What's New in v1.4.0
10 new on-page rules based on confirmed ranking behavior changes observed across the SEO community, Google Cloud documentation analysis, and practitioner testing as of March 2026.
NavBoost Geographic Click Relevance
Pages now reranked by geographic click patterns. Local pages require neighborhood-level specificity, nearby landmarks, and transit references. Not just "we serve [city]."
Click Satisfaction as Primary Signal
Google watches post-click behavior. Content must deliver value in the first 3 chunks. Front-load everything. If users bounce, the page drops regardless of content quality.
AI Overview Link Optimization
Earning a link inside AI Overviews drives 70-80% CTR. Clean HTML tables, direct snippet answers after every H2, FAQ markup, and strong entity signals.
AI Overview Theft Defense
Rising impressions + falling clicks = your content cited without credit. Interactive elements (calculators, comparison widgets, booking tools) defend against pure text extraction.
QDD (Query Deserves Diversity)
Google pulls diverse results into overviews regardless of ranking. Information Gain Test is now critical for QDD survival.
FHASS Replaces YMYL
Financial, Health, And Safety, and Security. Expanded algorithmic scrutiny for risk-adjacent content. Stronger E-E-A-T signals required.
Banned 2026 Content Patterns
Confirmed penalized: generic AI FAQs, 300-word thin pages, blog rolls outside topical circle, keyword-targeting content without user task completion paths.
Minimum 1,500 Word Content Depth
300-word page strategy confirmed penalized. Actual LLM chunking is 600 words with 300-word overlap.
34-Point Quality Checklist
Expanded from 28 items. New checks: geographic specificity, click satisfaction, interactive elements, banned patterns, minimum depth, FHASS compliance. Passing threshold: 27/34.
No Stock Photos
Stock photography confirmed as slight ranking demotion when same images appear across competing sites. Use original or AI-generated unique images.