Google is Attempting to Combat Clickbait in Searches with an Update to its Ranking Algorithm

Google has announced plans to amend “SEO spam” in new alterations to the firm’s search engine algorithm. In a public blog post published on Thursday, Aug. 18, Google highlights the necessity of “better ranking original, quality content” in the face of clickbait. In the post, Google notes the frustrations felt by searchers when finding an article that may feel as though it has “what we’re looking for, but doesn’t live up to our expectations.” 

Content situated under the “clickbait” tagline is oftentimes generalized, as the word has been overused to define a variety of different types of videos, articles, and more across the internet. But, the Content Marketing Institute explains it as “tricking people into consuming your content by making them believe it will be better than what it really is.” 

Jason Evangelho reveals a perfect example of clickbait on Twitter, whose post spotlights an article by Screen Rant that clearly doesn’t add tangible information on the TV show Better Call Saul. He even showcases how best to combat such clickbait via the feedback function on Google currently, but it doesn’t often aid in ridding this unnecessary content from one’s feed in totality. Google has long had an issue with such forms of content, and it’s only gotten worse in recent years. 

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To amend these constraints on the firm’s search engine, it will make some interesting Google algorithm changes targeting content “that seems to have been primarily created for ranking well in search engines rather than to help or inform people.” It’s coining these alterations as the “helpful content update,” and explains in its blog post that specific content out of arts and entertainment, online education, shopping, and even tech-related works have seen several improvements following various tests. 

It notes that low-quality and unoriginal content will rank lower across the Google search engine, highlighting aggregated movie review articles that don’t provide real information aside from reiterating previously written content. A bit at the end of the blog post, Google also is aiming to boost expert product reviews, as they are incredibly crucial to providing informative decisions for searchers on their everyday buying needs. This stems largely from previous updates to the Google search algorithm made in July.

Google has consistently made changes to its algorithm throughout the years, ensuring search engine optimization or SEO is consistent and tantamount to the experience of seeking viable answers across the internet. Despite this, it has been steeped in a negative spotlight of late as several articles and posts, like the Search Engine Journal’s recent report, target the firm’s concerning level of unhelpful and unoriginal search results. 

But Google wants to rewrite its image and is maintaining a rather strict parameter in how it will combat continued clickbait on its search engine. It aims to do this by targeting whole websites with “high amounts of unhelpful content,” ranking these sites lower in given results. The update will officially debut sometime next week.

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