Plus, a Google update and the most common RPM mistakes  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Hi Raptive, Today is Lunar New Year! Black History Month, Super Bowl LIX, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day sales, awards season, and more are just around the corner in February. It’s an exciting time to connect with your readers! We’re sure you have your seasonal content refreshed and primed for promotion (check the 2025 content trends calendar for tips!) and can’t wait to see what new ideas and inspiration you’ll share with your audiences throughout the month. In this week’s newsletter, you’ll learn more about a recent update from Google, the most common RPM mistakes, and what our leaders think you need to know for 2025. What’s new Google makes major update to its Search Quality Rater Guidelines Last week, Google made a significant update to its Search Quality Rater Guidelines—the first larger change in almost a year. These guidelines evaluate the quality of search results and give more insight into how Google defines high-quality content. This particular update reinforces the importance of creating original, authoritative, and helpful content that speaks to the needs of your readers. Here are some of the noteworthy changes. The guidelines now: Specify “filler content” as poor content quality. Make sure your content meets user intent quickly and features the answers to their questions prominently on the page. Recommend user ratings include reviewer names and written commentary. If you have content with user ratings, confirm you’re providing appropriate context and transparency. Address AI-generated content and tell raters how to identify and evaluate it. Google says AI can be used as a tool to support content creation and add unique value, but it should not be used to produce generic content at scale. Define three new types of spam: expired domain abuse, site reputation abuse, and scaled content abuse. Further penalizing low-quality content suggests that Google is committing to prioritizing high-value, original content in the search results. Align your content with Google’s recommendations → Top resource 9 common RPM mistakes and how to avoid them There are so many factors that can affect your RPM (revenue per 1,000 sessions), and we always want to help you avoid the most common errors we see. From changing domain names to adding custom code and plugins to redesigning your site experience, learn more about the nine common RPM mistakes you might be overlooking. Remember, high RPMs don’t have to come at the expense of your goals for content quality or user experience. Keep us in the loop on any updates you want to make, and we can help you solve most RPM issues to keep your revenue high. Avoid these common RPM mistakes → Trends and insights What our leaders are predicting for 2025 With such a talented team of experts leading our company, who better to share insights and predictions for what’s to come in 2025? We asked Erika Leone, our Executive Vice President, Integrated Marketing & Brand, to tell us the one thing creators should know about building a strong brand in 2025. She shared that modern audiences can spot inauthenticity from a mile away—and they won’t be silent about it. Erika says it’s important to know what makes you different and unique and then double down on it, because being everything to everyone is a thing of the past. Erika reminds creators to “keep it real,” (of course she does, she is the mastermind behind our Keep it real campaign) and keep evolving—staying nimble enough to pivot when the next platform, trend, or cultural shift hits. We’ll share more of our conversation with Erika and other leaders—coming soon to the Blog. Was this email helpful? This email was sent to email.clausen@gmail.com. You've received this email because you work with Raptive, and we're excited to help you continue to grow. To ensure our emails arrive in your inbox, please add hello@email.raptive.com to your contacts or safe sender list. If you wish to no longer receive these emails, you can update your preferences. 1411 Broadway, 27th Floor New York, NY, 10018, US © 2025 Raptive. All rights reserved. Unsubscribe | View online