On August 18, 2022 Google rolled out an algorithm update called Google Helpful Content updates. This update will devalue content written for search engines. This update will start rolling out around the end of August 2022. And it targets content that is not useful to humans or not created by humans.
Unlike other updates that target specific types of pages, this update targets the entire site. That means it can potentially affect all existing pages. That of course means including your site. This update also introduces a new ranking factor that Google will use to rank web pages.
Broadly speaking, Google helpful content will have a negative impact on websites that have lots of content/pages but don't have high value for humans. In another sense, content that does not provide satisfaction or comfort to the user will get a bad ranking on search engines.
Conversely, if your content has a high value so that it provides insight for the user, Google will not hesitate to increase its ranking. To anticipate this update, the Search Engine Journal explains that Google recommends removing useless content from your website.
What is the Google Helpful Content Update?
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| Google Helpful Content Update |
The Google Helpful Content Update is an update to Google's algorithm that prevents unhelpful content and increases helpful content to reach users. This algorithm runs automatically using Machine Learning. Therefore, it takes some time for the effects to be felt throughout.
During this process, the unhelpful content will send negative signals to the search engine algorithm. Google estimates that it will take about 2 weeks since this update (August 2022) for English-language sites. Other languages will follow soon although there is no certainty about the time, but it is likely to be in a matter of months.
*update: The Google Helpful Content algorithm update for all languages (global) has started running as of December 5, 2022. It is estimated that it will take about 2 weeks for the effects to be felt.
Simply, helpful content is content created with people in mind, not search engines. Here are some criteria according to Google.
Here's what Google says:
- Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find content useful if they came directly to you?
- Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and depth of knowledge (e.g., expertise that comes from using a product or service, or visiting a place)?
- Does your site have a main purpose or focus?
- After reading your content, would someone feel like they have learned enough about a topic to help them achieve their goals?
- Would someone reading your content feel like they had a fulfilling experience?
- Did you remember our guides for core updates and for product reviews?
What are the Goals and Objectives of this Helpful Content Update?
The goal of this update is in line with Google's vision to manage and present information that is useful and accessible to everyone.
With this update, users will only get content that is truly useful to them. Meanwhile, content that has no value will not appear in search results.
The target of this update is content that has low value or even no value at all for users. This type of content is usually intended to manipulate search engines and does not focus on providing information that meets expectations.
There are 9 characteristics of content that may fall into this unhelpful content category. You can read the discussion in other posts on this website.
Simply, Google explains that this update is being released to address content that appears to be created solely to rank well in search engines, and not to help or inform users.
These ranking updates will help ensure that unoriginal, low-quality content doesn't rank high on Search. In addition, Google said that in the tests they did, it was found that the effect of this update would improve results related to the fields of education, arts, entertainment, shopping and technology.
Included In Google Core Update
This update can be classified as a Google Core Update, because it meets all the Google Core Update criteria, namely:
- Significant And Vast. According to Google's information conveyed in the release, the update times will affect the entire site.
- announced. This update has been officially announced on the Google blog as well as in an article on Google Search Central.
- Named. It's Google's habit to give each core update a name. This update is named “Google Helpful Content”.
What is Useless Content?
Google says that content that isn't useful is content designed more for search engines than for users. Below is a list of criteria that Google lists as things we should evaluate.
- Is your content created solely to get traffic from search engines, not to benefit users?
- Are you producing a lot of content on different topics in the hope that some of it might perform well in search results?
- Do you use extensive automation to generate content on multiple topics?
- Are you just summarizing from various sources without adding value?
- Do you write about things just because they're trending?
- Does your content make readers feel the need to search further for better information from other sources?
- Do you write with a certain number of words due to SEO factors (eg 1000 words)?
- Are you writing about a few topics just for the sake of traffic with no real investment capital?
- Does your content promise to provide an answer where there isn't one, such as a release date for a product, film, or TV show when it hasn't been confirmed?
The more you answer "yes", it means you have to be more aware of Google's updates this time.
How to fix a helpful content update?
The impact of this algorithm update is site wide. This means that the effects will be felt not only on the useless content, but also on the overall performance of the website.
