Hidden Gems is an update to Google’s main search system that is generating great SEO opportunities for small businesses and independent professionals.
The Hidden Gems update (November 2023) seeks to solve the same problem that can be seen from two correlated perspectives:
- Many users are not being able to get the information they need when searching.
- Many authors who are publishing very valuable information are failing to get the visibility they deserve.
This is where the concept of “Hidden Gems” or Hidden Gems is born. These refer to all those contents that are very useful and have the ability to respond quite effectively to certain search intentions but that until now have been found hidden, overshadowed, and even buried among so many publications on the web.
For Google, these contents are a “jewel” that deserves to be brought to light. But beware! By this, we do not mean that Google is classifying or labeling these publications in a special way. You are simply investing more effort in helping valuable content find its place on the results page, even if it comes from small sources.
In this article, we will teach you how to become one of those hidden gems that Google wants to show the world.
What is the goal of the Hidden Gems update?
Google understands that sometimes the best answers to a query are not necessarily published on typical business or institutional blogs. Many times, the most effective and useful answers are only found in posts made within platforms that traditionally have not had good visibility in SERPs ( results pages).
Therefore, the objective of the Hidden Gems update is to improve visibility and access to interesting content that is published, for example, on social networks (Facebook or Meta, Instagram, Twitter or X, TikTok…), blogging platforms (LinkedIn Pulse, Medium, Blogger, Tumblr…), discussion forums (Quora, Stack Overflow…), news aggregators (Reddit, Menéame…), etc.
On these sites, it is possible to find genuine answers based on very valuable personal experiences provided by people who may be experts in certain topics or fields. In other words, these places are the “mines” where the hidden gems that Google wants to find are.
These content gems can come in the formats of images, videos, in-depth articles, and short and direct answers, among others. Hence this update is generating one of the most versatile SEO trends.
Google’s premise with the launch of Hidden Gems Update is that there are too many people in the world who want to listen to what other people have to say since their answers may be loaded with a level of wisdom and experience so high that it could not be found on traditional websites.
How does Hidden Gems Update work on Google Searches?
No matter how strange, rare, atypical, unusual or unusual a query is, chances are that someone at some time and somewhere has posted content that fits perfectly as an answer to that specific question.
This is where Google’s Hidden Gems update comes into play, being responsible for connecting questions with answers.
It must be clarified that many people think that this is an update of the famous Helpful Content System or Helpful Content Update (from August 2022), but that is not true. Actually, Hidden Gems belongs to the central search and rating systems.
The search engine had already been preparing this major update for a long time through features such as Google Search Discussions and Forums (from September 2022) and Google Search Perspectives (from May 2023). Currently, both features are cornerstones of Hidden Gems .
Based on these two elements, Hidden Gems works by crawling the sites that potentially hide the content gems (social networks, forums, aggregators, etc.). Next, Google Search mechanisms analyze certain signals and indicators that allow them to differentiate content that is authentic, useful, and comes from the experience and expertise of its authors.
In fact, it doesn’t matter if the posts turn out to be old because, in these cases, the algorithm values quality over recency. Consequently, we will see very often that many old contents will have greater visibility compared to the most current ones.
Also, it is necessary to insist that Hidden Gems places great emphasis on finding publications whose authors are experts and who speak from their own wisdom and experience .
This does not mean that the system focuses on people, but analyzing the reputation of authors is a way to ensure that publications deserve to be shown in search results for specific queries.
Finally, when a user makes a query that meets certain specificity characteristics, then Google Search shows them some alternative results that they can visit.
These alternate results are accompanied by information about the authors and their publications. For example, some data that may be included are social media accounts and the number of followers, likes, views, comments, etc.
Tips to adapt the SEO of your content to Hidden Gems
The following recommendations include very particular Off-Page and On-Page SEO actions, as well as other innovative best practices. All of them, together, will help Google discover your content as the hidden gems that deserve to come to light through the results page.
Be authentic and tell real and genuine stories.
Authenticity is one of the characteristics most valued by Hidden Gems; this implies “giving more answers” instead of simply “making more content”. Think, for example, of all the useful answers given on the forums. These are publications that users make without having SEO as a priority, but rather, they do it in the most genuine way possible to resolve a question for another user.
Therefore, when you make a publication, try to be as authentic as possible by telling real and genuine stories that establish a closeness with the audience and resolve their doubts.
Focus on providing useful and practical solutions
Focus on making really useful posts; don’t limit yourself to showing information or explaining theoretical things. Identify the long-tail queries that people in your niche ask the most and create content to answer them.
Make your posts packed with practical advice and recommendations. Present everyday problems that your audience may have, and then provide the best possible solutions , as long as it is a topic related to your sector.
Use a conversational style and tone
The publications that Hidden Gems wants to improve the visibility of are made with a conversational style and tone: one to one, one user helping another user. Remember what we told you above about the forums? There are few people who promote a product or service, and the majority of users are there to exchange personal experiences and ideas that add value to the rest.
