Quality Content Wins: How Google's New Update Will Separate Winners from Losers

Chapters

• 0:00 Google's New Algorithm Update
• 3:26 The AI Content Quality Problem
• 5:00 Budget Planning for Tough Revenue Year
• 6:48 Google Gemini DeepMind Expansion
• 8:56 NerdBrand Team Updates & Anniversary
• 10:14 Practical Advice on AI and Content Quality

Transcript

Jason: 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast where we're going to talk a little bit about Google's algorithm changes and how it's going to drive everybody nuts. Whee, welcome to this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast where I talk really fast because I don't know why it's a Friday and I kind of want to just go to bed. Allergies are driving everyone nuts, can I say that? And I think all of you will say amen. So anyways, let's get started with google news. Google is updating, well, currently rolling out a new algorithm update. Now what that means code is for seo professionals and website owners to immediately set their hair on fire and beginning to run around in circles wondering why is the world ending? Because none of us really know what's in it or what's coming. It's going to be one of those. We're going to roll this out and you will find out.

Jason: 1:15

So if you have a website that is not a quality design or content on it, I probably would suggest that you get that fixed, or content on it, I probably would suggest that you get that fixed. So having somebody do an audit or review of your pages and your domain and its health immediately would be advisable and, being an agency owner, I can suggest a couple people that are nerds that could help. One of the things that Google is just hammering about is quality of content, and a lot of this is because, yes, ai AI has obviously disrupted a lot of things in the world of well for what I do for a living but it is something that is not going to be avoidable. Everybody has gone gaga over AI and large language models, but the problem is it's that it's going to be one of these things where it's going to be just you're going to need to do it. You're going to need a human, because we have a lot with AI that's useful and that is amazing and there's a lot of great tools there.

Jason: 2:22

But, unfortunately, when you are trying to communicate to people and you're not using someone that can help you navigate those waters and you're purely just copy pasting um, artificial intelligence, writing copy onto some platform, whether it be an ad or your blog or your website google doesn't like that and, um, those of you that have been doing that, you might see some problems coming up. Um, because Google is making tons of changes. They've got a new robots text file. If you don't know what that is, again call us, we'll help. Uh, they've got that going out. They've got. Um. You know ways that you can.

Jason: 3:01

There are ways to find out if your brand is visible with generative AI and there's ways to find out if you're visible basically on the search engine at all, because when this thing flips from a search box to an AI prompt, it's going to be very different and it's going to be harder for you to be seen if you're not up to speed on your content or your website's not updated or of good quality on your content or your website's not updated or of good quality. So it's going to be a very, very tough year for revenue growth. It's going to be a very tough year for, I think, companies that haven't really done a great job budgeting. If you are struggling with that, it's always worth talking to a business consultant or a firm like ours that can review the brand and sort of get a 50,000 foot view of where is your budget going and is your ad budget being spent well or is the marketing budget being spent well? There is a thing about diminishing returns because you're spending too much, perhaps in one channel and not paying attention to what's happening in another and having a daily or even a weekly person that's watching. That, um, is invaluable, as we just see changes, it seems, every day now in this world, and so, um, it's very tough to keep up with if you don't have a strategy and a system like that in place. Um, that's something that I'm seeing a lot of with businesses that are I'm not your CFO. I could not begin to fathom what your margins are to help you come up with an offer, but I'm more than happy to do an ad to promote that offer and to brainstorm with you over that offer. But you know, declaring out of the blue 15% off. I don't know if that's something you can absorb and still make money. So that's something you have to be able to articulate to any agency you hire that is going to run ads for you.

Jason: 4:56

Google has opened Gemini DeepMind whatever research. I haven't used it myself. It's brand new, I think, as of today, but anyways, it's expanded it with its free. It's limited access, but it's expanded it to its free users. I got another cool thing to say, like flash thinking. So I feel like, again, when it comes to AI, use it very strategically, sparingly and, um, be careful to not try to have it do the work for you or the work that another employee would do. That is going to be viewed as more valuable, especially if you're trying to get attention or visibility on the search engine. And notice, I said visibility, not rank.

