Most Google users have a hard time understanding how Google sorts out the search engine result pages. At most, searchers can only guess.
Here’s the good news:
With the recent expansion of About this result, Google explains the sorting itself. Users can use this feature to understand why a particular result appears in their search results.
What does this mean for your website?
As it reveals why a result appears first in the SERPs, you can use it to study your competitors and rank higher in search results.
Read on to learn more:
Google’s About This Result 101
Google’s About This Result: What’s New?
What Google’s About This Result Means for You
Final Thoughts: How Google’s “About This Result” Update Impacts Your Website
Google’s About This Result 101
Earlier in 2021, Google introduced the About this result to enable users to vet unfamiliar websites when searching.
Using a three-dot menu icon on the right side of each result, users could find extended information about the search result, its source and its security status.
Google relied on Wikipedia to provide updated and verified descriptions about the information sources. If the website was new to a user, the information on Wikipedia helped the user verify the authenticity of website, especially in health and finance niches.
Google’s About This Result: What’s New?
Google expanded the information box in July 2021 to give users a deeper insight into how Google’s algorithm work.
In the announcement, Google said:
“Now, there’s a quick and easy way to see useful context about how Google returned results for your query and to find helpful tips to get more out of Google Search.”
Now, users can pinpoint the terms that Google ranked a webpage for.
As of writing, the feature is available for only English language users in the United States, but Google hopes to expand its availability to other languages and regions soon.
What Google’s About This Result Means for You
Google’s About this result helps you formulate your content marketing strategy.
In About this result, Google lists the factors that contribute to search engine results ranking:
- Matching keywords: Google searches for webpages with exact keywords as the search query to provide relevant results.
- Related terms: Google searches for terms related to the words in the search query.
For example, If you’re searching for “get the shot,” it will also look for pages with related terms like “getting” and “vaccine”.
- Local relevance: Google considers users’ search language and geographical location to provide relevant content.
As a website owner, you can use these insights to:
- Come up with relevant, reliable results for your prospective customers
- Develop your content marketing strategy
- Connect with your local audience
What’s more is that it also enables your target audience to find you.
Using Learn more search tips, users can find helpful ideas to get specific results they are looking for. Google presents strategies and settings to customers so they can customize their search and find their desired results.
For example, if your past searches were in English and you want to search in a different language, About this result makes it easier to update your language settings.
Final Thoughts: How Google’s “About This Result” Update Impacts Your Website
With the update to Google’s About this result, website owners and searchers will know the context of the results in search engine results pages.
Through the insights into Google’s algorithm, About this result aids website owners in their quest to rank higher on SERPs.
We hope this makes it easier to understand the search results you find on Google.
What do you think about the expansion of Google’s About this result feature?
Let us know by commenting below or tweeting us at @Bluehost.