In other words, if Google considers your site to have a lot of unhelpful content, then the performance of other content on your website can be affected. Especially if there is content from other websites (competitors) that provide relevant content.
Quite a lot of website owners are nervous about this update. In fact, like other Google updates, when there is a risk, there is also an opportunity to increase your website's ranking. The following tips can help you improve your website's ranking after this Helpful Content update.
1. Your Website Must Have a Niche
- “Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?”
This question implies that the website you manage should focus on a particular niche. Avoid trying to write about all the topics available in the world if you want your website to perform well in search engines.
Instead, build your website's topical authority to have a better chance on the search page.
2. Don’t Stray Too Far from Your Website’s Main Topic
“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?”
The question from Google above signals that website owners should stay in their area of expertise. For example, when you manage a website about recipes and have already ranked on Google SERP. Then, you see an opportunity to get traffic from keywords that review skincare.
Your content about skincare may be helpful, but for website visitors who are already regulars it will be less useful (unhelpful). So it’s best not to deviate too far from your website’s main topic.
3. Show First-Hand Experience or Deep Knowledge
“Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge?”
This advice asks you to demonstrate expertise or deep knowledge in the topic you are discussing. Usually this happens to content that only takes and summarizes from other existing content without providing added value.
4. Provide Enough Answers for Users
“After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?”
This means that you need to make sure that your content is able to provide satisfactory answers for users. That way, after consuming your content, users won’t think about looking for other answers.
Of course, it’s not about whether your content has a lot of words, but whether users’ expectations are met and they are satisfied with your content.
5. Don't Give False Information and Promises
“Does your content promise to answer a question that actually has no answer?”
There are still many content providers who make false claims and promises that don't actually exist. For example, by using clickbait titles and meta descriptions, but it turns out that there is no answer that users are looking for in the content.
Another example is by providing false information such as skincare product A is suitable for skin B, when in fact it is not.
6. Provide the Best Experience for Users
“Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they've had a satisfying experience?”
This question asks you to consider the overall user experience. Because it is possible to meet all the criteria above, but not provide a satisfying experience.
For example, when you present a product or tourist attraction review, but without images. Another example is presenting images only as a sweetener and not relevant to the context.
Satisfy the desires and needs of users so that they don't look for anything else. If you understand and apply the Google Helpful Content update guidelines above, then this update will actually be an opportunity for you.
How to recover from the helpful content update?
It will likely be a few months before we start seeing sites recover from this update. As mentioned above, if a signal is applied to your site, it will stay there for several months. As we help sites try and recover from this update, this is what we'll likely focus on.
- Identify which content was created primarily to try and rank and come up with a strategy not to index, remove or upvote this content.
- Ensure that hands-on expertise on your topic is demonstrated on your website, and find ways to get others in your industry to recognize you as having expertise and knowledge of your topic.
- Fixed content and improved EAT based on questions Google said to ask in their blog post about what site owners should know about core updates, their guide to writing product reviews, and also their guide to affiliate content. These may include:
- better to show first-hand skills
- do more to be recognized as an expert by others (i.e. good content marketing and PR)
- finding ways to make content as valuable as possible for searchers
- focuses on understanding what searchers want to do and finding and delivering content that meets those needs
- Clarify what the purpose or focus of each page is (and ensure that this focus is first and foremost meant to help people.)
- Compare what type of content Google ranks against competitors for inspiration.
We'll adapt our suggestions as we learn more about what types of sites are affected and learn about recovery cases as they arise. I expect it will take drastic changes for the majority of negatively affected sites to recover. In some cases, rating restoration may not be possible.
Conclusion
In general, the update illustrates that search engines will prioritize content that has good quality and helps answer user questions. However, the update regarding this matter still does not explain in detail how Helpful Content works.
Through Google SearchLiasion, they answer several parts that are still confusing for publishers like us, one of which is how it works and how to assess the quality of a website.
That is a brief explanation of how the Helpful Content system works. If you want to discuss it further, you can comment directly below this article. There are many SEO practitioners with whom you can discuss the update above or other Google algorithm updates.