Google has released yet another update. And as anyone who works in SEO (in fact, anyone who has a website) will know, this news always unleashes a certain amount of fear and trepidation.
What will it mean for me? How it will affect our traffic? Will it nose dive off the face of the earth?
Here at The Content Marketing Team, we were actually pretty pleased when we got wind of the Helpful Content update later this summer.
Building on earlier updates, Google appears to moving further forward in its goal to match user intent with exactly the right content and it’s a drum we’ve been banging for years.
So what do you need to know about Google’s Helpful Content update? We take a closer look and why we think it’s good news for everyone.
What exactly is Google’s Helpful Content update?
For a while now, Google has been working on promoting a user-first approach to their search results and this latest update comes as part of that project.
According to Google, its helpful content update “aims to better reward content where visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience, while content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well.” (source: Google Search Central)
In short, this means that Google will reward content written by people for people and devalue anything that has been written purely with the aim of ranking well on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
Google wants to provide users with better results, results which really help them, rather than just presenting them with content written to rank well.
How will Google’s Helpful Content work in practice?
The Helpful Content update will look at your website as a whole, determining whether your content is written mainly for search engines or people.
If you have a relatively high amount of what is determined to be unhelpful content then you may find that your site drops further down on the rankings.
While some SEO tips are still absolutely relevant, as we all know, long gone are the days of keyword stuffing and computer-generated content.
Therefore if you want to rank well in 2022, you need to supply content which directly answers a visitor’s questions in a helpful and informative way.
This isn’t to say that Google is going to penalise anyone following SEO best practices, so it’s still important to take everything we know about SEO into consideration. But what this update is about is devaluing clickbait and rewarding a quality approach to content creation.
This update is about is devaluing clickbait and rewarding a quality approach to content creation.
When is the Helpful Content update happening?
The roll out of the Helpful Content update started on 25th August 2022 and took just over two weeks to complete, finishing on 9th September 2022. This means that you should be starting to see the effects on your website around now, if you haven’t already.
It’s anticipated that over the next few months, Google will continue its mission to show users good quality content first and foremost in its SERPS. It will be looking to further reward people-first content and devalue unhelpful content.
How will the update affect your website?
The update could affect any type of website, from ecommerce and lead generation sites to content creators and publishers.
Of course, sites which already provide original, helpful content should remain largely unaffected by the change. They may even experience a positive increase in traffic.
However, sites which have traditionally created content in order to rank well may see their pages drop down the rankings.
If your website has been negatively affected by this update, it can take several months to recover. You’ll need to revise your current content strategy and put a new one in place to create high quality content.
How to create people-first content
Looking to future proof your website? Here are four top tips for creating effective user-first content:
1. Stay within your niche
The advice here is to create content that your users will find useful, rather than just writing about topics that are trending.
Previous tactics used to focus on producing lots of content across many different topics, in the hope that some of it might perform well in search results. Going forward however, your content should focus on your existing audience and specialist niche.
2. Directly answer your customer’s questions
Unhelpful content leaves users having to search again for the information they were looking for.
Use your expertise to your advantage and make sure you provide valuable content which directly satisfies your customers rather than long winded waffle intended to drive search traffic.
We’ve always been of the opinion that it’s better to do this anyway. After all, who needs a website with a huge volume of search traffic and a huge bounce rate? If your eventual goal is conversion, then it’s important to focus on getting to that goal.
3. Bring additional value with original content
It’s not enough to aggregate content which is already available elsewhere on the internet. Helpful content needs to bring something new to the table.
Demonstrating first-hand experience or knowledge of a topic is ideal or bringing new evidence or points of view to a conversation can also help.
Google’s information gain patent looks at what pages have in common and searches for any information which is original (source: Go Fish), helping to determine what to show users first.
4. Be engaging
Content written solely for the search engines is rarely engaging. Look carefully at tone of voice and talk directly to your customers, making sure your content isn’t a chore to read.
Where relevant, include images and graphics to illustrate your points.
Why is Google’s Helpful Content update a good thing?
At The Content Marketing Team, we have always believed in people-first content. So we were delighted when we heard that Google would be placing more value on this user-first approach going forward.
We’re passionate about creating content which not only ranks well but is also engaging and relevant. Content which answers your customers questions and brings you new leads. Content which you can be proud of.
Our blog posts, product descriptions and category pages are written in your brand tone of voice with informative content carefully crafted for providing your website visitors with more detail before conversion.
We’ve been creating people-first content for years now so we’re glad that Google is looking to reward this. Google’s new algorithm update will downgrade less helpful websites and promote those designed for humans, rather than just SERPs.
If you need a hand with replacing low quality content with high quality, authentic content, then get in touch to find out how we might be able to help.
