The Helpful Content Algorithm Update & Your SEO Strategy

If you follow digital marketing news, you’ve likely encountered SEOs in a tizzy about Google’s recently announced algorithm update: The Helpful Content Update. But what does that mean for websites and the marketing teams that run them?

To understand where this update came from and why Google is announcing its arrival, it’s important to understand a bit about how their algorithm has been updated in the past.

Google’s Past Algorithm Efforts

The first thing to note is that algorithm updates happen a lot – like all the time – but some have more widespread impact than others. Their ultimate goal? Give searchers the best possible experience on their platform.

To ensure that users are receiving the information or resources that they want, Google has to verify that the sites they are serving to users are the highest quality options for their search. In the past, Google has launched updates to better understand the way people search, to make it easier for people to search, and to ensure that websites are available on their chosen devices in their chosen areas.

Throughout all of these changes, Google has maintained that high quality content on easy-to-use sites are the ones that will ultimately win out.

How Does the Helpful Content Update Impact Search?

Because Google is focused on the quality of their user experience, they announced an update called the Helpful Content Update on August 18th, 2022. In this announcement, Google outlined the importance of content written “by people, for people.” This goes hand-in-hand with their recent emphasis on creating and maintaining a website that is focused around the needs and desires of your user (rather than search engines).

Gone are the days when thousands of spammy backlinks or overstuffed keywords would win you out in the SERP. In this update, Google stresses the fact that users are coming to websites (by proxy of search engines) for an answer to a question or to get help taking an action. Providing users the best possible experience means giving them the information they need or facilitating the action they are trying to take.

So What Does Google Consider Helpful Content?

By now you’re probably saying “I get it – give the users what they want” – if not, you definitely should be. For Google, helpful and relevant content is authentic and unique. It should be written for your users based on your first hand experience or particular knowledge base.

It contains all the relevant information your user is looking for when they go to find or learn something, make a decision, or complete a purchase.

Content that is helpful also contains next steps. What should the user do next with this information?

• For example: a user read an article about your software’s integrations and determined which integration is best for them. At the end of the article, you should provide next steps on how to implement this integration, or at least add a link to content that provides that information.

Helpful content does not lure users in with clickbait-y titles and then changes the subject once they arrive at your site.

Helpful content is not stuffed with keywords for search engines that users struggle to read through.

Lastly, helpful content is not written by people that can’t be trusted. This may sound harsh, but the reason behind it is sound.

“Not trusted” essentially means: written by authors who have no real connection to the content as a whole.Google has long touted the need to ensure content authors have experience and authority in the space they write. This started with the increased stress on E-E-A-T (Experience-Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness) in their Quality Rater Guidelines in early 2020.

In response to questions about multi-niche sites and the update, Google’s John Mueller said “If you’re going to give financial & medical advice on a beauty blog, I suspect users are – probably rightly – going to find that a bit sus.”

You decide what you write, and whether it's low effort or not. Go and make truely awesome things that bring value to the web. That said, it you're giving financial & medical advice on a beauty blog, I suspect users are – probably rightly – going to find that a bit sus.

— John (@JohnMu) August 20, 2022

The focus here is on ensuring users are getting information they can trust from sources who specialize in that niche. If you have expertise in an area, promote that expertise! If you don’t, Google says it’s best to stay in your lane.

What the Heck Should We Do Now?

This algorithm update has started and potential effects are looming over anyone who works with Google on a frequent basis. The gut instinct is to panic and start stripping content.

In the wise words of my father: “Don’t do that you’ll only make it worse.”

The good and bad news is that Google has already grabbed the information they need for this initial update, meaning anything you do now will not be reflected right away. While this sounds bad (and you’re right, it’s not fun to think about), it gives you two things:

1. Upfront notice that SERPs and rankings will be shaken up.
2. Time to create a plan to update or remove content that isn’t up to par for the next wave of updates.

When crafting your algorithm update plan and any future content, there are certain things you should do and things you should avoid to ensure you are successful.

What Should We Expect Next?

Google released the Helpful Content algorithm update this week, and you can expect massive shifts in keyword rankings and the search engine results pages now and in the coming weeks. Sites that follow Google’s guidelines will thrive and sites that have low quality or unhelpful content will suffer. It’s likely that there will also be collateral damage as the changes happen and the aftershocks are felt.

Despite these immediate impacts, it’s important to consider what may follow in future updates. Here’s what I predict:

• Short form content and ultra-long form content will lose
  • Because Google is heavily focused on content that is helpful and answering users’ questions, it is important that users do not leave your site feeling dissatisfied.
  • Additionally, content that forces the user to scroll for minutes to get to the point will suffer greatly. This is heavily prevalent in news, blogging and pop culture industries but has been gaining ground with sites across industries writing ultra long content with way more information than needed.
• Readability will be crucial
  • Regardless of whether your content serves your niche industry well, jargon has got to go.
  • While Google has gone on record to say that readability is not a “ranking factor,” John Mueller (Search Advocate at Google) says, “It’s not a matter of Google using that reading level score and saying, this is good or bad. But rather, does it match what the people are searching for? And, if nobody’s searching for those long words, then nobody’s going to find your content.”
• Google will consider pseudo-engagement rates
  • Google is also on record saying they don’t currently use engagement rates as a ranking factor. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if they began to try gaining a deeper understanding of what makes users return to a search again when they do not find the answer they need on the first site they accessed.
  • We see this on a small scale when Google tailors your results based on things you’ve searched for before to try to give you a better result so I wouldn’t be surprised if they begin to gather more data and use it in new ways.
• Affiliate Content
  • Google has already started to crack down on product reviews to ensure that users are getting accurate and real review content, rather than templated, paid-for content.
  • Google has also stated that it’s best to provide a personal experience with products and services if you are posting a review.
  • For those reasons, I would not be surprised if affiliate content or listicles meant to profit off the products within are seen as sales tactics rather than content users can benefit from.

If you are feeling lost or overwhelmed by this update – you are not alone. Our SEO Team is continuously monitoring the impacts of this update. We are ready to help your team craft a user-centric SEO strategy that will set you up for success, so don’t hesitate to reach out!

Additional Resources:

• More content by people, for people in Search, Google
• What creators should know about Google’s helpful content update, Google
• What is helpful content according to Google, Search Engine Land