I went to a Sea Shanty night at The Moshpit in a couple of nights ago. The Moshpit is the greatest bar. Live music, great dive vibe. South end of Newtown on King Street in Sydney.
It was awesome. Audience singing Irish songs and drinks.
So what’s the connection with Sea Shanties and Google Search?
To find the lyrics when the next song was announced – we all googled the lyrics.
Every song was provided by Google AT THE TOP OF THE SEARCH RESULTS PAGE (uppercase is a bit much, sorry. But this is the point).
I didn’t have to scroll down and find a link to a song lyrics website.
Hardly news I know. We’re well into the zero-clicks search results era where more and more answers to our questions are found in Google Search.
There’s increasingly less need to scroll down and find a link to a website to then get our answer. The answer is provided by Google right there on the search results page.
Song lyrics are the perfect example for a discussion about this.
If all the answers are the same – like song lyrics – on each website provided in the search results – then its practically public knowledge (flawed argument but arguable), it’s “common” information. Its “fact”.
If there’s consensus – the same answer from every website, then the answer is up for grabs by Google to appropriate that answer and put at the top of their search results page. Have a listen to Bernard Huang of Clearscope talk to Ross Hudgen on the Siege Media podcast for insights on how consensus increases the odds you’ll see the answer embedded in Google Search.
If the website links on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) all provide the same answer – where’s the value to scrolling down search results and choosing a link?
So there we were at The Moshpit.
Singing Sea Shanties off the Google Search results page
How to answer this zero-click future? How do we make a case for Google to NOT answer so there is motivation for the searcher to scroll through search results,
Or if Google does provide the answer, it’s your answer!
- Focus on providing information in your content Google can’t find elsewhere. Top of the funnel content is in trouble. Content such as “What is …” questions are just asking to be lifted and inserted at the top of Google Search.
- For existing well-covered topics add new information. This is called information gain and we’re all quickly getting on-board with the principle – If your content has additional or new information on an existing topic, then you’re not part of the consensus cohort. You’ve got a reason to be listed there in search results, and a reason to be clicked on.
- Write content lit up with subjective personal experience and humanity. It’s the last bastion we have. Be personal, experiential, human. Be opinionated.
Make your content personable, with new/additional information directly attributable to you.
That way your content becomes inseparable from you the content creator.
It may be the resistance needed for Google to not compete with your content.
And the motivation needed for the searcher to scroll down to your search results link and click.