SEOs and marketers need to be aware of how the May 2022 broad core algorithm update is affecting their website’s visibility in search results.

The update, which is Google’s first core update since November 2021, is designed to improve the quality of search results by making changes to the way ranking signals are processed.

The impact of the update will vary depending on each website’s individual SEO and marketing efforts.

As is usually the case, what this core updated did exactly remains… cryptic. However, there are some general trends that SEOs and marketers should be aware of.

Search Features That Were Definitely Impacted

Snippets. Lots of snippets.

FAQ Snippets

FAQ snippets — those sections that provide quick, direct answers to questions or variations of questions entered in Google — have increased from 22 to 27 percent since the core algorithm rolled out.

• The bad news — this is yet another feature that can take traffic away from your website, as more clicks will be going towards featured answers instead.
• The good news — more chances to get YOUR website into these snippets, increasing click-through-rate and improving search rankings as a whole.

To do this, focus on creating content that is:

• Direct
• Concise
• Consistent
• Structured for searcher’s needs
• Written in simple language that can be easily understood
• Free of grammatical errors
• Includes high volume keywords
• Marked up with FAQ structured data (FAQ schema)

Featured Snippets

Since the update, we’ve seen a lot of fluctuations with featured snippets, with a distinct trend of “surge-or-drop”.

That is, all of the information bits that appear at the top of SERPs above standard listings, such as highlighted paragraphs, bullets, lists, tables or videos, have either see massive gains or huge losses.

For most websites, this is a big deal, considering that featured snippets are generally vectors for high amounts of organic traffic.

What to do: If you’ve benefitted from a big surge as a result of the update, sit back and enjoy it! If your featured snippet has dropped off, you can improve your content scores using software like Semrush and SurferSEO.

Video

Since the update, video website’s have seen improved online visibility by an incredible 25%.

Yes, video is a big factor when it comes to ranking, and while it can sometimes be easier to skim through a well-organized piece of written content than to watch a video, features like label sections and time-selected video embedding have closed that gap.

So, if you aren’t already improving your content with video — now’s the time to do so!

All of the above factors point to one thing:

The Importance of Quality Content

The bottom line is that the May 2022 update favors quality content over everything else.

If your website’s content isn’t up to par, you’re going to have a hard time ranking — no matter how great your backlink profile or domain authority may be.

So, if you want to see real results from the May 2022 update, start by taking a close look at your content.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Is my content comprehensive?
• Does it cover all the bases?
• Is it well-researched?
• Is it free of spelling and grammatical errors?
• Does it fulfill user intent?

If you can’t answer “yes” to all of these questions, it’s time to make some changes. The good news is that, with a little effort, you can turn your content from average to exceptional.

Arcane Marketing Can Boost Your Content & Get You Ranking Faster

We’re SEO experts with many years of experience as a digital marketing agency. We know what it takes to create high-quality content that will reach your target audience and help you achieve your marketing goals.

If you’re struggling to produce the kind of content that will get you noticed by Google, we can help. Our team of talented writers and marketers can create custom content that is optimized for search engines and users alike. We can help you get the traffic and engagement you need to succeed.

Contact us today to learn more about our content marketing services. We’ll be happy to discuss your needs and create a customized solution that fits your budget.