CONTENT EFFORT: THE GOOGLE RANKING FEATURE NOBODY TALKS ABOUT

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

Google defines content effort as the extent to which a human actively worked to create satisfying content. In practice, that means showing evidence of unique value through original research and firsthand insights, rather than recycled facts or AI-generated summaries. Organize content around the user's goal, put the most useful information upfront, and cut filler. AI can help with production, but scaled content that adds little beyond what already exists is unlikely to stand out. Before publishing, ask whether the page contains something competitors can't easily reproduce.