Algorithm Updates, Our Relationship with Our Natural Resources, and Ourselves
Welcome to my newsletter. Part psychology, part analysis, Narrative in Numbers is a newsletter podcast that discusses how to decode your data, unearth behavior patterns, and understand what people think, desire and want. It’s about using the art of story to turn numbers into narratives that fuel the relationships between you and your customers. It’s also sprinkled with trend review, with a healthy dose of snark, that looks at current trends in culture that are absurd, dangerous, hilarious, or can be put into a deeper context.
March 2024 Google Core Algorithm Update Takeaways
On 3/24, Google rolled out a core algorithm update. While algorithm changes happen regularly, and in near real-time, core updates have larger impacts. The latest core algorithm is a little archaic in terms of what was changed, and how that will impact website performance. Here’s what I’m seeing in terms page indexing and ranking:
Stick to the idea of “useful and educational.” Create content that your audience finds insightful, helpful and worth acting on.
Keep your content audience centric. Think of people who come to your site first, not the search engine.
This latest update focused on website pages, the metric you should focus on is engagement rate. Aim 65% or higher, as it correlates to the page experience and content relevancy.
There’s an emerging murky correlation to shares and on-page comments that’s a subset of the engagement rate.
In looking across numerous websites I work with, I’m seeing the need to remove outdated pages and blog content that isn’t maintained and/or relevant.
Audit older content, and update pages/posts that still draw in steady traffic. And new CTAs to go deeper in your site while you do this. If there’s content that just isn’t relevant anymore, remove it, and create 301 redirects to pages or posts that are. Do not just remove them and let a series of 404 errors occur.
The nuances of this latest core update point to combating AI-generated content. The focus on conversational, human-centered copy, supported by images, video and/or audio, is something that AI can’t create.
Our Fragile Food System
In this episode of NPR’s Fresh Air Podcast, investigative journalist Eric Schlosser discusses the need for a sequel to the documentary "Food, Inc." and the impact of corporate consolidation on the food industry. Schlosser highlights how mergers and acquisitions have led to a market that is inefficient, barely regulated, unfair, and even dangerous. He points out that a handful of companies now control our nation's food system, stifling competition in ways not seen since the late 1890s.
Schlosser argues that competitive markets are essential for fair capitalism but emphasizes that the current situation resembles corporate socialism. The interview sheds light on the consequences of corporate consolidation and advocates for a more sustainable and equitable food system. Schlosser says we're 'basically guinea pigs' for a new form of industrialized food.
America’s Young Farmers Are Burning Out. I Quit, Too
In 2019, a year before COVID, Time Magazine wrote about how the crushing weight of farm debt was leading many ranchers and producers to leave agriculture. Five years later, it’s only getting worse. The USDA Census of Agriculture reported that in 2017, nearly 1 in 4 of the 3.4 million agricultural producers in the US were new and beginning farmers. Many of these new farmers are doing exactly what it seems American agriculture needs: starting small farms.
According to the most recent data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) in 2019, farms with annual sales of less than $100,000 accounted for about 85% of all U.S. farms. And though not all of these small-scale farms are necessarily organic, small farms are more likely to grow a diversity of crop types, use methods that reduce negative impacts on the climate, increase carbon sequestration, and tend to be more resilient in the face of climate change. Drought, financial stress, and the challenges of being able to produce food via regenerative practices is almost impossible for today’s small farmers. Because of this, they’re leaving too, prompting our food system to move toward even more industrialized production.
Our Relationship to Our Resources
In the latest episode of the Mind, Body, and Soil podcast, host Kate Kavanaugh talks about how our relationship to resources shapes the world. Kavanaugh explores everything from our food to our clothing, our devices to our building materials, and the infrastructure that underpins moving them from place to place. While most of her work focuses on food as a resource – and the impact its growth on land and human health, this episode explores some other resources and the ubiquitous, yet unseen, infrastructure that moves them to us and our waste products away from us.
The Invisibility of Older Women
Akiko Busch writes:
"I have a big personality, and I have a certain level of professional competence, and I’m used to being taken seriously professionally. And suddenly, it’s like I just vanished from the room. And I have to yell so much louder to be seen. … I just want to walk down the street and have someone notice that I exist."
The beautiful article explores the idea that as they age, women experience less public scrutiny—and entertain a wider set of choices about when and how they are seen. In a world where so many women need to continue to stand up and be seen, I love to entertain the idea that once our time in the spotlight is over, we can fade into a bit of obscurity and continue to make an impact.
Food For Thought:
When you don't cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life that was lost a long time ago when humanity, instead of using thought, became possessed by thought. - Eckhart Tolle
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