“Our primary goal is to provide users with high-quality, relevant information.”

Unlike your partner, Google tells you exactly what it wants. I heard this sentence in one of their resources pages and it stood out a mile, let’s unpack it.

“…primary goal”

Sounds important right? Pay attention.

“…provide users”

Google’s focus is on its users, not you or your website. 80% of Google’s revenue is derived from advertisers. Businesses pay through advertising platforms to place ads in the Google search results. No Google users = no Google advertisers = no Google revenue = Not a happy Google.

“…high-quality”

Why do we all use Google? Because it works best. You find what you’re looking for more quickly and easily than other search engines. Why? Because Google’s search algorithm is designed to detect and prioritise ‘high-quality’ content. What does ‘high quality’ mean? It means a well designed, quick loading, information-packed website where users are going to find what they searched for. If Google is going to prioritise your website in the results over another, you better make sure it reflects well on them.

“…relevant”

Hugely significant word. Among other things, relevant means up-to-date. If you typed in “Chinese takeaways near me” and Google showed you a great restaurant just down the road, but it had closed down 2 years ago, you’d still be hungry and now annoyed. What this means for your website is you must keep it updated with new content regularly. These can be blog posts, informational pages or at a minimum keeping old pages relevant.

To recap, pushing your website up the Google rankings is more than all the technical SEO work (you keep getting spam about). It involves creating a user experience that is fast, slick, informative and up-to-date. Keeping Google’s users happy, keeps Google making money and keeps you high on the list.