Google search favoring shorter informational articles? (new tag)

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Google search favoring shorter informational articles? (new tag)

Sgt_Kickaxe

9:23 pm on Aug 31, 2022 (gmt 0)

For informational queries a new tag is appearing just below the description of shorter articles in search results to signal that it can be read in under 5 minutes.

Shorter articles appear to be ranking well though Google just said they did not care about article length?

Personally, when I'm searching for something specific and I land on a 2500 word article, I'm not often tempted to read it to find the bits I want. This is especially true when the second pargraph is bolded and the conclusion is 500+ words repeating what's been said.

The longest "short" article I've seen that has the new tag was around 850 words.

Don't change anything, yet. It might be an 8 minute tag next week, or a 2 min tag nex month. Google is, however, aware that some people want short answers, not novelas.

Terius

7:36 pm on Sep 3, 2022 (gmt 0)

I haven't seen this tag yet, but I'm not surprised. For a while Google has seemed to favor longer articles (2000+ words). But they seemed to prefer shorter articles (say, 500-1000 words) a few years ago. I figured it was actually other signals in the algorithm giving longer articles an advantage and was only a matter of time before Google would figure out how to disregard those signals.

tangor

9:51 pm on Sep 4, 2022 (gmt 0)

G might also be checking the attention span of users. :)

If the info can be shared in 5min< then go for it. Meanwhile, don't change anything until we find out more about this signal!

Sgt_Kickaxe

2:31 am on Sep 5, 2022 (gmt 0)

When I posted this there were no results in search describing the new tags, I checked, but there are now.. This one shows what the tags look like if you haven't seen them yet - [searchengineland.com...]

RedBar

2:36 pm on Sep 5, 2022 (gmt 0)

I'm experimenting at the moment with a new site displaying cut-down information v my full fat version site.

At the moment I have no conclusions since G appears not to be ranking anything new in my widget sector.

Full fat = Images, videos, tech specs, in-depth info - 20 mins digest - trade focussed
Cut-down = Image maybe 2, bullet point info, no tech specs - 2 mins digest - public interest

EditorialGuy

7:53 pm on Sep 6, 2022 (gmt 0)

I'm experimenting at the moment with a new site displaying cut-down information v my full fat version site.

I've tried that for one of our major subtopics, and it 's never taken off. The short-and-sweet content doesn't get nearly as much play in Google (or nearly as much traffic) as the corresponding in-depth section of our main site.

Sgt_Kickaxe

8:20 pm on Sep 6, 2022 (gmt 0)

G appears not to be ranking anything new in my widget sector.

Nor mine.

at 8am Sept 4th I published a guide that took months to create. Google still hasn't noticed it, or the two previous articles I published.

I checked stats at 8pm Sunday night and noticed it was getting traffic from Bing, Brave and DDG, all of whom already ranked it #1 for its main topic. Google hasn't found it as of this post, almost 48 hrs later.

Its probably not related to content length but it is... weird for G.

[edited by: Sgt_Kickaxe at 8:21 pm (utc) on Sep 6, 2022]

RedBar

8:21 pm on Sep 6, 2022 (gmt 0)

@EG - I'm not expecting any great things from it since it is primarily designed for public consumption however it has been fun designing and constructing for responsive simplicity Several widget trade companies have actually asked me if I would re-build their sites using this template and after reviewing their sites I can understand why!