How will it affect your websites SEO?
Google is always working to improve and connect people with correct and useful information. The latest Google update is coined the “helpful content update” is part of a broader effort to ensure people see more original, helpful content written by real people in search results.
Focus on people-first content – not content written for search engines
The helpful content Google update will reward content where visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience and go the information they were looking for. Content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well.
People-first content creators focus first on creating satisfying content, while also using SEO best practices to bring searchers additional value. When creating content think of these questions:
- 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?
- Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
- Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
- After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
- Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
- Are you keeping in mind our guidance for core updates and for product reviews?
How the update works
The update has already begun to roll out, and could take around a month to be fully updated.
Any content — not just unhelpful content — on sites determined to have relatively high amounts of unhelpful content overall is less likely to perform well in Search, assuming there is other content elsewhere from the web that’s better to display. For this reason, removing unhelpful content could help the rankings of your other content. You can read more about the Google update on Search Engine Journal.
If you would like some assistance or to discuss any of the your own content and how it may rank in Google’s latest update, contact us by emailing [email protected].
