SEO TL;DR #9: Word Count as a Ranking Factor, Human Quality Rater Job Cuts & Google's Missing Cache
SEO TL;DR - 29/01/2024
Can reducing word count improve rankings?
Google plans to overhaul its current SEO starter guide by cutting the word count in half! It currently stands at about 8,500 and ranks 3rd for the term ‘SEO’, so seeing how that changes after the cull will be interesting.
Google aims to improve the quality of the piece by cutting out repetitive and redundant information - something that should benefit the user - which Google seeks to reward. Google’s John Mueller added this on LinkedIn, which backs up the quality over quantity approach.
It's always tempting to just keep adding to a comprehensive document - more words is better, right? Well, no. Having a massive opus doesn't make it easier for people just dipping their feet into the world of search engine optimisation. And so, we've been working on revamping it a bit, making it a lot shorter, and more suitable for modern websites.
However, in the Search Off the Record Podcast, Gary Illyes from Google stated that he thinks the SEO starter guide will see its ranking drop because of it having less content.
While word count alone isn’t a ranking factor, removing words that might match specific long-tail searches may be an issue. If the words don’t appear in the content, It’ll stop ranking for them.
Updating content always comes with risk, and it can be tempting to stick to the old if it’s not broken, don’t fix it mindset, but if you want to improve your content, keep the user experience in mind.
Rewriting content to fix spelling and grammatical errors is never a bad thing. Sometimes, we come across badly written content that instantly jumps up the rankings when rewritten. This is often the case when content is written by in-house marketers who aren’t well-versed in the English language. I write very little for clients these days, thankfully, and have learned that it’s always something best left to the copywriters and journalists who do this every day.
Improving the structure of a page is a way of keeping your word count and improving user experience. Consider breaking a page up into more logical areas with clear headings, adding collapsable/expandable toggles for FAQs and a table of contents so users can skip to the part of the page they want to see. For lengthy e-commerce collections, consider adding ‘read-more’ links which hide the bulk of text so that users (and Google) can choose to read about the page only if they wish.
1000s of human search quality raters cut
Google has abruptly ended its contract with Appen, a major provider of human search quality raters, which is set to conclude on March 19, 2024. This decision, announced without prior notice, is part of Google's strategic review and significantly impacts Appen, which earned $82.8 million from Google in 2023.
The termination raises questions about the future of Google's Quality Rater program, previously supported by Appen for over 15 years. Many have jumped to the conclusion that these cuts are down to AI replacing humans, but Google has reached out to assure that it has nothing to do with AI. Google has many other vendors to which they may shift the work, and they do not plan to cut any humans out of the process.
Google removes cache link from search results
After months of testing, Google recently removed the cache link from its search result snippets. You can no longer see the cache option when clicking the three little dots for more information on a search result.
This has definitely gotten me out of trouble in the past, for example, when I accidentally deleted a blog post. The cache acted as a backup which I was able to copy and paste back in without anyone noticing 😇
Thankfully, accessing Google's cache is still possible by searching for "cache:yourdomain.com". An information box will show you when that page was last captured:
9 Shopify mistakes to avoid
As a certified Shopify partner, there are a few common mistakes we see over and over again, which cost merchants time, money and conversions.
Failing to optimise themes for all devices
Overlooking SEO best practices
Ignoring analytics and data
Excessive use of Shopify apps
Inconsistent branding
Neglecting security measures
Overcomplicating navigation
Ignoring customer reviews and feedback
Underestimating the power of social media
This blog explores these mistakes in more detail and offers advice on how to avoid them.