How Google Passage Ranking Works
Passages allow Google to rank specific, relevant passages from a specific page. Not just the page itself.
(Kind of like a souped-up version of Featured Snippets.)
Here’s an example from Google’s feature announcement:
Google – Understanding passages
So instead of Google ONLY taking into account the relevancy of an entire page.
They’ll now also size up the relevancy of a specific section of that page.
Google passage ranking will evaluate content sections independently
That said, Google has made it clear that they will still evaluate entire pages.
Twitter – Google on evaluating whole pages
So backlinks, on-page SEO, UX signals, and Google’s other page-level ranking factors will still apply.
The only difference is that a single page now has more chances to rank. That is, assuming the page is optimized and organized.
Which is exactly what I’m going to cover right now.
Organize Your Content Into Discrete Sections
Yes, Google will rank passages of your page semi-independently.
But that doesn’t mean they can easily divvy up a disorganized page.
Why?
Google may now look at each section like a mini web page.
Organizing content into discrete sections may help with Google passage ranking
This means your content needs to be divided up into dedicated sections.
And each section should cover a specific subtopic.
You may have been doing this already. If not, I recommend going back and organizing your content into VERY clear sections.
For example “SEO vs. SEM: What’s The Difference?”.
Top comments (0)