What is Google Quick Read & What Does it Mean For SEO?
Google is testing out a new search engine feature on the organic search results called “Quick Read”. You may have seen it, but it’s very likely you have not since it’s so new. But we as digital marketers find it too interesting not to investigate further and find out what this could mean for user experience and how it impacts SEO. In this article we’re doing just that, defining what Google’s Quick Read is and talking about what it means for you and your company.
What is Google Quick Read?
Quick Read is a Google Search featured callout placed as a label at the bottom of individual organic search results to signal that the content is a “Quick Read”.
Like many of the things Google does, they don’t fully explain how they choose which pages will get the Quick Read label or what the criteria is within the content of a page to make it more likely to get the Quick Read designation. But again as digital marketers with a history in the space we can deduce what the most likely factors are and what importance it plays for companies online.
What Factors Get You the Quick Read Label?
Something that we’ve done for years when it comes to creating content is structure it so that the content can actually be read quickly if a visitor chose to. Even if the content is actually long you can include visual components to a pages copy that make it easier to read and easier to read it quickly.
So using these elements is a way to give yourself the best chance of getting Google’s Quick Read label.
Listed here are a number of those structural elements
- Big & Bold Headlines
- Big & Bold Sub Headlines
- Bulleted Lists
- Numbered Lists
- Space in Between Elements & Copy Sections
- Visual Graphics (such as charts)
By writing like this a reader can easily skim the content and get a cursory understanding of what the content is intended to deliver, which may be enough for the reader, but it also serves as check for that reader so they can decide if they want to read it in-depth to get all of the detail.
What Does “Quick Read” Mean for SEO?
The reason Google is even using a Quick Read label is because readers have shown a tendency to want quick, short and to the point content. By alerting searchers to content that they can “quickly read” it will increase the number of clicks your page gets in the search results, and since clicks are a factor to ranking higher in the search results you will in turn move up in the search results overall getting you better position, rankings and the most clicks from searchers.
What we can’t say right now is what content this will most apply to in the future, but it’s likely that it will always apply to content that lives in the “middle”, or content that has the potential for both being long and detailed, but can also be understood and consumed if skimmed. Look, some people want all the details and others want just enough. So content like this will be the best candidate for having the Google Quick Read label applied.
Features like this are tested all the time, some stay some go, but what never changes is a digital marketers need to be investigating them and building a strong foundation for content and SEO. If you are in need of more visibility, traffic and leads then consider reaching out to us here at Acumen.
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