More Transparency for Search Results on Google

Google is giving users some insight into understanding why certain search results show up for their search queries. As part of their recently launched “About This Result” box, more details are being given as to what made that search result show up. This feature was intended as a way for users to understand why they are receiving certain search results, but it’s also a great tool for our Clients to understand more the search landscape and how they can improve their organic rankings.  

The “About This Result” Box  

In February, Google launched the “About This Result” box in the search landscape. You can find this box by clicking on the three vertical dots next to most search results. 

When originally launched, this box would show users either a description about the source from Wikipedia or other context about the site, such as when it was first indexed by Google. This gives the user some information about the reliability of the site.  

Starting this week, new information is being provided in the box, including:  

• Search terms found in the content of the result
• Related phrases used in the content  
• Whether other sites link to this result  
• Regional relevance  
• Image information

How Does This Impact You?  

Any glimpse into the inner workings of Google rankings is helpful. While Google won’t disclose the weighted impact of each of these ranking factors, this is the first time that the search engine giant has disclosed such details as to why specific sites are ranking for said search terms. A close look at the information in these boxes can help you learn more about why your company is ranking the way it is.  

With the listing of the keywords that appear in the search term, you can see if your business is showing up correctly for the search result. Where Google is suggesting other related keywords, are those keywords relevant to your company and should you be targeting those, as well?  

“Google’s Search systems are designed to do just that: sort through hundreds of billions of webpages to find the most relevant and reliable results and present them in a helpful way.“  Source: Google

By clicking on this box for your competition, you can also learn more about why they are ranking in that space. Are they targeting the keywords you want to be ranking for? Do other sites link to them as an authority on that subject?  

Utilizing This Data for Competitive Analysis

As digital marketers, we are constantly facing the question of why particular websites are ranking (or more so, outranking) our websites. This new feature will give additional competitive perspectives to what other sites are doing and why they are ranking. With the potential data to be included in the new feature, we can use these signals as a bulletproof checklist to keep our website content in line and more relevant, thus providing the most relevant content as it relates to the user’s search: have we included this specific language? Are there additional variations to include? How can we go about earning a similar backlink or getting listed on that site? Do we have a link from that site?  

This is also a great example of why backlinks are important. You can see in the box when other sites are linking to that page. Google sees this as an indicator of quality content and thus, it’s a ranking factor that should be kept in mind.

That being said, it will also shed the same light on your rankings for your competition to view, so it will be more important than ever to continue to improve your landing pages in order to stay ahead.   

What’s Next?

Still not seeing this data in your search results pages? Only about 10% of the searches are returning these results and Google has stated that the expected rollout of this feature across the US will take several weeks.

Stay tuned for more updates on how this will impact the search landscape moving forward (along with additional news and information related to SEO and digital marketing) by signing up for our newsletter.