Google’s John Mueller answers what Google’s preferences are regarding the content above fold

During an SEO Office-hours hangout, Google’s John Mueller received the question if Google offers preference to content above fold or not. Mueller also explained how much content Google expects to see on top of the page area.

“Above the fold” works as a reference to the content, which can be seen without scrolling during the webpage load. The phrase has come from how newspapers used to be displayed within the vending machine of the news box.

Someone related to John Mueller moved their content and the links from the below of the fold to above the fold. They next have noticed that their rankings have improved in a massive manner. Now the question is if Google offers preference to content above the fold more or below fold more?

The answer is very beneficial if there is any kind of ranking benefit to pushing more of the content above the fold area. The user experience can get better when more of the content is above the fold.

In the old days, Google offered preference to the content near the top area of the web page. There were many more patents along with research papers and statements. It offers the confirmation that the keywords and the headings near the top area of the page are algorithmically more important.

Most of the well-written articles usually state their topic in the opening paragraphs and on most product pages. Hence it makes sense to offer a bit more importance to the contents which are closer to the top.

According to Muller, there is not much preference for Google in such cases. He followed the statement to explain why Google prefers to see content above fold. The question is definitely interesting as it helps in showing how far Google has come in terms of its algorithm.