This weekend (Sat 8th Oct), it was International Lesbian Day, and the day I set up this site. So, in honour of both, I thought it only fitting to write my first blog post at the intersection of two parts of my identity - being part of the ever-evolving LGBTQ+ community, and being an SEO professional (read: SEO nerd).
The definition of a lesbian
There has been some discussion in the LGBTQ+ community over recent years about how to define a lesbian, leading to Channel 4 producing a documentary earlier this year called: 'Where have all the lesbians gone?', which in part, inspired this post.
The documentary considers various different perspectives on what a lesbian is, while speaking to people who identify with that label in one way or another.
It illuminates the discussion around the definition of the noun, and demonstrates that while having a broader meaning for some (for example including other gender identities in some way), for others, the definition of a lesbian has remained immutable: a lesbian is a homosexual woman.
And this is the definition you find when you turn to Google for answers.
How does Google define a lesbian?
Looking at the SERP for 'what is a lesbian', users are presented with a featured snippet from Wikipedia, with the words 'homosexual woman' in bold, screaming out at them.
While some may have found their answer and leave the SERP (resulting in another infamous zero-click search), this may not be the definition others were seeking out.
In the third result, we start to see the introduction of terms like 'usually', in Google's intent-meeting rewrite of Vanderbilt.edu's meta description, indicating to a user that the definition of lesbian could have some nuance in it.
Results 5 and 6 (Advocates for Youth and Stonewall respectively) also highlight the multiplicity of the definition, using terms such as 'generally speaking' (Advocates for Youth), or foregrounding that some non-binary people may also identify with the term (Stonewall).
This demonstrates Google reflecting the changing attitudes of the community towards the definition - rewarding those coveted first-page rankings, not only to results defining a lesbian exclusively as a homosexual woman, but also to those results allowing for some wiggle room.
Using 'what is a lesbian' historical SERP data to understand shifts in perception
To really understand whether Google is representing a shift in perspective of the definition of a lesbian, we need to look at historical SERP data for the term, to gain an insight into the results Google deemed as 'meeting intent' historically.
Google's primary goal is to meet a user's search intent - to be able to accurately answer the question behind the query. It is therefore continuously honing its search results to rank those that best meet intent in the top positions.
Looking at historical SERPs can therefore give us an indication of how intent has changed over time, as after all, Google is one of the largest (if not the largest) audience research tools out there - using real-life user data to interpret the intent behind a query.
If search results have changed, it is a signal of one (or all - they are not mutually exclusive) of the following:
New content has been published that better answers the question being asked
The answer to the question has evolved over time, requiring a different set of results
Google's algorithm now favours different types of results
The SERP for 'what is a lesbian' in 2017
Obviously a lot has changed since 2017, both in public attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community, and in Google's algorithm*. However taking a look at the SERP below is quite illuminating - not only on the evolution of the definition of a lesbian, but also on the results Google deemed to meet intent for this query back in 2017.
*Google makes thousands of tweaks to its algorithm each year, most too small to note, however there are a number of broad core updates each year that are large scale algorithmic changes whose impact will be felt heavily in the SERPs.
Since October 2017 (the date this SERP refers to), there have been 35 confirmed updates to Google's algorithm (source SEJ's Google Algorithm History). It is therefore incredibly hard to compare exactly like for like when analysing historical SERP data, even from as recently as 5 years ago.
This being said, historical SERP comparisons are still worthwhile for this kind of intent analysis, as while intent has become increasingly important to Google over the years, it has always been a cornerstone of the search engine.
How did the SERP define a lesbian in 2017?
SEMrush's historical SERP feature for this term doesn't have a SERP snapshot, which means we aren't able to see exactly what a user would have seen, in terms of titles and meta descriptions etc. (although Google definitely wasn't rewriting as many back then, so using titles and meta descriptions from the pages themselves should give us some indication).
However, by clicking each link in the SERP, and using Wayback Machine to determine if any changes have been made to those pages since 2017, I am able to understand how each result defines a lesbian - if indeed they define it at all - 2 of the top 3 results focus on how lesbians have sex, rather than what it means to be a lesbian, but more on this later.
None of the 2017 first page results that explicitly define a lesbian, define it as anything other than a homosexual woman. There is no introduction of generalising terms such as 'usually' or the mention of other genders, as seen in the 2022 SERP.
This demonstrates how the definition of the label has indeed evolved over time, and how Google has responded to that evolution - by updating its search results to more accurately represent the newfound multiplicity of the definition.
