How Google Segments the Content of a Web Page

Hi I am Jason Hennessey reporting live from our studios here at Everspark Interactive. What an exciting few weeks it has been with all the new changes in the Google algorithm. We have all heard the expression that content is king and while this may be true, we are often asked if the type of content and where the content is located on a page has anything to do with rankings. Of course, in order to be considered an “Authority” site in the eyes of Google, one will need professional yet quality content, but there are also a few other things to consider.

Last week as many of you already know, Google was granted a patent. This patent describes how Google will segment the contents of web pages in order to determine the rankings for the page. Think about it, not all pages within your site are created equal. In the same breath…not all parts of your website content are equally important in the eyes of Google. So part of the patent for Google was to try and segment the content of your pages in order to be able to better judge the quality of your site and hopefully boost your site’s rating. According to Google the text that appears in the main body of a web page is more important than text that appears in the footer or in ads. Of course this is pretty accurate as you generally find yourself more immersed in the content in the body of one’s website instead of reading the side or the footer.

There are several different modules that are used to analyze a website and the content that is within it. One of the first things that Google looks at are the internal and external links. Some sites will have links all over the place and others have them assigned in distinct regions on the site. Which method is better? Well all the links inside your website will carry a different weight and thus causing some pages or sites to rank higher than the others. However keep in mind that the weight and influence of links inside the body of the web page typically carries more weight than a link that may lie within the footer. Plus it also helps that the link is on a page that is relevant to the destination URL.

Text analysis is also part of the modules that Google uses. We hear all the time that content is king but what we don’t hear is that in order to reap the royal benefits of being king we need to place the content in the proper spot. Your keywords are very important when it comes to content and the importance of both your content and keywords are also determined based on location. For example, if your keyword appears in the body content of your text or in the title then this will rank higher and carry more weight than a page that has the same keyword in the footer or in a link on the side of the page. So keep this in mind when you are writing your content for your website.

Do you have images on your site? If you do, it is important to note that any text that is found near the image will gain much more weight than text that is related to the image found much further down the page. Images can help with our search engines rankings as long as the images and text are relevant to the site. One of the last pieces of the modules is that of the snippet constructions. Sometimes Google will not use the meta description tag that is often displayed on the search result page. What Google does will create a snippet that is based on the text in the web pages section this is most closely matched and relevant to the keyword.

So basically, if you want to rank higher on Google, like we all do, pay close attention to the content and where the content lies. Simply having an abundance of keywords will not cut it. You can always call us for more information or to have us take a look at your site at no charge.

Have a great day and thanks for watching.