What Your B2B Company Should Know About Recent Google Updates

Google’s most recent product update aligns with the company’s goal of “making Google Search work better for you every day.” As a B2B company, it’s crucial you know what the recent updates actually mean and how they'll impact your visibility on Google's search engine.

Take advantage of this quick recap of recent Google updates and make sure to adjust your business strategy accordingly. To help you out, we've provided a few practical steps you can take to ensure potential customers are finding your website amidst the changing digital landscape. 

Recent Google Updates That Will Impact Your B2B Company’s Digital Presence

1. Spelling Algorithm

Let’s be honest, Google searches can get sloppy. There are many times I’ve gone to type in “oil and gas,” but it came out “oil a ndg as.” In fact, Google estimates that one-in-ten search queries are misspelled! That’s a lot of mistakes and a lot of missed opportunities to connect people to the right solutions online. Thanks to huge improvements to its spelling algorithm, Google has significantly improved its ability to understand what you mean when you mis-type words. This advancement means your search ranking won’t be penalized due to searcher error and will prove helpful to your B2B company’s keyword strategy as you identify what your potential customers are looking for!

2. Passages

Google’s recent update means the search engine doesn’t just index your company’s web pages; it can also index individual passages from your pages! As Google puts it, “We can find that needle-in-a-haystack information.” This will impact your ranking score for a given query, and it will be even more critical to organize your content effectively. While your H1 has always been important, you may want to put more time and thought into generating helpful sub-headings, like H2’s and H3’s. Since many B2B companies operate in the niche, specialized industries, this is an opportunity to develop content that, in the past, might not have ranked well as a page but could now become part of Google’s top search result as a passage.

3. Subtopics

Towards the end of 2020, Google searches will reflect relevant subtopics around interest topics. When someone searches for a topic, they’ll have access to a wider range of content on their search results page. This means that it’s more important than ever that your B2B company execute a strong content strategy with relevant keywords and helpful topic clusters. Your website content should be organized effectively using landing pages and link-out to related content elsewhere on your website. As well, your site should be set up with the user experience (UX) in mind so that users can easily find the content and answers they’re looking for and know what they should do next to qualify themselves as a lead. 

4. Key Video Moments

As Google began testing its new AI-driven approach to video earlier this year, you may have already seen this update to your searches. Simply put, Google can identify key moments in your videos and tag those moments like chapters in a book. This change helps searchers find the exact answer they’re looking for without watching every second of your video. This means when it comes to your video and webinar scripts, be intentional about your copy. Ensure your content (through whatever medium) serves a beneficial purpose to the searcher and demonstrates your industry expertise. 

5. Other Google Updates

As a B2B company, we’ve narrowed down this list of top changes that may impact your company’s digital strategy. To read the full update on Google updates, visit the company’s site.  

The Key Takeaway from Google’s Recent Update: Focus on Content

With all of these updates flooding your mind, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out how to keep your B2B company relevant. You know your business needs a strong digital presence to remain competitive in the digital marketplace, but you don’t want just to survive. You want to thrive. You want to ensure your company grows and increases profitability in 2023 and beyond!

We suggest focusing on ensuring you're offering the best content you can. That's what (Google) algorithms seek to reward.

- Danny Sullivan, Google Public Liaison

As a B2B company, if you take anything away from the recent Google product updates, it should be to focus on creating quality content and understanding quality rater guidelines and E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). 

Create Better Content & Gain the Reward

Creating helpful and trustworthy content for potential customers that also ranks on search engines can be challenging without the right content strategy in place! If you need guidance getting started, we can help! At Open Path Digital, we help B2B companies create and execute an effective content strategy that’s proven to improve website traffic, increase leads, and generate results. Learn how when you schedule a free call with one of our Growth Strategists.