Interestingly, wikihow, ranking in 10th position in 2017, has updated its page to reflect the idea that non-binary people may also identify as lesbians, and contains the phrase: "In the broadest sense, being a lesbian means being a non-man who is exclusively (or primarily) attracted to non-men" at the very bottom of the page.
This however isn't enough to earn the page a spot even in the top 50 in 2022, as the SERP now considerably prefers YMYL, .org or .gov results for this query.
How else has the SERP for 'what is a lesbian' changed since 2017?
To me, the most notable way in which the SERP has changed for this term is through the type of domains ranking.
More charitable and educational resources ranking
As briefly touched on above, the number of .org and .gov results ranking in the top 20 has increased exponentially since 2017. Only 2 domains in the top 20 being .org or .gov in 2017 vs. 14 in 2022 having the (traditionally) more 'trusted' or 'credible' domain extension - an increase of 600%.
While no longer exclusive to non-profit or educational organisations, the .org domain extension is still the preferred option of the vast majority of those institutions, and the proliferation of its appearance in the top 20 results in 2022 vs in 2017 is not insignificant.
It demonstrates a couple of things:
Charities and educational organisations have understood that making this type of content available on the internet is both important and necessary, given the increase in search demand surrounding sexual and gender identities and the wider LGBTQ+ community
Google sees these types of sites as where people should be getting this type of information from
Search demand for LGBTQ+-related terms has doubled since 2017
Taking a look at the 'LGBT' topic in Google Trends, we can see the dramatic increase in Google searches surrounding this topic, especially over the last 5 or so years.
Comparing September 2017 and September 2022, total search demand for this topic has increased by 157% from 14k to 36k (source Glimpse).
Increased demand indicates the need for increased supply of resources, and resources from trusted sources, given that content surrounding the LGBTQ+ community will fall under what Google deems as Your Money Your Life (YMYL) content.
Google's 'Medic' update and YMYL
While not its official name, in 2018 the SEO community dubbed a broad core update, the 'Medic' update, as analysis demonstrated the vast majority of sites affected fell into this category.
Further updates have gone onto hone the search results for a group of pages that target Your Money Your Life (YMYL) queries. Google's quality rater guidelines define YMYL topics as: “pages or topics [that] could potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.”
The impact of this update is clearly felt in the SERP for 'what is a lesbian' when comparing 2017 (pre-update) to 2022 (post-update).
For example, as briefly mentioned above, 2 of the top 3 results in 2017 are about lesbian sex - not about how to have safe sex, but journalistic articles whose meta titles sensationalise and almost fetishise lesbian sex: 'How lesbians have sex' and '11 Things You've Always Wanted to Know About Lesbian Sex But Were Afraid to Ask'.
In 2022, the 3 results in the top 10 mentioning lesbian sex are WebMD, BetterHealth and Healthline, all medical or health and wellbeing websites. Here, lesbian sex is discussed in the context of being sexually active safely, while giving advice on identifying as a lesbian in general and addressing other health concerns users asking this question may have.
The change in this one SERP epitomises the impact of the YMYL update(s) to Google's algorithm. It has meant quality content from trusted, authoritative sources appears for topics that require knowledge and sensitivity, and speaking as a member of the LGBTQ+ community (not for the community!), I am incredibly glad to see this change.
So has the SERP for 'what is a lesbian' changed for the better, and does it reflect public perceptions of a lesbian?
Personally, I believe the transformation the SERP for this query has been through over the last 5 years has been a really positive one.
Google has made space in the SERP for new definitions of a lesbian to appear, while maintaining the presence of the more traditional definition, therefore reflecting the different perspectives on what it means to be a lesbian within the community.
Furthermore, it has done away with less reputable sites that could provide poor, erroneous or even harmful information, and replaced these with trustworthy, authoritative sites where people can educate themselves on being a lesbian and wider aspects of the LGBTQ+ community.
However for me, this post was less about weighing in on the quality of a Google SERP, and more about marrying two interests - the LGBTQ+ community and SERP analysis - one of the most interesting, and important parts of SEO.
Not only is SERP analysis incredibly interesting and illuminating for informational queries such as this one, but it is also a key foundation of any SEO content strategy to ensure content created meets intent, starts to rank and drives those all-important clicks to your site.
If you're interested in the changing face of SEO, ChatGPT's launch is one that could change the way we do our jobs, read about ChatGPT for SEO and the use cases for this revolutionary tech for the SEO community.
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