Google’s expanded ‘About This Result’ panel shares insights into search ranking factors

Google is expanding the ‘About This Result’ panel with more information. Interestingly, this new information can help SEOs get meaningful insights into why a particular result was chosen and served.

This information regarding the search ranking factors that Google used when selecting a search result can affect how SEOs strategize and prioritize certain ranking factors.

For online searchers, this expanded panel shares information on why a certain result was selected by Google.

Following is an example of the updated and expanded ‘About This Result’ panel.

In the above image, you can see the search ranking factors that helped Google pick this result over others. We can notice the following search ranking factors played a role:

• Exact match keywords.  Despite what some people say, exact match keywords can play a key role in search results. In this example, we see exact match keywords as one of the search ranking factors for Google. Because the result it surfaced contained exact keyword phrases (e.g., how, cook, fish, oven), Google made the connection and perceived this page as the best, most relevant result.
• Semantically related keywords.   Apart from the exact match main keywords, semantically related keywords was another factor for Google. These related terms (e.g., ingredients, recipe, baked) helped Google identify the contextual meaning and connection between the page and the search query.
• Language.  It’s important for Google to serve a page in the same language as the search query. This is important if you have traffic coming from multiple regions with different languages. In that case, you should translate your pages into all relevant languages. This will help increase visibility and organic traffic.
• Geographical relevance.  The last search ranking factor that Google mentioned in the expanded ‘About This Result’ is the geographical relevance.

The ‘About This Result’ panel can now provide valuable information to SEO professionals and a unique insight into how Google is prioritizing certain pages.

For search engine users, Google’s pitch remains the same: it shares insights into why a certain page was selected and how users can modify settings to get better and more relevant results.

Here are some tips and information on that from Google’s announcement:

“For example, if you usually search in English, but want to find results in a different language, or from a different region, About This Result makes it even easier to adjust your settings.

You may even want to adjust your search. Imagine you search for “best jogging shoes.” While it’s usually helpful for Google to return results about related concepts, in this case “running shoes,” you’re really after shoes that are optimized for jogging.

About This Result will show you tips for how you can get to what you really wanted. For example, you can put quotes around a word or phrase to get results that mention those words exactly, or use a minus sign to exclude certain words from your search.”

Learn more about ‘About This Result’ in this article from Google.