Mueller Explains How Google Ranks Image And Video Results
- 4 November, 2020
- Jason Ferry
- SEO specialist
Google’s John Mueller recently told SEO specialists about how they choose to rank images and videos in the search engine results pages (SERPs). This allows technical SEO specialists and webmasters to consider how they present pictures and videos in their published posts to get better rankings.
In a YouTube video, an SEO told Mueller that they have experienced getting image results whenever they search for a search term. They then asked how Google determines whether or not an image is good for showing in the results.
Mueller replied, explaining what happens when a user types a question on the Google search engine. According to him, these questions are sent to many different indexes and search systems within Google. This is so that the user can receive relevant answers from their query.
Because of that, users can see many different kinds of results on the SERPs. They could see image boxes or just normal text results. Sometimes, they receive not only image results, but video results as well.
Other users, meanwhile, may get quick results instead. According to Mueller, images sometimes take too long to show because they load a bit slower, so they turn to quick results to at least have something to show to their users.
No matter what kind of results the user may get, Mueller said that Google sends it to all systems, and what the system gives are the most relevant answers that they have for that particular question.
When technical SEO specialists hear the word “relevant”, they often think about keywords. However, in Mueller’s statement, he actually refers to what the user is really searching for. For instance, they could be searching for a video, an image, or just a quick answer.
Mueller also explained that Google’s systems determine what to show their users. For instance, if the image search system thinks that images are relevant to the user’s question, then it will show a set of image results.
But if the image search system thinks that they have relevant images, and web results are important as well, then Google will show the user a combination of the two – perhaps an image one-box result that contains both texts and pictures.
Moreover, their placement on the SERPs will depend on the level of their importance. If Google thinks that a certain result provides the most relevant answer, it will place this result on top of the SERP. If the result is deemed not very important, it will be placed somewhere in the middle.
This also works the same way for videos, top stories, and many other types of search results.
At the end of the day, Mueller said that the goal of Google’s different systems is to show people relevant results that would hopefully answer their queries. He also cleared that they do not have someone who manually shows the images and videos for a certain type of query.
Since they base the search engine results on automated decisions, Mueller said that this is the reason it changes as time goes by. For instance, users can search for something now, but they do not get image results. After a while, they will search using the same keywords, and they will receive image results as well as web search results.
This means that if the users start preferring image results, then that’s what Google will show. This is what Mueller meant by showing “relevant” content.
Businesses must know all about the latest search trends, as well as how Google displays information, so that they can determine the most relevant type of content to publish. If you’re new to the SEO industry, then working with a professional SEO specialist is a must!
Here at Position1SEO, we will provide you with a free, in-depth SEO audit to know the areas your business website needs to improve on. With our white hat techniques, we can boost your site traffic organically through relevant content and maintain your high ranking on Google’s SERP.
If interested in our services, call 0141 404 7515 or email us at office@position1seo.co.uk.
