On 18 August 2022, surprisingly, Google announced the addition of a new algorithm for search ranking by its new update called “Helpful Content Update”. With this new update, the giant search engine, Google, is going to revolutionize the search results. So, if you are a webmaster or blogger, you should know everything about it.
We all know that Google continuously launches new updates and features for the betterment of search results. Maximum of the new updates Google rolls out directly, with no announcement. But, when Google plans to launch any important update, it releases an announcement so that publishers get to know about it. So, this time Google announced the Helpful Content Update.
What is Google’s New Helpful Content Update?
Helpful Content Update will be a new search ranking criteria that will decide the website’s ranking in search results based on the helpfulness of the content. After this update, if Google finds content helpful for the readers, it will rank the content at the top. Contrariwise, it will penalize the websites that have useless content and do some bad SEO tactics to rank in search results.
The Helpful Content Update will be a site-wide signal. For example, if Google finds useless content on 30 or 40% of website pages, it may affect all the remaining pages of the website. However, it will not be a permanent action. If your website got affected, you will be able to recover it by doing improvements, which we will discuss further.
In very clear words, Google in its announcement said that we want to rank the content written for people, not for the search engine. And also said that your content should satisfy the visitors and meet their expectations of landing on your page.
Why is Google Bringing the Helpful Content Update?
It is not that Google is focusing more on the quality of the content nowadays. Google always prefers quality content. If you remember, back in 2011, Google launched Panda Update, which penalized the websites that used to produce duplicate content with the help of synonyms and sentence re-arrangements.
In the last couple of years, people have started to produce content with the help of automation tools. And also, bring some SEO tactics like a safe percentage of keyword density, fixed word limit, heading pattern, etc. Because of these things, websites with irrelevant and useless content started to rank in the top results. And it was spoiling the user experience.
To get rid of this and to give people useful and helpful content, Google decided to make some improvements to the ranking criteria. This is where Google’s new Helpful Content Update came into existence.
Which Type of Content is Helpful According To Google?
If your content is satisfying the readers and fulfilling their purpose of searching the query on Google, then your content is helpful. Moreover, some other parameters are there that will tell you if your content is helpful or not.
- Google thinks that if you have an expert level of knowledge of your niche, then only you can write helpful content in that niche.
- Creators should not write on any random topic just to attract new readers. They should have a primary focus for their topics.
- According to Google, you can write a helpful product review only if you have used that product and follow Google’s product review guidelines.
- Google wants that readers should get complete and easy-to-understand information about a particular topic in a post. The information should be so helpful that the reader does not have to search for any other page in the search engine.
What Kind of Websites Will Be Affected By Google’s Helpful Content Update?
According to some sources, firstly, the Helpful Content Update may target tech-related, online education, shopping, and arts & entertainment niche websites. And this is because many of these types of websites produce content with unofficial and wrong information.
It doesn’t mean that only these types of websites will be affected. All of the websites with the following types of mistakes will be affected negatively by the Helpful Content Update of Google.
- Websites that produce content in bulk with the help of Artificial Intelligence tools.
- Websites that rewrite already existing content with no extra value.
- Multi-niche websites.
- Websites that cover trending topics but publish content only for attracting new users, not with in-depth information about the topic.
- Websites that only focus on a certain word limit, not on helpful information.
- Websites that attract users by showing them false clickbait and posting the same common content.
- Websites that publish unauthentic content.
When Will Google’s New Helpful Content Update Roll Out?
Google’s new Helpful Content Update will start to roll out on 22nd August 2022, probably. And it will take two weeks for the complete rollout. You can track the rollout pace on the Google ranking update page.
However, as of now, Google’s new Helpful Content Update will be rolled out for English content only. For other languages, Google will plan for it in the next few months.
Worth Noting Points of the Helpful Content Update
If you are here after reading the complete article, it means you have come to know everything about the new update. Now, I am sharing some useful key points of Google’s new Helpful Content Update. If you are a creator, you should note them down.
- Google will rank the content which is written by people and for people.
- Do not use more and more advanced SEO tactics to target the search engine.
- Always write as an expert and put all the helpful and useful information in the content.
- Try to satisfy your already existing audience, and then attract new readers.
- Google doesn’t like it if someone jumps to another article for the same query, so write a detailed article.
- Google’s new Helpful Content Update will be a site-wide signal.
- There will be no manual action in this new update. The actions will be automated.
- If your website got affected by the update, it will take a couple of months to recover.
Positive and Negative Effects of Helpful Content Update
As you know, the new update aims to improve the search results. In this order, If it decreases the rank of some websites, it will increase the rank of some other websites. So this update will have both positive and negative effects.
Positive Effects
- First for readers. After this update, Google will show only relevant articles in the search results that will be helpful for readers.
- Second for creators. It will help for a better ranking of websites having quality content. If you are writing really helpful content but couldn’t rank because of the absence of so-called SEO tactics, this update may resolve it. If Google finds your content useful, it will shift the ranking to the first page.
Negative Effects
- Only the creators will have to face the negative impact of the new update. After this update, if Google doesn’t find your content helpful, it will negatively impact your search ranking.
- As it is a new site-wide signal, it will affect the whole website if it finds some of your pages useless.
What to Do to Keep the Website Safe From Google’s Helpful Content Update?
If you are worried about this new update. Don’t worry about it. You can easily keep your website safe from it. The following tips will help you to keep your website safe.
- Don’t post anything useless.
- Always post articles that are really helpful.
- Don’t produce AI-generated content.
- Try to get articles written by experts.
- Your website should have a primary focus.
- Always write for your readers, not just for search engines.
- Just follow the healthy SEO guidelines of Google.
Well, there is nothing to worry that much about it if your website is not violating this new update. However, if your website got affected, you can recover it. To recover your website, you have to update the existing useless content on the website. And continuously posting genuine content will help you to recover your website soon.
