Google has recently begun delivering content of their own in search results. More and more content shows in search results daily that is specifically created by Google. If Google is creating content, what does this mean for the other web pages in the Google index?
What are the Types of Content?
Google is now offering a variety of their own content in search results. Some examples of this content are:
Sports scores, schedules, standings, etc.
Weather forecasts and conditions
Political updates
World times
Calculator results
Historical information
Etc.
This type of content has been offered for some time. But it is becoming more prevalent everyday. Recently, they have taken this all a step further with the Google Knowledge Graph.
What is the Google Knowledge Graph?
The knowledge graph is a new initiative by Google that offers information on historical figures, athletes, common questions, and basically any piece of information they feel like providing. Here we see an example of a Thomas Jefferson Knowledge Graph result.
How Can this Hurt a Websites SEO?
This is a major issue for content based websites and also blogging initiatives. These entities have built their traffic on delivering information on these topics via Google search results. But now with Google offering this information on their own many less people will be visiting these websites. There is the possibility that they may want to still visit a site for more information, but for the most part, these results will change the websites traffic numbers for queries relating to these terms.
How Does this Change SEO?
If there is a great carwash in your town, you probably wont be building a new one. Similarly, if there is a piece of Knowledge Graph content for a segment of information you may decide not to make a web page for it. If Google is offering the information in many cases it does not make sense to focus search engine optimization on it. Now, there still may be opportunities outside of Google SEO. Social media marketing for example may still allow you to drive traffic to these pages. Also, it is important to keep in mind that you can still rank for these queries, there is just much more competition with this information delivered by Google at the top of the page.
It is important to point out here that in some cases the Knowledge Graph actually links to websites. This means that the Knowledge Graph may be a source of referring site traffic for certain websites.
Will this Theme Continue?
At this point it does not seem that Google is slowing down in their development and execution of delivering their own content in search results. Google will most likely be creating more and more content. Make sure to keep this in mind when creating an SEO strategy for your business.
