The previous article introduced Google’s core updates and explained why website owners should not blindly change content, because excessive changes can create new problems. It also covered several self-review criteria. This article introduces a clearer and more specific suggestion to help you write higher-quality website content and improve SEO ranking.
Beyond the question list from the previous article, Google also recommends referring to the Search Quality Rater Guidelines. Quality raters help Google understand whether its search algorithms provide good results, which supports Google in evaluating whether SEO-related changes are effective.
Some people worry that rater scores will directly affect actual website rankings. In fact, rater scores cannot control and do not directly affect SEO rankings. Google has stated that rater data is not used directly in ranking algorithms. Raters are more like diners writing reviews after a meal; the restaurant can use those comments to improve food quality. Google uses this feedback to understand whether system updates work properly and improve past issues.
In other words, if website owners understand how raters assess content, they can improve their own website content. This can support better SEO performance and help search algorithms recognize stronger content.
What does E-A-T mean? E stands for Expertise, A stands for Authoritativeness, and T stands for Trustworthiness. Google uses these three angles to evaluate content quality.
Core Update FAQ: How long does recovery take after improving content?
Broad core updates usually happen every few months. If improvements have been made, affected website content may not recover immediately and may only recover after the next broad core update is released.
Google continuously updates its search algorithms, including smaller core updates. It often does not announce smaller updates because they usually do not attract broad attention.
However, Google cannot guarantee that every website will recover after improvements. If the updated content is still not considered especially valuable, ranking may not change much.
It is also important to understand that search engines such as Google do not understand content exactly like humans do. Google matches signals in website content and evaluates how those signals relate to what humans consider relevant.
Google tests broad core updates before release, including collecting feedback from search quality raters to understand how signals should be weighted and whether they are relevant and useful.
Of course, Google cannot guarantee every improvement is perfect. That is why it continues updating its systems, collecting more feedback and running more tests to improve SEO ranking systems. This means that even if content is not changed, it may recover in the future if Google’s ongoing improvements evaluate that type of content more favorably.
Reference: What webmasters should know about Google’s core updates, Google Search Central Blog
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2019/08/core-updates
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