Google "About This Result" in SERPs Indicates Ranking Info

[engine]

Google has announced a change to the About This Result in its SERPs with the three dots next to most results indicating more information about the results. This could be indicating some helpful ranking information.

Starting today, About This Result will show searchers information about some of these most important factors used by Google Search to connect results to their queries. Because just as these factors help Google decide if a result may be relevant, they may also help people decide what result is useful for them.

Here are some of the factors that you’ll see:

Matching keywords: A simple, but important, factor Google uses to determine if information is relevant is when a webpage contains the same keywords as your search.

Related terms: Google also looks for terms that our systems determined are related to the words in your query. If you search “how to cook fish in the oven,” we’ll also look for pages that have related terms like “bake” and “recipe.”

Looking at links: When other pages link to a page using similar words as your query, that page might be relevant to your search. It can also be a helpful indicator of whether online content creators tend to regard the page as useful for that topic.

Local relevance: Our systems also look at factors like the language you’re using to search as well as your country and location, to deliver content relevant for your area. For example, if you search "what day is trash pickup?,” it’s helpful to get results that are applicable to your city or state.

[blog.google...]

[bwnbwn]

Already see a new business model. Feedback on page results

[lucy24]

They do love them some Wikipedia, don't they?

Random experimentation reveals that the preliminary about-this-site blurb contains one of two things: either the beginning of the site's Wikipedia entry, if any, or the month and year the site was first indexed by Google (topping off at “more than ten years ago”).

Another intriguing detail--not directly connected with this new function, except that it is made more visible--is that not everything comes up as https, even if the site exists in https form. I thought it might be that some sites don't redirect, but that isn't the variable either. Do ordinary humans give weight to the information that Your connection to this site is secure (bolded) or not secure? Evidently G### does, or a page of my own would not rank ahead of a much larger and better-known site.

Do ordinary humans care how long a site has been in existence? (Keeping in mind that nobody reading the present site is an ordinary human.)

:: insert “who knows?” emoticon ::

[Edge]

I've another example of a non-SEO page (horrific - just a title and very little text) where the source url is another government run website.

Not enough evidence to conclude anything here folks just government website references so far.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Looking at links: When other pages link to a page using similar words as your query, that page might be relevant to your search.

That's not what it says, in fact it never mentions anchor text at all. It says the linking pages are about the keywords.

[lucy24]

I'm not sure that's what the quoted text said, either. Does “using similar words” refer to the link or to the page? Of such grammatical ambiguities are SEO careers made.

[EditorialGuy]

The info is pretty basic and obviously isn't intended to be useful as an SEO tool.

[samwest]

I can already see the feedback option being abused against competitor sites...but likely just ignored by Gorg.

[StupidIntelligent]

@samwest - About this result is pure BS. Even people with very little knowledge of what SEO is know why a particular result is suppose to rank. Titles should match - wow that's a breakthrough in knowledge.

Google is an ad engine that scraps content in return for meagre traffic here and there.

[samwest]

@SI - you are preaching to the choir.