Internet, Meet the Google Freshness Algorithm
Google’s algorithm changes over the years have impacted search rankings in a big way, all in an effort to provide more recent, relevant search results. The Google Freshness algorithm is one that gets its name from the official Google “Inside Search” blog announcement and is designated as a way for consumers to arrive at fresher results when they search.
As experts have predicted that more data is set to be created in 2017 than in every previous year of humanity combined together, the pressure is on Google to provide the most updated, recent, and relevant content. Think of the level of queries Google receives on a daily basis. It’s said that as many as 20 percent of all queries asked daily to Google have never been submitted before. A large part of the Google Freshness algorithm update is to put higher priority on how recent a piece of content is, compared to other factors that can be related to ranking.
When it was first implemented in 2011, it was believed to have had some degree of impact across approximately 35 percent of all search results. Among all Google search queries, as many as 10 percent saw a noticeable difference in ranking according to the algorithm switch. Evaluating the switch years later, it’s easily viewable how this update has provided more gain to sites that are regularly updating content. The sites that are not keeping up are seeing rankings become lost and reduced visibility, which is something that this algorithm specifically set out to accomplish. The sites that have received the largest benefits are newspaper and online news sites, live broadcast sites, video sharing media networks, and corporate branded sites.
The biggest part of the search engine optimization community that has seen gain in the Google Freshness algorithm is content creators. Creating new, relevant postings, doing it well, and doing it regularly, brands of all shapes and sizes are seeing massive gains.
The ‘Query Deserves Freshness’ philosophy is something that is central to the Google Freshness algorithm. It’s designed to identify hot topics – that is, ones where news sites, blogs, and social media are creating a lot of activity on. The importance of providing current information on ongoing hot topics is a large part of the success of the algorithm.
The prior Caffeine web search index update on Google also had a role to play in establishing the framework that would later be adopted by the algorithm. Caffeine provided Google the opportunity to analyze web pages in small portions. This meant faster search engine updates and the ability to monitor web pages continuously on a global level.
For any business sitting on a truckload of dated, inactive content, this is not the end. There are many ways to play to the Freshness algorithm and tap into the opportunities available. For example, remove and revise old content with updated statistics/data. Then, repost and share it on social media to amplify the authority of a given post in the eyes of search engines. Build a regular schedule of content updates, demonstrating to the algorithm frequency of posts.
This algorithm has had a positive impact on the way consumers use Google. Businesses and sites should take advantage of the search engine’s commitment to recent and relevant. Re-develop existing content, build new content, and constantly be updating your database of search engine / SEO friendly material.
