Writing for humans? The Google “Helpful Content” algorithm update will favor your content.
Google just released a major update to their search algorithm in August.
It’s best to understand what the Google Algorithm August 2022 Helpful Content Update is all about.
A Summary of the Google “Helpful Content” Algorithm Update
Google Search is always working to better connect people to helpful information.
To this end, Google is launching what they are calling the “helpful content update” that’s part of a broader effort to ensure people see more original, helpful content written by people, for people, in search results.
Here are some suggested tips you can follow whenever publishing content in your site that’s relevant to this specific algorithm update.
Writing for humans? No need to be concerned about Google’s Helpful Content update to the algorithm. Google Search is always working to better connect people to helpful information—like yours. Share on X
Helpful Content Tips
- Focus on people-first content
- Do you have an existing audience 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 (ex. expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
- Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
- Avoid creating content for search engines first.
- Content created primarily for search engine traffic is strongly correlated with content that searchers find unsatisfying.
- Is the content primarily to attract people from search engines, rather than made for humans?
- Are you writing about things simply because they seem trending and not because you’d write about them otherwise for your existing audience?
- Are you sure you are publishing content for people, not for search engines?
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HOW THE GOOGLE ALGORITHM ‘HELPFUL CONTENT’ UPDATE WORKS
The update started rolling out in August and it introduces a new site-wide signal that Google considers among many other signals for ranking web pages.
Google automatically identifies content that seems to have little value, low-added value, or is otherwise not particularly helpful to those doing searches.
The classifier for this update runs continuously, allowing it to monitor newly-launched sites and existing ones.
For existing content on your site, for the best success, be sure you’ve removed this new nuanced category of unhelpful content you’ve produced in the past.
As it determines that the unhelpful content has not returned in the long-term, the classification will no longer apply and your site will benefit.
More details can be found on the original announcement source page.
