How Does Google’s Helpful Content Update Impact SEO in 2023?

Published by October 13th, 2023

​The Helpful Content Update by Google, one of the major shifts in search engine optimization (SEO), has become topical among website developers and SEO professionals. It’s not just another tweaking of Google’s algorithm; it marks an absolutely significant move regarding assessing the quality of content, determining its relevance, and ranking it.

The importance of the Helpful Content Update lies in its core objective: this will be done using two main tools: to reward good quality content and punish bad quality. In consequence, there are positive implications of relevance, engagement, or usefulness with regard to websites. With poor experiences, the visibility of such sites could be minimized significantly on the first pages of search results.

Helpful content update change everything, and we have to rethink our content strategy. Today, website owners should be focused on generating quality content targeted at fulfilling user’s wants, expectations, and demands. 

What to do if you’re impacted by the Helpful Content Update?

Identify and remove unhelpful content:

Quality control of the site’s web pages implies eliminating irrelevant information, which becomes relevant for optimization of SEO, as well. Thin and stale content refers to worthless, old, and outdated content that fails to deliver any benefit to the reader. 

This content might include articles that were made specifically for ranking purposes instead of offering useful information. Identify this type of content so that you can either improve the quality, remove it completely, or minimize its effect on the SEO of your site.

To identify unhelpful content, you need to meticulously review all the information on your website by assessing its relevance and worth. In case of updating content, ask whether it is possible to do an update and change it for fresh current information. 

Is there any possibility of making the thin content more quality-driven? If it is unnecessary or doesn’t fulfill your website’s objectives, drop it. Bear in mind that recent updates in Google aim at excluding low-quality content from high ranks in favor of interactive and informative content.

Create more helpful and informative content:

The recent Google helpful content update has also reiterated the need to deliver informative, engaging, and useful information to the visitors. The first phase involved Google changing its algorithms so as to place them at the top of search results websites with thorough, reliable, and ‘doctored’ information.

To achieve this, one purpose is to enhance user experience by having top search results that are not only relevant but also helpful and credible. Content creators today have to think less and do more by going in-depth for a better understanding of their target audiences.

Researching your topic will allow you to provide accurate information through an exhaustive writing process to align with Google’s Helpful Content Update. It means going beyond superficial knowledge into expert insights and facts based on data. You should moreover stipulate that your content is straightforward in understanding.

Focus on building a strong relationship with your audience:

This particular update insists on establishing a good rapport with the target customers. To do this, it means that you ought to understand what the people in the audience desire, care about, or are suffering. Your mission is to become recognized and respected as an information provider to the people instead of just another website in pursuit of selling products.

The update advocates for brands to be brand-authorities. To become an expert in your area of expertise by continuously presenting insightful information. This enhances your credibility among your readers as well as communicating to Google that yours is reliable content worth ranking high on searches. This is in line with Google’s recent update on the importance of building and maintaining a loyal audience of readers.

How do you optimize your content for the Helpful Content Update?

Write for humans, not search engines:

This update seeks to put emphasis on the content that speaks to a human reader by considering the needs of the user while answering the queries instead of merely by keywords and SEO. 

In order to be consistent with Google’s Helpful Content Update, content writers ought to concentrate on their core subject and try to furnish sufficient responses for their readers. They should, therefore, endeavor to provide high-quality customer service. It involves proving that one is an expert in the subject matter and making certain the content is readable, enjoyable, and useful.

Create content that is unique, informative, and comprehensive:

Any content creator who wishes to adhere to Google’s useful content update must create original, insightful, and complete content. The key message for originality, with the focus on unique features over others available in the market.

Your particularity adds credence to you, bringing you closer to your audience. Informational content informs the reader about something important that they did not know previously. It explains how to solve a particular problem, answers questions, and provides necessary information.

Good content creation is also characterized by comprehensiveness. When it comes to this matter, your piece of work ought to be exhaustive so that there are no gaps left unclear. You don’t need to cram every aspect of what has been discussed into a page. Give enough space in between them so as to give a general view of all ideas.

Make sure your content is well-written and edited:

The helpful content update by Google comes as a reminder of the relevance of quality content in the ever-changing face of SEO. As a result, good language is important in making readers feel valued by what is presented. Thus, your writings must not only contain proper use of grammar but should also offer complete and relevant factual data about the subject in question.

For instance, using a keyword or some shallow information is no longer able to get a website a first-page ranking in Google search results. Instead, Google is developing more advanced approaches for determining the real needs of users and searching for top-quality content that really addresses them.

In order to fulfill these standards, writers must allocate more time for conducting extensive research, careful writing, and proofreading their work. Such may include screening for accuracy, use of valid resources, and verification that the content carries no grammatical faults.

Use relevant keywords and phrases throughout your content:

To improve online visibility, you need to use appropriate keywords and phrases in your content.

Keep in mind, however, that the keywords should be natural when used. Throughout the years, Google’s algorithms have improved in a way that favors good content with users in mind. Therefore, you must include appropriate keywords in your content and create interesting and useful information about these keywords.

You can discover trending keywords in your industry or niche using keyword research tools. The use of such tools provides an opportunity for you to understand the search patterns of your target audience and make appropriate adjustments.

Wrapping up!

Delivering value-centered and user-centric content will be the centerpiece of future SEO in line with the evolution of Google’s ‘helpful content’ update. It’s no longer enough to simply depend on keyword optimization and technical SEO practices

Therefore, it is important to focus on creating good quality content that complies with Google’s guidelines for webmasters and brings value to the targeted audience of a business. This improves your search engine rankings and sets forth your brand as a credible information source.

FAQs

What is the impact of Google’s helpful content update on SEO?

The latest update stresses that developing top-notch, user-oriented content is more significant than concentrating on keyword optimization alone.

What is user-centric content?

Your site should provide user-centered articles – that is, worthwhile and interesting content for your target readers. It must be significant, simple, and pleasurable to use.

What impact will the upgrade in Search Engine Optimization have in the long term run?

So, it is probably true that the helpful content update would leave its mark on SEO strategies of the future, as Google pays more attention to high-quality content. Thus, companies and content makers must adjust their emphasis and focus on making informational content for the intended market.

How do I ensure that Google considers my content as “helpful”?

The most effective way of making worthwhile content lies in doing a thorough study of your intended audience’s demands. It can involve interpreting search meaning and utilizing keyword research tools to comprehend what audiences want to learn concerning their queries.

Will Helpful Content Update Have Negative Effects on SEO?

Temporarily, a website may decline in rank after the update, but finally, producing great user-oriented content will improve the SEO later.