New Google Helpful Content Update: What You Need to Know
Before, many websites feature content articles that only aim to be relevant for SEO. One problem with these types of articles is they can sometimes ignore the needs of the readers. Instead, they exist to ensure that web pages rank higher on search engine results pages.
With Google’s latest helpful content update, it intends to boost and prioritise website content that is primarily written for people. Conversely, this update aims to devalue content that is only written for SEO purposes.
A Quick Overview of Helpful Content Update
On August 18, 2022, Google released information about the “helpful content update”, allowing the search engine giant to distinguish content that has been written for search engines from those that are significantly helpful for site visitors and readers. The article titled “What creators should know about Google’s helpful content update” basically lays out all criteria Google will use in evaluating website content.
An important note about this update is it is slated to roll out for English searches first before expanding to other languages. Another thing about this update is that it is sitewide, which means it can potentially affect and impact all pages instead of only targeting specific types of pages. So ideally, if ever Google pinpoints that one portion of website content is search engine-first, it can decrease the rankings of all its content.
A new ranking signal will also be introduced with this update, which may negatively impact sites that post and publish high amounts of content that does not add value to searchers.
This update, however, is only one of many factors that Google will use in determining the ranking of a website. Hence, website owners may still have some difficulties in checking whether their rank has changed due to this update or not.
Avoiding Writing Content for Search Engines
With the introduction of this update, website owners must ensure that their content will not be written for search engines. But how can they avoid committing this mistake? Content written for search engines has some qualities that make them discernible from content written for humans.
One of the qualities of search engine-first content is it features different random topics. A search engine-first content likewise possesses a summary of what others are saying without adding more value or insight. Writing for trending content without considering one’s target readers is likewise intended for SEO, not humans.
Content possessing a particular word count, covering a niche topic area, and providing misleading information is also meant for search engines.
These content types may have ranked higher on search engine results pages. But with the proposed improvement for content quality, Google has decided to release the update to help readers obtain much more valuable. The capability of the search engine in natural language processing has also led to the rollout of this update.
Eliminating Unhelpful Content is Suggested
If this update impacts your website, Google advises you to remove any content that may not be helpful. Your people-first content, fortunately, may still rank higher even if your website has large amounts of SEO-centric content.
To know more about this update, you can contact us at Netwizard SEO.