Google Passage Ranking: A New Ranking Algorithm

The year 2020-21, saw great changes in the Google algorithm and of course, this would impact the digital market which it did.

Google rolled out great updates for 2020 such as deduplication of featured snippets giving more opportunities to marketer ranking, and another “Passage Indexing” update (a Passage Ranking Update) for user queries on the search engines.

Passage Indexing is a new tech by Google algorithm to rank individual passages within a page on search results based on the users’ search query that is considered relevant to the whole blog.

According to Moz’s Google Algorithm Update History,

“Due to the so-called “Passage Indexing”, they measured two days of moderate rankings flux which gave no indication and remained unclear on its impact on SERPs.”

And, these ranking fluxes remained with Google’s estimation that,

“The ‘passage update’ would impact 7% of search queries across all languages at the very least when fully rolled out globally.”

This made “Passage Indexing” to become the big update of 2021 with an estimated impact of 7% US or English queries since its official roll-out on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.

When Danny Sullivan, Google’s public Search Liaison, introduced the ‘passage update’ in the Tweet of October 20, 2020, he was putting out the new Google algorithm along with how it would impact the searches (as shown in the screenshot below).

Though this update was to be considered more for Google’s understanding of the content better than making any changes for SEO, according to the statement made by Google shown below,

“This change doesn’t mean we’re indexing individual passages independently of pages. We’re still indexing pages and considering info about entire pages for ranking. But now we can also consider passages from pages as an additional ranking factor….”

This update is important to SEO experts because,

First, it impacts the ranking of the content at a standard 7% search queries, and secondly, was more of a recognition of long-form content by Google than a major update for those SEO-changing algorithms such as Featured Snippets.

And so, to put an end to your worries, here is the fact for you,

The ‘Passage Indexing’ update was just a small adjustment in the algorithm for search engines to understand the content better and all together deliver better results for users’ search queries.

Google’s Prabhakar Raghavan in the blog ‘How AI is powering a more helpful Google’ provides that the passage update is “a breakthrough in ranking” and also, how it has made the search engine “understand the relevancy of specific passages”

Look at the picture below which was a part of Danny Sullivan’s tweet as well as the blog providing a visual difference of the search result at the most basic level.

This visual was relative to the “understanding capabilities” of Google for getting “results a lot more relevant to a specific query than a broader page on that topic (L)”

Stating that this improvement applies to how Google ranks web pages overall rather than a particular element, therefore, changing the so-called term ‘Passage Indexing’ which was 2021 update to “Passage Ranking”.

Let’s understand the difference between what is Passage Indexing and how this update is more relevant to be called “Passage Ranking”.

Passage Indexing v/s Passage Ranking Google

Passages are part of long-form content which is a piece of writing between 1,000 to 8,000 words. This provides in-depth knowledge on complicated subjects and is a dynamic source to engage online traffic through these passages of the content.

Look at the picture below showing a passage in a snippet with the most relevant answer to users’ queries.

As you can see, this new technology, passage indexing, is automated to use individual passages or portions of content within a page to answer a searcher’s query which is displayed on SERPs and is used by Google’s Algorithm to rank the webpage.

In another tweet, Danny Sullivan tries to solve the dilemma of digital marketers, products, and services providers, who question this update.

The tweet given below is a query by Andy Beard in regards to this passage update and how it affects the SEO, space in SERPs taken by relevant passages ranked or indexed for the sole purpose of a better user experience.

This tweet provides the main element of the 2021 update by Google to be that Passage Indexing Isn’t About Display but Focuses on Ranking the most relevant portion of your website’s content.

Hence, it is called the Google Passage Ranking Update which has also been described by Google to be about finding “that needle-in-a-haystack information you’re looking for”, in the search engine’s case the users’ query.

For example, you wrote a strategized long-form content that has in-depth research which covers the bases of the headline ‘content writing strategies’ to its core.

The queries such as ‘what platforms to use for networking’, ‘which tools to use, ‘which updates to consider’, ‘how to create an SEO content’; are answered to the fundamental needs of the searchers.

Now, the role of ‘Passage Ranking’ is to rank your passage, let’s say, “which tools to use” because Google considers it to be most relevant to their searchers’ query.

And so, even though your webpage has not been optimized, the section chosen by Google would surely rank.

What Is Google Passage Ranking Update?

Initially launched in US English SERPs, the Google Passage Ranking update was presented as the solution to “Very specific searches” by Google that otherwise were “the hardest to get right”.

