Semalt: How Google Analyzes Web Page Content And Evaluates It



Ever heard of Centerpiece Annotation and how different parts of a web page are analyzed and scored by search engines? This was a concept brought forward by Martin Splitt. 

In a Dauda webinar, Martin Spliff explained a concept he called Centerpiece Annotation. It was a concept designed to explain how Google analyzes content on a webpage. 

In summary, Martin discusses how Google separates the boilerplate of webpages and then summarizes the page using the remaining text. This is how Google understands pages. 

It was at this point he mentioned Centerpiece Annotation. 



But that's just one of the over 200+ other ranking factors Google considers when ranking and understanding a website. 

How Google Evaluates Your Content Quality 

Google doesn't rank content to make things more difficult for website owners. Instead, it does this because it needs to deliver the best content to its visitors. Imagine you searched this topic, and you met poorly written content discussing something totally different. 

No one would like that. 

To ensure that website owners aren't left to struggle aimlessly, Google also created search quality guidelines to help us produce relevant and high-quality content that will be beneficial to the target audience. 

Crawl Content

For Google to rank content, it must first crawl the content. Search engine crawling is a process in which search engine bots enter a page to read and understand the content. This is where the Centerpiece Annotation comes into play. There are a few other annotations Google uses when looking at the semantic content of a page. They also use these annotations to study the layout tree of a page. 

This method of crawling separates the web page into segments, some of which are irrelevant to the Centerpiece. Google also weighs the different parts of the page. In this case, weight is determined by how relevant the page segment is. 

If a section receives a lightweight, it is not as important as the other heavier segments. 

Once a page has been crawled and understood, Google begins indexing. 

Indexed Content

This is a process where your page is made visible on SERP. If your pages aren't indexed, they cannot appear on a search engine. Since search engines do their indexing, only web pages indexed by the search engine will appear in their result pages. 

Successfully indexing your site means better opportunities to get more traffic to your site. Any content you post is also likely to get discovered far more quickly. 

These are some of the reasons why getting indexed is very important. Here are some strategies that can help your pages rank quicker:
  • Ensure that your most important pages rank
  • Use tools to check if your pages have been indexed
  • Review the content on your page
  • Review the cache of your key pages  

Length of the content



How long should quality content be? This is a tricky question that has been debated for many years. Almost every SEO expert has a different answer to this question. While some believe that longer content gives you a better chance at ranking higher, others believe that too long content is boring and they wouldn't carry any new information. 

Regardless of our stance, it is what Google says that really matters. And Google has given its answer to this question. Google believes that content should be as long as it needs to be. The problem with content when it's too short is that it doesn't discuss its topic fully. Too long content, on the other hand, is made with fluff which is also not good. 

We know that word count isn't a ranking factor, so never feel pressured to write more when there's nothing left to be written. What matters the most is that the content satisfies the user's query. 

Google is looking for content that provides the best solution to its users. 

Other Factors Google Considers When Evaluating a Site

Website Backlinks

According to Google, backlinks are the most important ranking factor to consider. Having quality links in good numbers will help you improve your ranking. For many years, we've had backlinks as the cornerstone of online marketing. 

Content Quality

After Google evaluates the quality of content, it determines what place it comes in rank compared to its competitors. Better content quality means you stand a better chance at ranking higher. The higher your position on SERP, the better your chances of getting clicked. For the best results, you must publish only unique and quality content. 

Website Loading Speed

With the shrinking attention span of internet users today, the faster, the better. Search engines like Google prioritize faster websites. That is because speed is an important aspect of user experience. Faster websites experience lower bounce rates. Visitors now expect a page to load completely within a few seconds. Websites that take too long to load will automatically rank lower on SERP. 

HTML improvements

Google Webmaster Central is a free and important tool to any SEO expert. It is a tool by Google that analyzes many aspects of a website. It can also check the HTML status of a website. To rank high on search, a website must get rid of as many errors as possible. 

Creating Quality Content For Your Audience



Creating better content for your audience means you create better content for search engine bots. Being able to create quality content for your audience will help your business grow, as well as build a stronger relationship between the brand and your audience. 

Understanding the Target Audience

Google cares about what its users care about. By understanding your audience, you can create content that Google will have no choice but to love. Creating customer-first content starts by understanding the target audience. 

When you are able to give your audience what they crave the most, Google will consider your content to be relevant. By gathering behavioral, contextual, and demographic data, you should be able to say with a good sense of certainty what your audience wants. 

Proper Research

Google doesn't want its "authoritative" websites to mislead readers. That is why trusted websites rank better. To become a trustworthy website, you must be able to conduct in-depth research and arrive at the truth. Publishing misleading facts could cause Google to disregard your site, while factual findings help you score more points during your evaluation. 

Your sources should be trustworthy and reliable. Conduct your own research and make sure what you publish is correct. 

Create amazing content

With all the information you need, all that's left is to create your content. While you can easily let Semalt take care of that for you, you can also do it yourself if you want to. Creating content goes beyond writing words in sentences or making videos. It requires skills, passion, and experience. 

Factors like your audience, their age, profession, and skillset can be an asset in content creation. Add life and humor to your content. When creating content, it should perform one or multiple roles. It should be able to:
  • Inform 
  • Entertain
  • And educate

Conclusion 

The focus of this article was to explain what a Centerpiece Annotation is. To understand pages better, google breaks them into segments and weighs the parts outside the Centerpiece Annotation as independent units. 

Interested in SEO? Check out our other articles on the Semalt blog.