Google Search ranking to include "hidden gems," such as blog posts and forums

JoelR · November 17

Google has rolled out ranking improvements aimed at showcasing more content from social media, blog posts, forums and more that share personal insights and experiences. This is the hidden gems announcement Google made back in May, but this update is not part of the helpful content system.

Hidden gems. Google said these “hidden gems” are when people share their first-hand knowledge and their own personal insights and experiences with others on the public web. Google wants to highlight such content in its search results and search interfaces.

Not a core or helpful content update. When Google initially announced the hidden gems ranking topic, it mentioned that it would be part of a future helpful content update. Instead, it ended up as part of Google’s core ranking system designed to promote more “authentic” content. This content can come from forum posts, social media posts, blog posts, or other web pages. As long as the content is authentic and shares personal insights and experiences, and if the content is found to be helpful, it might appear. It is not explicitly classifying something as a “gem,” but instead the idea is that this type of content can be perceived as especially helpful and in the past, might have been harder to appear in the results.