This update was predicted to cover 7% of search queries of users and was expected to eventually cover the global market.

Google Passage Ranking update gives us a new viewpoint on how Google analyzes and ranks long-form content by selecting passages within them.

Now, with the knowledge of Google’s new Passage Ranking method that examines long-form content on a page to index passages on that page, the Passage Ranking google is about the following achievements.

1. Determine Whether Passages Are Relevant To The Searcher’s Query Or Not

If the searcher’s query is long-tailed 3 to 5 word phrases, the user is searching for a specific example and so the passage update determines which passage from the contents ranked on the SERPs are more relevant and then, Google provides the most at the top.

Read More: A Complete Guide To Search Intent SEO

2. Give Google A Better Understanding Of The Content Of The Page

Google is a constantly changing automation system, so the algorithm change is the adaptation of the mistakes and negative feedback, altogether to create an intelligence that can understand the context of the content and provide the most relevant passages as such.

Read More: Step-by-Step Content Creation Guide [Writing to Publishing Content Successfully]

3. Empower SERPs With The Most Relevant Results (Better Answers), That In Return Creates A Better User Experience

User experience is the major goal of the Google search engine and providing the most unique and to-the-point answer to the query would provide the 5-stars reviews as well as more user interference that helps in creating a better user experience.

The Google passage-based ranking achieves increased organic traffic by Google and for you, the major understanding is that relevancy and user experience is the main goal of what is passage indexing of the content today.

Most importantly, Google Passage Ranking Update feature allows the search engine to determine the difference between the topics of different passages on the same page and score them individually.

And that is how the passage upgrade finds the most relevant part of the content and helps users by ranking that small section at the top of SERPs with other long-formatted content.

Impact Of ‘Google Passage Ranking Update’ On SEO

The ‘Passage Indexing’ update of 2021 provided that google passage-based ranking was just another code for the search engine algorithms and was assumed to be yet another step, however small, to achieve the larger goal of relevance and unique results.

To provide complete relevant, effective, and accurate solutions to searches made by the users regarding a particular query, this passage indexing update didn’t seem to have made much impact on webpages rankings in SERPs.

So, the question is: how does this affect your business?

The truth is, it does not affect your business much and is similar to updates such as ‘Featured Snippets’ that Google already utilizes, so if you have already put in the content strategy according to these, you don’t have to worry about your ranking.

According to a recent statistics report, “70% of featured snippets are paragraphs (an average of 42 words/249 characters)”

This statistic confirms that featured snippets can despite listings and bullet and numbering order can still show passages a total of 70% of the time.

So, even if the case of your rankings suddenly drops or sees a massive fluctuation, the chances of it being related to ‘Google Passage Ranking update’ are minimal to none.

So, it is not necessary that ‘Passage Ranking Algorithm’ would have been the culprit for your decreased rank. Well, the chances are nil because this is just Google altering its algorithm to improve and adapt to its service goal, which is to provide a better user experience.

Though the Google passage-based ranking algorithm does contribute to strengthening the need for  ‘must-have’ SEO strategies for a better user experience and ranking.

Some of the strategies are:

A. Passage Ranking Algorithm on User Intent 

At its core, Google is all about its target audience and for this, the strategies are placed along with algorithms to study their actions and needs.

The question as a human observer, you would be asking is:

1. Who are they (target users)?

2. What do they want?

3. What is the context of their specific search?

These questions work together to provide a well-searched, relevant, and effective presentation of results in SERPs. The common thing between these queries is understanding your users’ basic intent through the searched phrase.

For example, If I searched for “Black Coffee”.

Do you think I would be able to find what I am looking for?

The answer is no, due to unclear user intent, Google or any other search engine is incapable of answering what the target user wants to know about.

You see there are 100s of thousands of possibilities to that generic two-word phrase.

So, as a user, I would add more words to make a clear query that is long-phrase and has semantic keywords inserted such as.

– What is a Black Coffee (showing an Informational Intent)

– Where can I buy organic Black Coffee (showing Transactional Intent)

– Which is the best Black Coffee Store (showing Navigational Intent)

User intent is the virtue of content quality that must provide the target audience with navigational, informational, and transactional content for the convenience of web searchers as shown in the pic below.

This is why, the users’ intent is considered a parameter by Google, and so, to select the most relevant passage to answer the user query from millions of search results.

Read More: A Complete Guide To Search Intent SEO

Lengthy Content For Better Context

Lengthy content or long-form content refers to content that has a minimum length of 1000 to 3000 words and delivers some in-depth information on specific topic queries made by traffic online.

