E1195: Does Google measure how much effort you put into your content? Google's Quality Rater Guidelines mention effort more than 100 times, and the 2024 Google API leak revealed an LLM-based metric called "content effort."
We're breaking down Cyrus Shepard's article, "Content Effort: The Google Ranking Feature Nobody Talks About," and what it reveals about the content Google might consider high quality.
Cyrus previously worked as a Google quality rater. He explains how Google evaluates effort, why writing longer articles doesn't count as more effort, and what separates valuable original content from thousands of nearly identical AI-generated pages.
We also examine an internal Google presentation from its antitrust trial that explains why user behavior matters so much for search rankings.
What you'll learn:
- Google's definition of content effort (effort doesn't mean word count, hours spent writing, or whether a human wrote the content instead of AI).
- The Google API leak: Two documented metrics, "contentEffort" and "ugcDiscussionEffortScore," that reference effort estimation. We don't know whether Google uses either metric in live rankings.
- How quality raters evaluate content: Google asks raters to assess effort alongside originality, talent, skill, and accuracy.
- Low-effort vs. high-effort AI content: Why generating 5,000 location pages with swapped city names differs from creating automated pages using proprietary data and authentic user reviews.
- Original research and firsthand experience: Why testing 10 protein powders and publishing your results creates more value than rewriting existing product descriptions.
- Why original photography, product demonstrations, screenshots, and custom visuals demonstrate effort and improve the usefulness of commercial pages.
- The problem with filler content: Why answering the searcher's question immediately matters more than burying the answer beneath hundreds of words of unnecessary background.
- User-generated content: Why detailed Reddit discussions with firsthand experiences provide more value than shallow threads with one-word replies.
- How Google told employees, "We do not understand documents. We fake it," and described learning from how users react to search results.
- User behavior and rankings: Why immediately satisfying search intent matters, especially when users otherwise return to Google's results.
Cyrus Shepard's two-minute content audit:
1. Did you thoughtfully edit and organize the content so visitors immediately find what they need?
2. Did you add unique information, original research, observations, or perspectives that don't exist elsewhere?
3. Does the page show evidence of real work through photos, screenshots, testing methods, interviews, or firsthand experience?
4. Does the content go beyond information anyone could reproduce with a basic Google search?
5. Where appropriate, does the content include detailed discussion, evidence, and meaningful perspectives?
Examples covered:
- A collection of scraped recipes versus recipes personally tested and organized by taste.
- Thousands of nearly identical location pages versus automated movie recommendations backed by original user data.
- Generic "best X" listicles versus listicles supported by real testing, results, and original photography.
- A recipe that buries instructions under unnecessary history versus one that immediately explains how to cook the dish.
- A shallow Reddit thread versus a detailed discussion of hiking boots with real-world testing and experiences.
- A SaaS landing page for a room planner app that uses a custom image to demonstrate the product immediately.
Google isn't simply looking for content that took a long time to create, but instead evidence of useful work that makes the finished page more valuable to searchers.
And regardless of how much effort goes into your content, give visitors the answer they're searching for upfront.
⭐️ Cyrus Shepard's Content Effort Article - https://signal.zyppy.com/p/content-effort
⭐️ Google 2016 Q4 Search All Hands - https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-11/417516.pdf
⭐️ Ep 807 - Link Building in 2025: First 10 Links, Linkable Assets & HCU Wins (w/ Cyrus Shepard) - https://youtu.be/TPEkoQnwErc
⭐️ Ep 1056 - Backlinks Aren't Enough: How to Win Competitive SEO - https://youtu.be/1Pkfj_X7nHM
💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/
00:00 Does Google Measure Effort
00:43 Quality Raters Explained
02:09 Google Definition of Effort
03:39 What Effort Is Not
04:00 Five High Effort Examples
05:43 Original Media and Testing
07:36 Cut the Fluff Upfront
08:09 Reddit and Discussion Depth
09:09 Google Watches Reactions
11:27 Two Minute Effort Audit
13:12 Wrap Up and Resources
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
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