In June 2022, a Google patent was granted on the “information gain score”. I think it’s no coincidence that several algorithm updates followed, including the useful content update.
Insight scoring is a key way for Google prioritize valuable content is this “original, high-quality, people-focused content that demonstrates EEAT qualities”?
My hypothesis: yes. Here’s why.
What is an information gain score?
An information gain score is essentially a measure of how unique your content is relative to the rest of the corpus. Here, the corpus would be all the potential documents that Google analyzes in ranking for the particular search query.
In the patent, most of the scenarios given for calculating information gain scores are done after subsequent queries or document views and search result views. It is a learning process specific to the individual and/or the subject they are researching.
The late Bill Slawski wrote a technical failure of this process when the patent was still under review in 2020.
One of the interesting things I see there the language of patents Is this:
Google is allowing information gain scores to be algorithmically calculated and applied as training data to machine learning models.
The need for a first set of documents to calculate the information gain score may become obsolete in the future:
“[i]In some implementations, data from each of the documents in the second set of documents can be applied through a machine learning model as input.”
How does information retrieval affect search rankings?
From a real-world perspective, this means that Google:
It has a way of calculating how unique your content is to the rest of the content in that topic area. It has a metric to actively promote or demote content based on this level of difference or sameness.
The Information Gain Score suggests a new algorithmic element targeting AI-generated content and new content farms.
Consequently, content could be degraded if it lacks uniqueness, even if it consists of different words arranged differently.
The contents of skyscrapers could be part of this directed degradation.
The information gain score and useful content system are forcing innovation where there is currently a sea of ”perfectly optimized” content.
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Can gaining insights improve your website’s visibility?
Using fetching to create or update content is a two-fold process.
Analyze the source of your data. Identify market opportunities.
In an ideal scenario, it would be fascinating to see what an expert or sales manager could produce if asked to write about solving a customer’s problem X without any “SEO requirements” or using Google. The result could be a surprisingly innovative and appropriate response.
Most of us don’t have the luxury of a photo in the dark like that and need a little more structure to change, update and adapt the way we create content.
So let’s break down how we can change this approach.
Where do you get your information from?
While it may seem like a step backwards, prepare to spend more time searching for content than you may have ever had before.
If you get your information only from the web and the SERP you want to rank for, you may be part of the problem. We all do it, but it’s kind of lazy, right?
Great, quality content takes time.
The content we publish that we are expanding and using as a way to promote our companies, our brands and ourselves should be able to achieve the mark of “thought leadership”.
what does this bring The foundation of thought leadership is essentially informed opinion.
This requires you to take a position, have a specific opinion, or come to a specific conclusion.
And to do that, you need the information to back up that opinion, or you should.
In any business, you’ll have unique data just waiting for you to use it in an article or tool for your clients and customers, such as:
Feedback and records from your customer service team. Your comments Feedback and sales calls from your sales team. Your product usage data, if it can be aggregated and published.
These are all sources of content that a competitor cannot easily duplicate.
They can also be turned into multimedia experiences that Google can’t create.
It’s also informed by your real customers and their real experiences.
Much of the content that search results “tell” you to create may not be right for your customers.
Starting with your own data will naturally filter out a lot of content written exclusively for search engines.
What opportunities are there in the market?
While it’s tempting to go to Google or Bing and follow the format of the top-ranking article in the search results, remember that Google only ranks it higher because it’s the best they have access to.
They can’t create their own content (yet) to answer exactly what a person is looking for if it doesn’t already exist.
So ranking the content could be absolute rubbish to know the real experience and provide a solid answer, but since it’s the best of the worst, that’s what it ranks.
So when creating new content, we also need to look at topical relevance and areas related to the topic you’re writing about that other competitors may not be tapping into.
Tools that can help you see your competitors’ existing topic relationships include:
Tools you can use to help understand the semantic relationships of topics in your core topic (that may not be covered by your competitors) include:
Each of these tools has its own trade-offs and considerations, and each should be weighed against the data commitments your organization is making.
Like everything else, they are also an approximation of how Google’s search engine ranking system works.
It’s also good to remember that the abundance of recently published AI content has real cost implications for Google.
More content means more and more expensive electricity bills, so they have a vested interest in cutting as much content as possible before it gets through all three crawlers.
So find ways to create content that’s best for both your customers and Google.
The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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