you find as you brainstorm.
Write a Meta Description
A meta description is a single sentence summary of your article with the keyphrase included. Aim for a maximum of 155 characters. The meta description is what shows up underneath your title in search results.
Meta descriptions still work overall for your article, They may be replaced when a passage is used, but they serve as indicators to search engines and searchers about the topic.
Identify Related Links On Your Website
Find the URL for another page on your website. These are called internal links. Use at least one to optimize your search strength. Here are some ideas.
Link to a product or service page
Link to another article
Link from an older post to this new article!
Now that you’ve performed basic background tasks, you’re ready to write the blog post.
Article Writing Basics
Take guidance from your article title to focus on the benefits you present in your article. Consider all elements of your post to create an impact on your reader.
Formatting. Make your entire article easy to read with short paragraphs, headers, subheads, bullet lists, and bolding words for emphasis. When you create small chunks of information organized with headers and lists, readers can easily digest and retain those separate pieces of information. Subheads help a reader scan your entire article to verify the information is what they want.
Images. Provide an image to draw attention to your blog post. Keep that attention going with other images about every 450-500 words in a long article. Take your own photos, or use screenshots to illustrate a point. Find rights-free images from sources like Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay. Like your titles, make sure your images relate to the content of your blog post.
Keyphrase. Repeat up to six times throughout the content of the article.
Related Phrases. Use synonyms and related phrases throughout your article. Search engine artificial intelligence understands the relationships between these phrases. You’ll make it easier for search engines to identify your blog post as content related to a search query.
Length. A blog post can be any length. The best range is somewhere between 500 and 1500 words. Search engines will determine if a long post has filler, so practice making your longer posts related to the main topic by adding pertinent details.
Quotes. Use quotes from relevant experts to add insight. When the expert has a solid social following you add authority to your blog post.
Links. Use the links you identified in your planning stage to guide your blog post readers to a greater depth.
Closing Paragraph. Sum up the main points of your article to help your reader understand the overall point of your article. In my studio, I call it the codpiece because I stuff the important points all together at the end. Then tie it into your call to action.
Call To Action (CTA). Ask the reader to do something: leave comments, subscribe to your newsletter, follow the blog, or contact you.
From Impact to Action
Whatever your business, your blog post is aimed at getting attention for your business and ultimately converting readers to customers. The end-goal of your blog post is to help readers understand how your business solves a problem so they will take action by choosing your business as the solution.
Keys to Passage Details
Answering questions is crucial for Google to find specific passages in your web text. But that's not new either. You want to help future customers understand your product or service. Answering questions, topic by topic, with clear, detailed explanations is the best way for search engines like Google to select your answer as the answer.
Photo by Halacious on Unsplash
