{"id":9668,"date":"2019-02-18T19:42:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T00:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/?p=9668"},"modified":"2019-02-18T19:43:24","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T00:43:24","slug":"google-has-no-idea-what-youre-talking-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/google-has-no-idea-what-youre-talking-about\/","title":{"rendered":"Google has no idea what you\u2019re talking about"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When it comes to search results, SEO, stop anthropomorphizing Google<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It seems like several times per week there\u2019s some kind of\noutrage over what surfaces in the Google search results. A terrorist appears in\na query for \u201cCanadian Soldiers.\u201d Bad results come up featuring Indian prime\nminister Narendra Modi. Holocaust denial sites can be found to easily amongst\nmore legitimate results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The natural inclination seems to be to blame Google for its\nconscious choices and deeply held biases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s idiotic and it betrays a complete lack of knowledge\nabout how Google, SEO and search results, in general, actually work. So, let\u2019s\ntalk about it. And to do that, we\u2019re going to need to come from the perspective\nof how you create a website with content that ranks for relevant search terms \u2013\nhow you do Search Engine Optimization. That will illuminate this entire\nconversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s hash it out.<span id=\"newline\"><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Let\u2019s start with how search rankings work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to rank in the Google search results, you need to\ndo one thing: show Google you are an authority in your area of expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All of Search Engine Optimization is based on that one, single\nprinciple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as easy as that sentence was to construct (and\ndeconstruct as we will in a few moments), accomplishing that is a much\ndifferent story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And a big part of that is that people misunderstand the very\nnature of Google, SEO and search engines in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, let\u2019s pull back the curtain and give you insight into\nwhat Google is actually looking for and why you\u2019re probably looking at the\nproblem the wrong way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Pleasing the Google gods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s talk about the nature of SEO and search rankings in\ngeneral and why it\u2019s so important. The tagline to the famous American baseball\nmovie, <em>Field of Dreams<\/em>, was \u2018if you\nbuild it, they will come.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While it\u2019s not exactly the same, on today\u2019s internet if you\ncan satisfy Google, the traffic will come. Google is the gatekeeper. Let\u2019s go\nback to the sentence we said we were going to deconstruct in the last section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cYou need to show Google that you\u2019re an authority in your area of\nexpertise.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are three concepts in this sentence that we need to\ndissect:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cshow Google\u201d<\/li><li>\u201cauthority\u201d<\/li><li>\u201carea of expertise\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s start with what it means to \u201cshow Google.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>[For the sake of our\ndiscussion we are talking about the search engine portion of that hydra.] <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a>The sacred Algorithm of Google<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I mentioned, Google is the gatekeeper\u2014an economic\nkingmaker. Its search results can literally make or break a business. For all\nintents and purposes, when people say \u201cSEO\u201d or \u201cSearch Engine Optimization,\u201d\nthe search engine they are optimizing for is Google. Try talking to an SEO\nprofessional about Bing SEO\u2014you\u2019ll get laughed out of the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On some level, these are holistic SEO strategies that should\nwork with any search engine, but Google is the target. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, Google couldn\u2019t possibly employ enough people to\nmanually rank ALL of the websites. And that was never the plan. Instead, it\ncrawls the internet and indexes pages, then applies its algorithm to help\nproduce rankings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the very first iteration of the algorithm Google\nuses to create its search rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"422\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEO1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEO1.png 422w, https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEO1-300x267.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 422px) 100vw, 422px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ever since e-Commerce took off and Google became the de\nfacto search king, people have been trying to make sense of that algorithm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Obviously, the algorithm has evolved substantially since\nthen, too. And Google is deliberately opaque about it, refusing to publish the\nalgorithm or even give much of a hint as to when or what tweaks are being made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s why, by trade, many SEO professionals are strange\nhuman beings: much of their job consists of trying to divine the whims of the\nGoogle gods from the movements of birds and the seasonal weather patterns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seriously though, an entire industry has sprung up around\nthose whims. It\u2019s a huge industry. Very strange professional conventions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Google has no idea what you\u2019re talking about<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One thing any SEO professional can tell you though, is that\nGoogle\u2019s algorithm doesn\u2019t actually understand any of the content you\u2019re\npublishing, it can\u2019t even see the images, it is purely looking for a set of\nindicators or signals that \u2013 coupled with user behavior \u2013 tell it that your page\nis authoritative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s a great way to think about it, and I\u2019ll borrow from a\npaper called \u201cMinds, Brains and Programs\u201d written in 1980 by the contemporary\nphilosopher and UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus, John Searle. Specifically, I\u2019m\nborrowing from what is called the Chinese Room argument. This will help inform\nthe rest of our discussion about Google\u2019s algorithms and what it means to \u201cshow\nGoogle.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The premise of the argument is that you (or me or anyone,\nreally) are sitting in a room, picture yourself at a desk with a large book on\nit and a pair of equally sized slots on either side. Through one slot comes a\ncard with a series of Chinese inputs (characters). You use the book on the desk\nto find those characters, and then copy the proper Chinese response on to the\nother side of the card and push it through the other slot as an output. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"494\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEO2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9669\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEO2.png 494w, https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEO2-300x216.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 494px) 100vw, 494px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now for the sake of this argument, that reference book on\nyour desk has answers to every possible permutation, so all you must do is use\nthe characters to find the correct information, copy it and output it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Functionally, you are speaking Chinese. You\u2019re giving the\ncorrect responses to every piece of input. But you don\u2019t know Chinese, do you?