As we know, Google is ultimately looking for information that is relevant to the user. But the ambiguity of relevancy can make it hard to pinpoint as a marketer. Relevancy keeps search marketers on our toes, striving to understand what is important for our clients’ customers. Researching, analyzing, implementing and adjusting, we respond to changes in Google’s algorithm and market trends with the most relevant campaigns to achieve higher search visibility and visitor conversions.

Not knowing the algorithm formula or the precise intent of a keyword query can put a strain on goals of increasing search visibility.

Timeline of Recent Google Algorithm Search Relevancy Events

2009: Real-time Search launched, allowing searchers to see an automatic flow of information from Twitter, Google News and Google Blogs, as well as newly created or updated web pages.

2010: Google Caffeine—which was not as much of an algorithm change as an infrastructural update—rolled out, resulting in faster speeds and a fresher index for the search engine.

2011: Google Fresh, the latest algorithm change, boosting recent and relevant content rankings.

Fresh followed the Google Panda updates, which were a series of algorithm updates (Panda/Farmer, 2.0-2.5 and “Flux”), that rewarded relevant content from a creative, unique perspective to improve SERPs.

Q: What do these major algorithm shifts have in common?
A: Content relevancy.

Google’s Guiding Light to World Search Domination Fresh Search Results

Before we explore my relevancy formula in the next section, let’s take a step back and remember Google’s mission and core philosophies. These fundamentals are usually worth revisiting for deeper reflections into new updates like algorithm shifts. Their mission statement is as follows:

“…to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Rather than name all ten, here are four of their guiding principles that speak most to me in regards to Fresh (feel free to check out the link above to make your own connections):

#1: Focus on the user and all else will follow.
#3: Fast is better than slow.
#6: It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
#7: There’s always more information out there.

The New Relevancy Formula

Through analysis of the recent algorithm shifts affecting our clients, I came up with the following “formula” to illustrate Google’s new relevancy:

(Fresh x Caffeine) + Panda = Relevancy

After Panda, I found our most affected clients experienced declines in organic traffic but also saw increases in quality metrics like Time Spent on Site, Return Visitors, Bounce Rate and Conversion Rate. It will be interesting to see if these same sites see improved or declined visitor quality due to Google Fresh.

Take a Fresh Look at Relevancy

Can your website reap the benefits of Google Fresh? Here are some questions to help you get started brainstorming a strategy.

• How does fresh content align with our search marketing goals?
• What do searchers want when searching our targeted keywords?
• What do searchers want from us when searching our targeted keywords?
• How does our industry and competitors distribute fresh content?
• How do we distribute fresh content?
• How can we enhance our efforts to help qualified searchers find our information?
• How can we enhance our efforts to help search engines find our information?