Google is constantly making changes to the search algorithm to deliver the most relevant results and recently released what some have coined the biggest update in over a decade. On August 18, 2022 Google announced the “Helpful Content Update” to address concern regarding the quality of the content on pages showing at the top of Google’s search results. The algorithm update prioritizes user experience and rewards pages built to help users get more info regarding their search.
The change comes as a pushback to the rise of bot-created content and aims to reward content created by humans intended to help people. The algorithm update aims to target pages containing content with little value in order to push them down in search results. It’s part of a continued effort from Google to make sure search results provide users with valuable content that’s designed with their search intent in mind.
Google began the algorithm update on August 25, 2022 and set a completion date for September 8, 2022.
Google has emphasized that content creators who have followed the general guidelines to help Google find, index and rank your site shouldn’t be concerned with the update but there are some things to keep in mind. Here’s what we know about how the Helpful Content Update has been affecting search engine results so far.
Create Content for People
The Helpful Content Update is focused on how Google evaluates on-page content and its relation to a search query. The algorithm has been set to reward unique content designed to help people searching the web for years but the latest update adds a sitewide signal for helpful content. The sitewide signal will help Google flag sites that have been determined to have unhelpful content and adjust page rankings accordingly.
Google released these questions for webmasters/content creators to help them make sure their content won’t get flagged and negatively impact search performance.
- Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?
- Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
- Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
- After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
- Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
- Are you keeping in mind our guidance for core updates and for product reviews?
Avoid Content Created for Bots
The rise in automated content creation has resulted in numerous pages with bot-created unhelpful content rising to the top of SERPs and Google is starting to take notice. Content created with the sole purpose of improving page rankings in organic results is often unhelpful. Unhelpful content will typically be loaded with location based keywords, irrelevant headings and poor user experience/design execution. Creating unique content aimed at helping the end user should be your priority and the best way to rank in organic search results.
What Sites Does The Helpful Content Update Impact
The Helpful Content Update has the potential to impact any site in Google’s index due to the nature of the new sitewide signal. Google has noted the algorithm update is most likely to affect these types of content the most.
- Educational material
- Arts & entertainment
- Online Shopping
- Web/Tech-related
Developing a Good Content Strategy Moving Forward
Creating unique content for valuable search terms will still be a good content strategy moving forward but the Helpful Content Update does shift what should be prioritized in a good content plan. Refocusing content aimed at a broader audience that isn’t likely to find your site helpful is a good place to start. Making sure that you’re only posting content regarding topics in your area of expertise will help keep the purpose of your content clear and help clarify campaign goals.
Monitor Search Performance
The full extent of how the Helpful Content Update has changed search results isn’t clear yet and probably won’t be for quite some time. Google will continue to make tweaks to its search algorithm designed to reward sites built with search intent in mind.
Making sure to continuously monitor how your site is performing in organic search results is essential and it’s even more important after a major search algorithm update. Google algorithm updates can take months to fully roll out. Watching for changes in site traffic and search performance after the shift to determine how your content strategy should change, if at all, is the best way to see how the algorithm update is affecting your site.