Danny Sullivan from Google spoke at the Google Search Central event in Toronto a couple of days ago and a few of his slides spoke about it is important to produce "unique, authentic and non-commodity content." And then Sullivan dug into what commodity content is.
Sullivan spoke about what is good non-commodity content:
- Unique: Brings a viewpoint, information or has content that other lack or can't easily replicate.
- Specific: Taks about a specific instance, situation or thing, not general rules, steps or generic information
- Authentic: Demonstrates first-hand knowledge or expertise.
Then he went into the differences between commodity vs non-commodity content by some industry types:
For a running store: Commodity content would be "Top 10 Things to Consider When Buying Running Shoes." "Standard advice on sizing, arch support, and cushioning." Non-commodity content would be "Why This Customer's Shoes Collapsed After 400 Miles: A Wear Pattern Analysis." "A deep-dive video analyzing the wear pattern on a customer's shoes after 400 miles, explaining exactly why their specific gait caused the foam to collapse laterally."
For a real estate agent: Commodity content would be "7 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers." "General tips on pre-approval, location, and budgeting." Non-commodity content would be "Why We Waived the Inspection (And Saved $15k): A Look Inside the Sewer Line." "A breakdown of a specific bidding war you won last week: "We offered $15k under list but waived the sewer scope because I personally crawled the line and saw it was PVC, not concrete."
For an interior designer: Commodity content would be "2024 Kitchen Trends You Need to See." "Photos of green cabinets and brass hardware found on Pinterest." Non-commodity content would be "Marble vs. Grape Juice: Why I Refused to Install Stone for a Family of Five." "A video explaining why you refused to let a client put marble countertops in a house with three toddlers, showing the stain tests you did with grape juice and turmeric to prove your point."
Here are some of the slides I found on X:
At Google Search Central Live in Toronto! #SEO “Do structured data” pic.twitter.com/vfpxDjWiPx
— Martha van Berkel (@marthavanberkel) April 21, 2026
AI SEO is more about Content Strategy than SEO! Do the regular SEO things but make sure to allocate enough resources for the right expertise & experience driven Content Strategy. https://t.co/w2nE1Vyl7h pic.twitter.com/ELmGZp5fij
— Gagan Ghotra (@gaganghotra_) April 22, 2026
JC Chouinard also published all his notes on the talks at this event.
Forum discussion at X.