\nYour responses may be accurate, but you haven\u2019t actually learned Chinese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now let\u2019s view \u201cshow Google\u201d through that lens. Google is\nthe one at the desk, or more accurately Google\u2019s algorithm. Whenever someone\nenters a query into the Google search bar (input), Google checks its book. In\nGoogle\u2019s case, the book contains every website it\u2019s indexed. It\u2019s going to look\nat the input, and then try to find the appropriate response in its book, what\nit will return is a list of the best possible answers (output). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s Google\u2019s ultimate goal with its search engine: to\nreturn the best possible result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google doesn\u2019t really know what it\u2019s looking at, just like\nyou don\u2019t know what the Chinese characters on the card mean, it\u2019s just using\nthose signals to help it find the (most) correct answer in its book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s basically SEO in a nutshell. Google search is an\nalgorithm with some machine learning layered over it\u2014it\u2019s not sentient. It\ndoesn\u2019t reason or understand. These aren\u2019t conscious decisions that can be attributed\nto Google \u2013 so stop anthropomorphizing. All Google is really looking for is the\nright signals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sending the right signals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, now let\u2019s talk about those signals, and to do that we\u2019ll\ndouble back to the other two concepts we mentioned earlier: \u201cauthority\u201d and\nyour \u201carea of expertise.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the most important things Google is looking for in\nits rankings is your authority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is Authority? While many words and terms in tech and on\nthe internet have much different definitions than when used colloquially,\nauthority is not one of them. Here\u2019s the appropriate definition for authority:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the power to influence others, especially because of one&#8217;s commanding manner or one&#8217;s recognized knowledge about something.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That suits this discussion perfectly. I always found Merriam\nto be quite eloquent with his definitions, though I hear Webster was an\ninsufferable prick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are tools and services that can help you try to\nquantify your authority on a given topic or keyword, but the actual Google\nscoring system is one of life\u2019s greatest mysteries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But let\u2019s not jump the gun. In order to start showing Google\nyou\u2019re an authority, you\u2019re actually going to need to figure out the third\nconcept, first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>What is your area of\nexpertise? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe you\u2019re a plumber. Maybe you sell industrial parts.\nMaybe you make bug spray. Whatever it is you do, chances are you\u2019ve accumulated\na certain level of expertise on that subject. That\u2019s what Google is interested\nin. What\u2019s your expertise and how authoritative are you about it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Focus on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Figure out what your lane is and stay in it. Then start\ntalking about it. Start writing about it. Start networking with other experts\nwho know about it. Create relevant, quality content that caters to it. All of\nthose strategies on all of those how-to SEO guides and lists \u2013 \u2018content is\nking,\u2019 or \u2018do your keyword research,\u2019 or \u2018longer content performs better\u2019 \u2013\ndon\u2019t amount to a whole lot unless you\u2019re focusing your energy in the right\ndirection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, let\u2019s get back to sending the right signals. I\nmentioned Google doesn\u2019t understand the content itself, but it does know what\nto look for. It knows what signals authority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Granted, no one single signal can show Google that you\u2019re\nauthoritative on a given topic, rather it\u2019s a collection of signals \u2013\neverything from page speed to word count to keyword density to the clickthrough\nrate \u2013 that all come together to signal authority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you study the pages that rank the best across different\nindustries and different keywords, they all check certain boxes, show certain\nsignals, give certain inputs \u2013 however you want to phrase it. This will serve\nas a good starting point. While these things alone won\u2019t guarantee success,\nthey can be considered best practices because the pages that rank best \u2013 at a\nminimum \u2013 accomplish them all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that\u2019s what websites are aiming for. But you have to\nknow where to aim first. What is your area of expertise and what would I need\nto show Google to convince its algorithm my website is an authority on it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because at the end of the day SEO is less about writing, or\nhow many pictures you used or whether alt tags are still important and more\nabout knowing what signals you need to send to Google to show it you\u2019re an\nauthority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you view everything else through that prism, SEO\nfinally starts to make sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now let\u2019s tie it back to search results and Google and try to\ndebunk some of these biases that are ascribed to the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">You can fool Google<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Almost every single high-profile example of Google returning\nan offensive result for a given search query can be deconstructed and explained\nwhen you understand the signals and how they gamed the system. For instance,\nthe noted terrorist that came up when searching for Canadian soldiers had been\nincarcerated by Canada for a period of time and there was proximity in those\nkeywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other times, the opinion sections of authoritative media\noutlets can cause wonky effects in the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regardless of the permutations, there isn\u2019t someone at\nGoogle sitting around tweaking these rankings to make a political point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And even if they were, the US has ruled those results\nprotected speech, so there\u2019s not much we could do anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s an uplifiting thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>As always, leave any comments or questions below\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bigstock-222348568-1024x267.jpg\" alt=\"Hashed Out by The SSL Store is the voice of record in the SSL\/TLS industry.\" class=\"wp-image-7276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bigstock-222348568-1024x267.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bigstock-222348568-300x78.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bigstock-222348568-768x200.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bigstock-222348568.jpg 1559w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to search results, SEO, stop anthropomorphizing Google It seems like several times per week there\u2019s some kind of outrage over what surfaces in the Google search results&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[210],"class_list":["post-9668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-lowdown","tag-seo","post-with-tags"],"views":8240,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/bigstock-Web-Seo-Chart-On-Blackboard-28208462.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}