Hi there, Ron!
When Google representatives communicate about "quality content," they are not referring to content that is good, worthy, well-informed, current, expert, or whatever in their eyes.
Because they only care about the quality of content for heuristic purposes, they have a relativistic definition of content. Quality content to Google means the content that the user wants to see right then, for that search. Each search is an event in which the user wanted something and Google delivers something - meaning in each search, Google has two challenges: Figuring out what the user wants, and figuring out how to deliver it.
You'll probably say "That's obvious!" But given that, if a user wants a quick answer, then an in-depth article is not "quality content."
Sometimes it's easy for Google to figure out. Other times, it's not, and Google has to guess what is quality content to the searcher. For example, people often do general searches with specific intentions (like "Robert Smalls" when they actually want his birthdate or "warts on arms" when they want to read forum discussions with people who've actually experienced it), and Google has to become seriously AI to figure it out. They use user data and, presumably, proximal searches, as well as historical keyword data and pretty much anything else you can think of that they can get away with in order to become smart enough to know what the user is wanting.
They're still very bad at it, and they know it. In twenty years, if they survive, they'll be awesome.
So, because Google is not thinking about the content, but about the user, so should we as writers. Not the generic user. But each user. Give each user who might land on your web page something to do that sends a clear message to Google.
For example:
Casual browser who gets there by accident: Make your content funny, entertaining, snappy, or otherwise engaging so they stay. Google has advertising on more pages than they bring visitors to through search; they are very likely to have access to casual browsing data.
Users who want something specific, like facts: Make it clear early on whether or not the specifics are forthcoming. Don't lead the user along. Don't imply or promise and then fail to deliver. Google can figure out (more or less adeptly) what bounces on certain search terms mean and will stop ranking your piece not just for those keywords, but probably for related ones as well.
Users who want in-depth: Show right away it's well-organized and concise. People who want depth don't always have time, because, we'll they're on the Internet. Most folks who read stuff on the Internet live at a different time speed.
Users of various demographics (college students, baby boomers, regionally defined, etc.): This one's super-hard to have any control over. Google decides that X demographic searches for topic #1 on weekends but topic #1a on weekdays and will deliver different results to users suspected of being in that demographic at the appropriate times. So "Robert Smalls" on the night before exams or term papers are typically scheduled (weekday nights during end of quarter or semester) originating in large college towns could cue Google to look for academic-type documents. But "Robert Smalls" on a night following a TV special documentary would suggest a widely variant Boomer audience (they are most of the network TV demographic) who happen to be dabbling that one night, so...Wikipedia it is for quick and interesting facts.
They really are not about ranking quality. They use the word "quality" because it gives webmasters the idea that it's something controllable and it gives their primary search customers (searchers) reassurance. But it is not quality in the traditional sense.
Just as the job of a successful fiction writer is to write stories a wide audience wants to read (that is, to communicate the stories they want to tell to the people who want to experience them), our job is to write articles that please our users. Our users are in a hurry about some things, nice and leisurely about others, and they have practical needs and wishes. They're pretty much like us.
Oh - one other thing. With all that I've said here, Google is also interested in keeping users coming back. So they do have to make sure the content they deliver isn't only in a one-to-one correspondence with the search, but also filled with discovery and adventure for the user. People who search the Internet like to feel they're exploring terrain, not being spied on. Google's walking a delicate balance between delivering the pizza ordered and making it clear that there are other tasty new pizzas out there. Their big challenge here is to keep users in a good neighborhood when they do their exploring. And then ranking the good neighborhoods. That's what the Pandas are all about.
