The proof is in the pudding. And it could soon be in your rankings.
In a recently released research paper, Google’s wizards reveals a new process that ranks web pages based on their accuracy. These formulas work based on a new factor called Knowledge-Based Trust (KBT). KBT can be used to “estimate the accuracy of each web source,” whether that be a website or webpage.
And so far, the results have “shown promise.”
Google to Rank Web Pages on Facts
What does this mean for your website? And what should you do if Google starts to rank web pages on KBT?
It could spell trouble for your Google ratings, and as a result, your web traffic.
Let the pros at SEO Inc. give you our take on this new development. We’ll give you some SEO ideas on what you can do.
Better Web Pages Mean a Better Internet
So facts instead of fluff, huh?
“But I love reading listicles about the latest dumb things Kanye does!” you might say. That’s fine—Google’s basically saying the Internet has room for that. Because while the dumbness of Mr. West’s actions may be subjective, the fact that they happened at all may be considered fact. And that, in Google’s eyes, could make your web pages more trustworthy.
However, the paper does state that gossip sites had high PageRank but low KBT. This is because their process looks at 4 criteria to determine a site’s trustworthiness:
- Triple correctness – a grouping of information that Google verifies as “true”
- Extraction correctness – how many of these groupings were extracted
- Topic relevance – if these groupings are considered related
- Non-trivialness – if these groupings are considered relevant
So as long as your celebrity gossip blog is light on triviality, it may have a chance. If the info on your web pages matches up with what’s in Google’s Knowledge Vault, your site will probably be safe.
All this in the interests of Google’s endless pursuit of a universally accessible and useful Internet. From Google’s research, we can infer that the more factual information your website has, the better it will be ranked.
The Google team also says that KBT wouldn’t replace PageRank as a ranking factor. Rather, it would work in conjunction with the rest of Google’s factors. Makes sense to us—no one factor should determine a page’s trustworthiness.
You haven’t forgotten about all those other ranking factors, have you?
Make Facts, Not Links
Historically, Google has rewarded rankings to websites that have a great link profile. This is because having lots of reputable links shows you as an Internet authority.
But with Google’s KBT process, will we see a rise in web pages that perhaps don’t have a lot of links but do have lots of facts? We very well may.
Link farming has already been ousted as a big SEO no-no. But now links might not be considered as trustworthy as factual information? Seems like a pretty big deal. If implemented, this formula could change put even more emphasis on getting some pretty comprehensive SEO services.
For starters, here’s what you can do:
- Make web page copy your users can trust.
- Have your web pages complement each other.
Will your website be accurate enough to survive the new process when (or if) it comes? Without an SEO service provider, maybe not.
Let our internet marketing company take a look at your site and see if it’s up to snuff. Contact us and let’s work toward making a more accurate Internet.
