Google’s latest helpful content update
Google rolled out its latest helpful content update on 9th September 2022. Initially, Google launched it for English-language searches globally with a plan to expand to other languages in the future. This update will target only Google search right now. However, in the coming months, it may look to cover additional products (e.g., Google Discover)
What the helpful content update means to websites
You might be wondering what recent Google’s helpful content update means for you. Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s changed. Now you have to decide what you can do to make sure your content ranks well. Google’s recent content update could be a game changer for how businesses create and share content online. The update includes changes in the way Google displays content in search results.
Google will now organize each content into “cards” that include the title, author, and a short snippet of text. Google will give preference to articles that are “mobile-friendly” and have a strong structure. This update is significant because it shows that Google is putting more emphasis on quality content. So businesses need to focus on creating well-written, informative articles if they want to rank high in search results. In addition, the new tools and resources available to businesses should help them to create better content overall.
Google’s guidelines on how to create human-first content
Google furnished a list of advice, the creators should be aware about to be rewarded by the helpful content update.
Advice of Google
- Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if it came directly to you?
- Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge?
- Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
- After reading your content, will someone feel that they’ve learned enough to achieve their goal?
- Will someone leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience after reading your content?
- Are you keeping in mind our guidance for core updates and for product reviews?
And when it comes to avoiding search-engine-first content, Google laid out these questions:
A few questions by Google
- Will the content primarily attract people from search engines, or help humans instead?
- Are you producing lots of content on different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results?
- Are you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?
- Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?
- Are you writing about things simply because they seem to trend and not because you’d write about them otherwise for your existing audience?
- Does your content leave readers feeling like they need to search again to get better information from other sources?
- Are you writing to a particular word count because you’ve heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (No, we don’t).
- Did you decide to enter some niche topic area without any real expertise, but instead mainly because you thought you’d get search traffic?
- Does your content promise to answer a question that actually has no answer, such as suggesting there’s a release date for a product, movie, or TV show when one isn’t confirmed?
This advisory requires no clarification. The message is clear.
How long will it take to recover
According to Google:
“Sites identified by this update may find the signal applied to them over a period of months. Our classifier for this update runs continuously, allowing it to monitor newly-launched sites and existing ones. As it determines that the unhelpful content has not returned in the long-term, the classification will no longer apply.”
It means that if this update detects a site with unhelpful content, it can take several months to recover. Over a significant amount of time, a site will have to prove that it no longer publishes content with the sole motto to rank in search engines. It is clear that there will be a waiting period or a validation period – a site need to go through, to show Google that its content is for humans first and not for ranking in SERP. This validation period is unpredictable. It is automated and while Google updates the scores for its classifiers on a site on an ongoing basis, making a change today, likely won’t be reflected in Google’s rankings for several months
How will Google detect unhelpful content?
Google has developed a new machine learning algorithm that is able to evaluate and identify unhelpful content. The algorithms would keep on getting better over time improving the overall vigilance by its engineers and the automated machine learning improvements. Without being very specific Google said that the content update would look at a variety of signals about the page and site to determine the ranking of a page.
What to do now?
First, it’s important to understand that the latest helpful content update targets low-quality content. So, if your content is already high-quality, then you probably don’t have anything to worry about. However, if you’ve been churning out lower-quality content in an attempt to game the system, then you may start to see your ranking drop.
If the update has detected you, there’s no need to panic. Just take a look at your content and see if there’s anything you can improve. If necessary, make some changes and then resubmit your content for indexing. With any luck, your revised content will start appearing in search results once again.
Who now benefits from the latest helpful content update?
The big winner from Google’s helpful content update is anyone who creates helpful, informative content. This could be articles, blog posts, videos, infographics, or any other type of content that will help people. This is a big change from the previous algorithm, which favored content that was keyword-rich and full of links. Now, Google is putting a greater emphasis on quality over quantity. So if you create content that is truly helpful and informative, you stand to benefit greatly from this change. Google wants to provide its users with the best possible experience, and part of that is delivering content that is useful and relevant.
If you’re not sure where to start, think about the questions people are likely to have about your niche or industry. Then, create content that answers those questions in a clear and concise manner. Be sure to include plenty of visuals and make your content easy to scan so that people can quickly find the information they’re looking for. Creating helpful, informative content should be your top priority if you want to take advantage of Google’s new content update. By doing so, you’ll not only please Google but also your audience – and that’s a win-win for everyone involved.
How to be helpful in content update
Google’s recent helpful content update algorithm has caused many webmasters and SEOs to scramble. The update, designed to promote “high-quality” content, has led to a major drop in traffic for many sites with low-quality content. If you are one of them, there are a few things that you can do in order to try and regain your lost traffic.
Write Plagiarism free content
One of the most important things that you can do is to take a close look at your content. Google is now placing a higher emphasis on quality. So it is important to make sure that your content is well-written and informative. If you have any thin or duplicate content, it is time to start beefing it up. In addition, all of your content should be original – no plagiarism!
Promote your content
Another thing that you can do is to start promoting your content more aggressively. Social media is a great way to get the word out about your articles, so make sure that you are promoting each new article on all of your social media channels. You can also reach out to other bloggers and ask them to share your articles. Guest blogging on high-quality sites can also help to increase your visibility.
Conclusion
Google’s new helpful content update means that Google will now be able to show off helpful articles, videos, and other pieces of content from around the web in its search results. This is great news for those who produce high-quality content, as it means that potential customers or clients will now be able to go through their content.
Overall, this update is a win for businesses and content creators who want to get their work seen by as many people as possible. By making it easier for helpful content to be found via search, Google is making it easier for people to find the information they need when they need it. And that’s good news for everyone involved.