The Knowledge Era takes a giant step forward
I just completed the design and teaching of the inaugural Search Engine Optimization for the Web class at Macomb Community College. One of the points I regularly made was that the web and search engine optimization (SEO) is constantly changing. Yesterday, Google proved me right once again.
Google announced its latest advancement in search – the “Knowledge Graph.” Google’s contention is that up until now, searchers used search engines to find information. But in this day and age, the real search is for knowledge. So, you might start seeing different types of search results when you conduct your next search. The next time you search for a particular term, Google will not only give you its typical result, but will also open a panel on the right-hand side of the search results page showing facts, information, and other things it knows about the subject. They are making the transition from information search to knowledge search. The video below from Google explains this change:
Google refers to this change in philosophy as building a “knowledge graph.” Now the questions become, “What impact will this have on search engine optimization? Do we continue optimizing our sites for fresh, authoritative content? Will the ‘Knowledge Graph’ change what is deemed as authoritative content? How will this impact search engine optimization (SEO) techniques?”
We’ll monitor this and let you know what we hear …