Jason: 5:40

So with the rollout it's going to have more enhanced reasoning capabilities, personalization features, expanded app connectivity to external apps that you may want to use, and so there are some things with that that I think will be very beneficial for businesses as they start to sort of really dig into their data, because data-driven branding is a thing and it's what we do, it's what we like to learn. We want to see the landscape of where you are before we make any moves, because you could head 100 miles per hour straight off a cliff and not know it, because, as far as you're concerned, you can see the horizon and the sun's there and it's fine, but really it's a trick of the eye and you're headed toward a cliff. So these things we know how to do to fine, but really it's a trick of the eye and you're headed toward a cliff. So, um, this, these things we know how to do to use as nerds, we're proficient in these things, we stay up to date with this stuff, and then, when we run ad campaigns, um, all your channels, that everything you look for from another person. Like I want to do Google ads, I want to do social media posts, I want to do that. That's great, um, but it's gotta be rolled up into a campaign that makes sense, that people will want to be attracted to, to watch, click on, interact with and, hopefully, uh, do business with you, and then that's where all the magic and how things are going. So I hope that, um, some of that thinking is in place and some of the budgets are ready for that, because, boy, it's expensive and you know, that's just kind of how it is.

Jason: 7:03

So NerdBrand has a new person coming back into the team. Michaela Meek is returning as project manager for NerdBrand to keep all the nerds herded. That's her job, and so maybe you won't see her out networking, maybe not. It's kind of up to her. Um, it's more of an internal role that she's coming back to and, uh, it will be a full time position and she starts in April. And, speaking of that, it's kind of clinky dinkle that, uh, april is nerd brands five year unofficial five year anniversary.

Jason: 7:36

So we have been doing this for five years as a team, started with me and Mitch in a parking lot talking about all these marketing companies and no branding being done or messaging being developed, and so just deliverables of end point tactics to people and not a really holistic strategy, which is what we wanted to do. And that's why we do data-driven branding. And we do what we do because, um, we tried, we knew that technology was just going to continue to evolve and, uh, we felt that a cornerstone of things that would keep steady and be there always be there is branding and advertising, um, going hand in hand. And then not to compete with marketing or discounted Cause that is not what we're saying. This is not a siloed thing. This is more of an enhancement to make it work better for a better return on investment. So we're very excited for having Michaela back and we're looking forward to what we're going to be doing in the next few months.

Jason: 8:36

So back to Google. So these model updates and, with DeepMind and everything coming out to some free users, I'd love to know how people are their opinions of AI. If you go to our Facebook page, leave a comment and let us know, got sort of a light idea of what it will do, but I do warn that anyone out there that is approaching you about artificial intelligence and how it's just going to make you all kinds of money. Just throw a red flag up on that. I'm not saying you have to completely discredit them, depending on the source, because there are legitimate folks out there, but I would warn against the buzz wording of it. And there has to be a practical use for AI for your business. And if it's not really apparent yet that there is one, then it's fine. It's not ready yet. Your business isn't ready or the technology is just not there, and that's a legitimate concern and reason to not jump on the bandwagon, because all the cool kids are concern and reason to not jump on the bandwagon because all the cool kids are.

Jason: 9:42

I think that looking forward is the content, the quality of the content. If you're blogging, if you have website copy, that's a static sales slick. If you have social media going out, think about your tone, think about how you're communicating and what you're saying, and not just throwing stuff out there and hoping people will click on it. You're always going to get a better return on your investment for that. But you're going to need partners. You're going to need solid people that understand your business, your brand and the customers that you're trying to interact with in order to make that successful. And it is a long cycle, but you know we've seen long games actually do work. It takes time and patience to get there. If you're in a revenue crunch and you're making less than 200,000 a year annually and you have one person who's employed and that's yourself and everything else is an expense, I understand marketing may not be for you, but if you're gainfully making 250,000 plus a year and you have employees, we definitely would like to talk to you and feel like that there could be some verticals that we could get you into and help you grow, and especially using these strategies and trends.

Jason: 10:55

So that is about it for this episode. It's a really short one because I woke up late on a Friday and I had a bunch of emails to do and some meetings to do and you know it is just a running at 180 miles an hour. So, um, I appreciate all of our listeners out there. Over the last five years, we are approaching 250 episodes, we are hitting our fifth year and an anniversary as a brand, and it's just absolutely nuts. Maybe one day I'll get back out there and shake hands again with people that I haven't seen in a while, but for right now this is all the Jason you get. So if you enjoy this podcast, go to nerdbrandagencycom slash podcast. You can subscribe to it, catch up on the latest episodes and remember, keep your nerd brand strong.