Gone are the days of matching a keyword to a page and expecting long tail results. Google is changing the game of how keyword and intent matching is performed and many sites are having to play catch up.
On March 12, Google pushed a large core update that shook up the industry.
The core update was a step in the series of changes that Google is working on in order to predict user’s intent rather than exactly matching terms to a query.
Google has been working on updates to capture more generalized searches, matching to intent and less on exact match keyword to text.
Two months after their latest update and many companies are scrambling to recover. The companies affected most are in the health industry, like WebMD and similar sites that include search results for common ailments while people search their symptoms.
Understanding the neural matching algorithm and what Google is heading toward in search will help explain how your site could have been affected and why.
To understand the March 2019 Google update, we have to go back to September 2018 with a Tweet from Danny Sullivan explaining how Google is:
Google has been guiding webmasters on optimizing for their Discover results – not only contributing to insight into user intent but taking it a step further with predicting what users are looking for before they perform a search.
With this new shift in matching results and predicting users’ intent and interests, how are search engine optimizers supposed to properly optimize a website and its content?
Google uses machine learning as users search more complex questions or scenarios and click through to find the answer they are looking for.
The customer’s journey while shopping starts with an idea, followed by research and finishing with the purchase decision.
Sparking users’ interest with display ads, Facebook Ads, Social Media, paid search ads, or optimized content in a blog or landing page that targets their interests when they aren’t familiar with your brand or product are all ways to begin your engagement.
Follow up with materials optimized for SEO that support research around your brand and/or product with educational pieces in a blog or in PR (news publications, podcasts, and even videos of conferences or trade show presentations) while including reviews from reputable sources outside of your own company.
The more you can provide your audience with information outside of your website, the more they will become familiar with your brand and build trust.
In the end, optimizing products on your website for those searches when the user is ready to make a purchase will complete the journey.
During the research phase of your customer’s journey is where the Neural Matching comes into play the most. A user could be trying to understand a complex issue and may not know you have a product that resolves that issue.
