Visual semantics

What Are Macro Context and Micro Context?

Macro context is the main content that declares the entity and the intent, and micro context is the supplementary content below it that expands the attributes and carries most of the internal links.

Macro and micro context, illustrated
A page stacked top to bottom. H1, standfirst, main component, and primary call to action form the macro context. Secondary attributes, related entities, FAQs, and the identity block form the micro context

What are macro context and micro context on a web page?

Macro context is a page's main content and micro context is its supplementary content, the same split Google's rater guidelines draw.

Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines define Main Content as the part that helps the page achieve its purpose, and Supplementary Content as the part that supports the visit. Macro and micro context are the build terms for those two regions.

Centerpiece annotation decides one block; the macro and micro split assigns every block. One predicate runs through the macro context, and the micro context introduces the neighbors: other attributes, related entities and next steps. A page that argues two predicates above the fold reads as two pages sharing one URL.

What belongs in the macro context above the fold?

The macro context holds four blocks: the H1, the standfirst, the centerpiece component and the primary call to action.

The query's answer and the main predicate live here in full, so a reader who stops at the fold already has the answer. Ads, newsletter signups, popups, chat widgets and promo strips stay out of the space between the H1 and the centerpiece. A secondary attribute that needs more than one paragraph moves below the fold.

A project management SaaS feature page for task dependencies shows the pattern. The macro context names the feature, states what it does, shows the dependency view and offers the trial beside it. Integrations, pricing tiers and customer stories wait below.

What belongs in the micro context below the fold?

The micro context holds secondary attributes, related entities, FAQs, experience blocks, and most of the page's internal links.

The page widens here from the query to its neighbors. The drill-downs and next steps a generative model produces for the query find their blocks in this region; a next step with no block on the page and no page in the cluster sends the session elsewhere.

Tabbed selectors compress several sub-entities into one component. Each tab holds a short snippet that mirrors the opening of the child page, plus a link to it, and the tab content sits in the DOM on load.

Conversion bands belong here too: after the definition, after the service list and before the FAQs. Each band repeats the primary call to action as one action and handles objections in text.

Internal links sit in the micro context, from the middle to the bottom of the page, and never inside the centerpiece.

Link density is low above the fold and high below it. A wall of links near the top reads as navigation, not main content, and the centerpiece carries no internal links at all.

Each target page receives one canonical anchor phrase across the site, varied only inside its dual-entity form. A link to the same target appears once per page. Card grids use each child page's H1 as the anchor, and anchors never read click here or read more.

A lapsed Google patent on query augmentation describes treating a click on another link on the landing page as a long click. The patent has expired, so this is design logic, not a guarantee: links placed where a satisfied reader looks next earn the click.

How do Google's segmentation patents draw the line between blocks?

Google's segmentation patents describe splitting a page into blocks by white space and spatial boundaries, then reading the blocks in order.

A granted Google patent on document segmentation based on visual gaps describes dividing a document by its white space into a hierarchy of blocks. The line between macro and micro context is one of those gaps, set on purpose through spacing, borders and background changes.

Google's layout-aware pretraining patent defines a block by a clear spatial boundary and describes sorting blocks by their upper-left corner, vertical position first.

The Content Warehouse API leak shows separate flows for main text, boxes and asides. We build callouts as separate blocks and keep one uninterrupted main flow.

Sources

Patents and filings describe systems Google has invented. None is a confirmed ranking factor.

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Questions about macro and micro context

Is the fold a fixed line in pixels?
No. Screen size moves the fold on every device, so the split is defined by block order: the H1, standfirst, main component and primary call to action come first.
Can reviews and ratings sit in the macro context?
Yes, on high-risk and high-cost decisions, as a short evidence strip with credentials and a review rating before the definitional block. Low-risk pages put the definition first, and full testimonial blocks never displace the main component.
Does a sidebar beside the main content count as macro context?
Yes, by position. Blocks at the same height as the centerpiece are serialized directly before or after it, so a sidebar there holds only entity-relevant content such as key facts. Ads, promos and link walls never sit beside the centerpiece.
Are the site header, menu, and footer part of the micro context?
No. The header, menu and footer are site furniture shared by every page. Micro context is the page's own supplementary blocks: secondary attributes, related entities and FAQs.
Where does the buying guide go on an ecommerce category page?
Below the product grid, in the micro context. The filtered grid is the category page's main component and sits first, and the guide answers the questions a shopper asks after scanning the products.
When does a micro-context block become its own page?
A block becomes a page once its query passes the query deserves a page test on demand, entity, similarity, predicate and pattern. Until then it stays a section with its own id and opening sentence.
Where do links to external sources sit?
External links sit in their own block, separate from internal links. Google's segmentation work distinguishes off-site link blocks from on-site ones, and a sources list at the end of the micro context keeps both clean.
Does the macro and micro split apply to blog posts?
Yes. The standfirst and the first sections answer the post's query in the macro context, and related posts and tag lists sit in the micro context. A post with related links above its first paragraph opens with navigation instead of an answer.
Does the split change between mobile and desktop?
Only where a sidebar stacks above or below the main column on a small screen. The main column keeps the same sequence on both renders, and stacked blocks land after the centerpiece.
How does the split work on a homepage?
The macro context declares the central entity and proves it: the H1, a definitional block and evidence such as credentials or reviews. The micro context holds the service set, usually as a tabbed selector or a card grid.
How is the macro and micro split checked on an existing page?
Mark the end of the primary call to action and list every block above it. Anything other than the H1, standfirst, main component and call to action is a leak. Then count the internal links above the mark: outside navigation, the target is zero.
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