According to a report by Hubspot, “Articles with a word count between 2,250 and 2,500 earn the most organic traffic”

And another statistic by SEMrush concludes that “Longreads of 3000+ words get x3 more traffic than articles of average length (901-1200 words).”

Both statistics clear the need for lengthy content for a website, that is to get organic traffic which is the ultimate goal of any marketing website.

Hence, the content that accommodates valuable information in both a broader sense of topic and specifics in subtopics is used as an element of passage ranking because the although it has little impact on your website still it could help you with:

– Link Acquisitions

– Organic Traffic

– Social Sharing

These elements are essential to a search marketing strategy. It provides your website’s visibility and builds its authority on the search engine through the best information on the blog’s content.

From these blogs, a passage that has the most relevance to search query is ranked in Google and you get traffic and leads and so goes the drill. That is why, passage ranking update still plays a part in SEO, however small it is.

Read More: Step-by-Step Content Creation Guide [Writing to Publishing Content Successfully]

Raised Long-Tail Keywords Value

The ranking factor is something Google rarely discusses in social settings, the updates are mere algorithms meant to better the SERPs for user experience by providing the most unique and relevant passages to their queries.

Google Passage Ranking update looks for SEO optimized content which has pre-applied long-tail keywords and other tactics that helps them to even be considered for ranking by the Google algorithm.

Thus, this rank of the webpage that has been done is advantageous rather than any SEO for passage indexing.

Though this does, highlights the need for long-tail keywords in the content because,

These keywords are specific to user queries, as firstly, they help you achieve a position in SERPs of search engines; secondly, you gain traffic which in Google’s analyses is your website’s authority.

This at last helps you target the engine’s algorithm and the automated features select your website for Passage Ranking as per searchers query’s relevant passage from the blog.

But if you want to know how you can optimize your website’s content for Passage Ranking, well don’t look any further.

Just start with applying the three pillars of optimization- On-page, Off-page, and Technical SEO– to your website because the Google Passage Ranking update is more about learning for Google and understanding content, and providing in-context answers to searcher’s query.

Therefore, in a nutshell, ‘Passage Ranking’ is more of a statement and testimony about the value of a content strategy.

Effect Of Google Passage Ranking On Other Updates

The Google algorithms have a history of almost two decades old breaking and making some old rules, and guidelines to contribute to the improvement and formation of new ones such as Passage Ranking itself.

So, here I have to fulfill the curiosity of Google Passage Ranking affecting other updates:

Featured Snippets

Featured Snippets is the section of SERPs that is named #0 and is basic to select a portion of content that may be images, videos, and listing (and bullets and numbering) content.

But keeping an eye on the recent update of ‘Passage Ranking’ in 2021, the selection of a portion of the long-form content can be just three simple lines or a video.

Here, the content doesn’t need in-depth knowledge or research but only a piece if it is relevant to the searcher’s query. This makes them be two different systems in Google Algorithm

SMITH Language Processing

In early January of 2021, Google presented a new update called SMITH which was a new model for understanding an entire document to its basic core.

As SMITH Language processing is trained to understand words within the context of sentences.

This processing language was claimed to have outperformed another of Google’s update BERT but as it goes, Google doesn’t specify the algorithm used for ranking a website.

But in contrast to ‘Passage Ranking’, it does understand words and their context. The only thing that makes them different from the others is SMITH studies long-form content whereas the ‘Passage Ranking’ updates focus on short passages.

BERT Update

BERT algorithm is trained to predict data sets and build a system that are randomly hidden words that can be called semantics to the topic and so are used in the context of the users’ query.

Where SMITH predicted the next set of sentences, BERT is all about the “semantic matching between long texts.”

This is why, BERT is more capable to analyze short documents to understand semantic relations, matching patterns between text fragments, and better document matching performance with “internal structure like sections, passages, and sentences”

The BERT and SMITH update by Google don’t credit passages altogether but as a unit, they prove their worth to improve the algorithm. Featured Snippets, though many times are small passages with featured snippets, majorly featuring listings and videos contents.

Conclusion

Originally ‘Passage Indexing’ corrected to ‘Passage Ranking Algorithm’ is most part a small part of the big bad Google algorithm, merely a tweaked algorithm, that keeps an eye on whether the website owners are behaving or not.

The Passage Ranking is most probably conducted with the websites that are considered Search Engine Optimized and are already ranking.

So, all we can do is be up-to-date regarding the updated and passage ranking algorithms of Google Search that now include passage indexation reporting.

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