Unlocking Content Success: Maximizing Information Gain for Creative Excellence

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Content rewards shape the creation process.

Creating content in today's world has resulted in a sea of saturated, commercialized, and frankly boring content. The internet is now filled with sameness because it has proven to be effective - at least for the time being. The famous quote by Munger, “Show me the incentive, and I show you the outcome,” is just as relevant in content creation as it is in company management.

"Let me see what motivates you, and I'll demonstrate how to accomplish it."

Google's Helpful Content Update (HCU) and the most recent Core Updates now penalize websites for having repetitive content and reward those who bring fresh insights to the table. While domains with high authority still have an advantage, the shift in focus is evident.

Information gain is the key solution. It's simple: if your content doesn't offer anything new and valuable, it may not perform well in search results. In fact, it could harm your site's ranking as Google becomes more selective about what it displays.

It's widely accepted that effective content must go beyond just summarizing existing information. However, have we actually altered our content creation approach? Nope.

Prioritizing information gain = rethinking how we create content

Image Credit: Lyna ™

Enter-gain-ment

The idea behind information gain is a score that measures the unique insights of your content compared to what everyone else has.

Information gain scores indicate how much additional information a particular source can provide compared to other sources on the same subject. Pages with higher information gain scores are likely to be ranked higher than those with lower scores.

There has been a significant amount of discussion surrounding commodity content, the Sea of Sameness Problem, and information gain in recent times. It has been four years since Bill Slawski (RIP) initially introduced the concept of the information gain score patent, and we are just beginning to understand its implications.

We've found ourselves stuck in a rut of similarity because the tasks are simple and can be easily expanded.

As we look ahead to 2024, it's important to question: "How can we make this content stand out as the best in the world?" This is because we are essentially competing on a global platform like the World Wide Web.

Google values search because it provides users with a selection of the top answers, which is beneficial.

If all answers were identical, Google could just provide one answer with SGE. Having a variety of content is important as it enhances the significance of having multiple search results.

The question then is: How can we adapt our content creation process to prioritize information gain?

From Skyscraper To Insight Factory

Google uses a method called Word2Vec to understand content. It puts each word on a vector and then looks at how close the vectors are to a specific topic. In simpler terms, Google determines the relevance of the topics you discuss in relation to your target keyword. It then ranks the most relevant and comprehensive content at the top (in theory).

Based on this logic, information that increases your information gain score (IGS) must be more than simply “new” or “different.” It has to be relevant as well.

A venn diagram with two overlapping circles labeled "relevant for main topic" and "missing in other content," intersecting on a section labeled "information gain."

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

Google might have a rough idea of missing vectors (think: words or topics) through its Knowledge Graph, Topic Layer, and Shopping Graph.

Google’s Knowledge Graph grew from 18 billion facts in 2012 to 70 billion in 2016, and 500 billion in 2020.1

Google’s Shopping Graph holds 45 billion products.2

Google has a good idea of whether your content is fresh or not. However, it's important for Google to confirm this by looking at how users interact with your content to determine if it is truly valuable.

For your content to succeed, it must:

A. Answer all relevant questions about a topic.

B. Provide additional insights.

C. Satisfy users.

The common content creation process today might reflect A, but not B and C.

In our industry, we barely moved from the ancient to the old world:

Ancient world: Competing in SEO means spinning up keyword-stuffed content.

Old world: Competing in SEO means creating more content, faster.

Basic process: keyword research > content brief > draft in SEO editor > edit > publish.

The mental model is summarizing and covering all topics of the top results for a keyword.

Hire many writers for SEO.

New world: Competing in SEO means surfacing and finding new and relevant insights.

Talk to customers on a regular basis about their problems and questions on a topic.

Hire researchers to find and add first-party data to search-optimized content.

Hire subject matter experts to answer questions that really matter.

Make it convenient and pleasant to consume content.

Monitor content engagement and get qualitative reader feedback.

Most marketers understand the importance of engaging with (potential) customers, but not many actually do it.

Having consistent conversations with customers is crucial for success in the modern content landscape. While this may not be a groundbreaking idea for you, it remains a reality for 90% of marketing teams.

A more effective way to create content could be to conduct research after determining key topics and ranking them based on user feedback rather than just search volume.

In addition, it is important to track quantitative data to support qualitative research. This includes analyzing metrics such as scroll depth, heatmaps, session recordings, and comparing time-on-site with average read time. This new approach makes content creation resemble product development.

IGS Everywhere

To summarize, instead of out-executing competitors in content volume, the key to winning is serving better insights.

Funny enough, useful insights also increase your chances of getting high-quality backlinks.

Companies like LendingTree or Redfin have done a great job of adding insights to their content.

Redfin is a real estate aggregator with useful statistics, charts, and comparisons on its city listing pages.

A graph displaying the median sale price of homes in New York from 2019 to 2024.

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

LendingTree backlinks vs. organic traffic

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

LendingTree is an online lending integrator with statistics, facts, and guidance in blog articles.

A mobile screenshot of a LendingTree article titled "Conventional Loan Credit Score Changes in 2023."

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

Redfin backlinks vs. organic traffic

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

But it doesn't end there. Google could be using information gain scores to assess how good a link is. The quality and relevance of the linked documents could affect the information gain scores of those documents.

Seek and provide links from relevant, high-quality pages that are the main source of information or add value to a topic. In simpler terms, focus on quality and relevance when linking to other websites.

When it comes to information gain, consider the expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of the contributor. In other words, who is sharing the information can be just as important as the information itself.

Google has the ability to map author names on vectors, similar to how it handles other words.

If Google identifies me as an entity with a knowledge panel, could it link me to particular topics? Therefore, does this imply that my input on a topic could hold more weight than someone else's, as long as it pertains to a subject that Google associates me with?

Users highly appreciate sources of answers and valuable insights, especially during the Messy Middle phase when they are navigating between evaluating options and exploring new information in a digital world filled with distractions.

Unfortunately, we have neglected the importance of insights for far too long, and this is evident in the content we produce.

1 Google Knowledge Graph

2 Get More Personalized Shopping Options With These Google Tools

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Editor's P/S:

The article sheds light on the evolving landscape of content creation, emphasizing the need to prioritize information gain. It highlights the shift away from repetitive and commercialized content towards insights and unique perspectives.

By focusing on providing valuable and relevant information, businesses can enhance their content's performance in search results. The concept of information gain scores, introduced by Google's Helpful Content Update, rewards content that offers fresh and insightful perspectives. This necessitates a departure from the traditional approach of summarizing existing knowledge and instead encourages creators to conduct thorough research and engage with customers to uncover unmet needs and provide meaningful solutions.