Stay ahead of SERP changes and Google algorithm impacts with valuable viewpoints and expert advice from Brady Ashe, Associate Director of SEO. 


Perspectives from Brady Ashe | Brunner

Associate Director, SEO

Brady Ashe

Explore strategic insights from Kevin Amos, Brunner Partner, Chief Media and Data Officer.

Perspectives from Kevin Amos | Brunner

Partner, Chief Media and Data Officer

Kevin Amos

At Brunner, media is in our DNA. From ad targeting to ROI tracking, hear from the experts in media.

<p>At Brunner, media is in our DNA, blending data-driven strategies with creative execution. Explore our insights to optimize your media investments and engage customers at every touchpoint on their journey.</p>

Our Perspectives on Media: Trends and POVs | Brunner

media

Search engine optimization is constantly changing. Stay up to date with perspectives from our team.

<p>Search engine optimization is constantly evolving, and our team is here to ensure you’re always ahead of the curve. Stay informed with insights from our experts as we explore the latest trends, strategies, and best practices in SEO to help you grow your brand and dominate search rankings.&nbsp;</p>

SEO Content and Perspectives: Industry Trends and POVs | Brunner

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<p>Our SEO team had the privilege to attend this year’s MozCon virtually, hearing from SEO professionals from all over, gaining insights into the ever-changing world of search engine optimization.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>MozCon is an annual conference to explore the future of search, gain insights into trends and connect with fellow marketing professionals in the SEO space. It brings speakers from all over the world who understand SEO initiatives and strategies and provide unique perspectives from their experiences.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><h2><strong>MozCon Trends</strong></h2><p>During this year’s conference, there were a few key themes that directly correlate with the future of search. Below are the ones our team found the most relevant, alongside our POV.&nbsp;</p>

Our SEO team attended MozCon 2023 virtually, gaining insights into the evolving world of SEO. Discover our top 5 key takeaways.

MozCon 2023: Our SEO Team’s Top 5 Takeaways

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<p><a href="https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/08/helpful-content-update" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Google announced its Helpful Content algorithm update</a>&nbsp;on August 18th. The rollout is underway and will most likely be complete in early September. This update reinforces Google’s established stance on creating content for people, rather than search engines. As the algorithm has evolved over time, it’s become more adept at recognizing natural speech patterns and styles – it knows if you’re writing for a human reader or a search engine spider, and it prefers the former. This is why at Brunner; we always tell our clients to use keywords that are relevant to your product and your audience. And most importantly, write what you would want to read.</p><h2><strong>What Type of Content Will be Impacted?</strong></h2><p>The helpful content update aims to better reward people-first content from which visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience. Content built with a search-engine first approach (i.e. less substantive and valuable content created for the sole purpose of ranking in organic search to drive traffic flow and brand awareness) will be subject to devaluation.</p><h2><strong>How Do You Avoid Serving Search Engine-first Content? </strong></h2><p>In their <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/08/helpful-content-update" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Search Central post about the helpful content update</a>, Google poses the following questions:</p><ul><li>Is the content primarily to attract people from search engines, rather than made for humans?</li><li>Are you producing lots of content on different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results?</li><li>Are you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?</li><li>Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?</li><li>Are you writing about things simply because they are trending and not because you’d write about them otherwise for your existing audience?</li><li>Does your content leave readers feeling like they need to search again to get better information from other sources?</li><li>Are you writing to a particular word count because you’ve heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (It doesn’t.)</li><li>Did you decide to enter some niche topic area without any real expertise, but instead mainly because you thought you’d get search traffic?</li><li>Does your content promise to answer a question that actually has no answer, such as suggesting there’s a release date for a product, movie, or TV show when one isn’t confirmed?</li></ul><p>Likely, content aimed at answering simple fact-seeking queries will not be impacted by the update. Instead, content that could be served for queries helping users make a meaningful decisions, will likely be the focus.</p><p>As an example, ‘what is smart home integration?’ won’t likely be the focus of the update, but content that answers the question ‘will smart home integration save me money/energy?’ will be.</p><h2><strong>How Will Sites Be Impacted?</strong></h2><p>One of the reasons this update has the SEO industry talking (aside from being the first named update in a while) is how this will impact websites. The update will not devalue search-engine-first content on a page-by-page basis but rather on a sitewide basis. This means if you are guilty of any of the above guidelines and routinely publish content with a search engine-first approach, you likely will see visibility and traffic declines <em>across your entire site</em>, including content pieces that may not necessarily violate those guidelines.</p><h2><strong>What Should You Do?</strong></h2><p>Brunner recommends a review of any website content that you feel will violate the guidelines, or is providing little value to users, and proactively remove it. We also recommend proactive content creation in-line with Google’s guidance. Below is guidance around creating new content and removing the old in line with Google’s directives.</p><h3><strong>Create Expertise-Driven Content </strong></h3><p>At the heart of what Google (and other search engines) aim to achieve through core, ranking algorithm updates is an enhanced ability to assess content quality. Recently, due in large part to enhanced AI- and machine-learning-driven capabilities to understand authors as entities, content quality is assessed not only based on <em>what</em> is being said but <em>who</em> is saying it. Ask yourself, “is the publisher uniquely qualified to speak to the topic at hand? Are they credentialed in this particular field? What is their level of education and experience on the topic? Can they provide first-hand anecdotal evidence or first-party research to support their claims?” Keep reading for more detail:</p>

Google announced its Helpful Content algorithm update on August 18th. Discover how it can impact your SEO strategies.

What You Need to Know About the Google Helpful Content Update

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Brady Ashe

Associate Director, SEO

Brady Ashe

Associate Director, SEO

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