Google’s new helpful content update 2022

For English users globally, Google is rolling out a series of improvements for people to find helpful content created by and for people.

Google has worked to rank better quality product review content for the past year. This ranking update will join the launches and create an ongoing effort to reduce low-quality content that makes it easier to find content that feels authentic and useful in Search.

What is the update about?

Google said, “We continually update Search to make sure we’re helping you find high quality content. Next week, we’ll launch the “helpful content update” to tackle content that seems to have been primarily created for ranking well in search engines rather than to help or inform people.

This ranking update will help make sure that unoriginal, low-quality content doesn’t rank highly in Search, and our testing has found it will especially improve results related to online education, as well as arts and entertainment, shopping and tech-related content”.

How does the update work?

The update introduces a new site-wide signal that will rank web pages. The system will identify if the content has little value, has low-added value, or is helpful to those doing searches.

The unhelpful or low-value-added content that is not likely to perform well will be filtered, assuming other content elsewhere on the web is better to display. Removing unhelpful content could help the rankings of your other content.

What does it mean for brands?

People-first content creators focus more on creating satisfying content while utilizing SEO to bring searchers additional value. Here are some techniques and guidelines to create content for the people, not search engines.

• Find the intended audience for your business or site.
• Define your site’s primary purpose and focus.
• Make sure that your content demonstrates first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge.
• Evaluate if the audience learns enough about a topic after reading your content.
• Check for core updates and product reviews regularly.
• Work on how to improve your customer-satisfying experience.

What should you avoid?

A people-first approach does not invalidate following SEO best practices (Google’s SEO guide).
Here is how you can avoid taking a Search engine-first approach:

• Avoid creating lots of content on different topics, hoping some of it might perform well in search results.
• Avoid using extensive automation to produce content on some issues.
• Don’t just summarize what others are already describing. Add more value and information.
• Avoid writing about a topic where you have no real expertise just because it’s trending.

If you have any questions or comments, contact us at connect@aarkagency.com.