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Struggling to understand why your content strategy suddenly stopped working in 2022? The answer may lie in a revolutionary concept from a Google patent called "information gain" – and it's transforming how search results work.

In this eye-opening episode, I dive deep into Google's "Contextual Estimation of Link Information Gain" patent and how it's likely powering the recent helpful content updates that have confused so many SEO professionals. This algorithm calculates how much new information a page brings compared to what you've already seen – constantly recalibrating search results to ensure you're not seeing the same information repeatedly packaged in different ways.

The revelation explains why once-popular strategies like the "skyscraper technique" are falling flat. These approaches, which essentially aggregate existing knowledge from top-ranking pages, provide zero information gain. Similarly, AI-generated content, which averages out existing information rather than creating anything truly new, fails the information gain test. It even clarifies Reddit's surprising rise in search visibility – those personal experiences represent genuine information gain despite quality issues.

This paradigm shift demands a complete rethinking of content creation. Rather than asking "How can I cover this topic better than everyone else?" we now must ask "What new information can I bring that doesn't exist elsewhere?" The implications are profound for anyone creating content online.

Ready to adapt your strategy to this new reality? Subscribe to SEO Is Not That Hard for more insights that keep you ahead of the curve. And if you'd like to see how our tools at KeywordsPeopleUse.com can help you find and answer the questions your audience is actually asking, book a free demo with me at keywordspeopleuse.com/demo.

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"Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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