Will Google’s new “helpful content” update affect your website?

SEO

Last week, Google announced that it was updating the algorithm it uses to judge the order that websites appear on its results page. It’s called this update, it’s “helpful content” update.

So, what effect will this “helpful content” update have on websites? How will it impact your company’s website? Should you be worried?

Before we unpack how this new update is and how it may impact your website, why does Google keep changing the way it judge’s the order that sites should be listed on its results page anyway?

Why does Google release updates?

Google regularly updates its algorithm. There are lots of reasons why Google releases these updates, but one reason is that it does this as a response to how people may be optimising their websites to “cheat” the system. Google’s main aim is to present users with the best content possible for their search queries, and it doesn’t want users to end up being sent to a site that is ranking well on the results page but is full of repetitive, out-of-date or spammy content.

Google wants people to optimise their site well. It encourages the use of good quality, legitimate Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – it’s a good job, otherwise I’d be out of a job! It wants to be able to point users to the right information and so welcomes websites that are clearly labelled.

But what it doesn’t want is people using SEO tactics to create sites that are only good for generating website traffic and nothing else. Sometimes these sites are monetised (e.g. they have lots of adverts), and the users post masses of content to ensure plenty of users travel to the site to see the adverts. Their main aim isn’t to ensure the information is correct, informative or useful. Google wants to stop these kinds of sites making it to the top ten of the results page.

Often these sites are made using lots of AI to write its content (that’s content written almost completely by a computer programme, not a human).

Any sites that are thought to be breaking these new rules will be penalised by Google and will see their position in the search results fall.

How can you make sure your website won’t be affected?

Google wants to see websites that speak with authority within their niche. So, here are some of things that you need to ensure your website is doing to avoid any penalties that Google may inflict.

1.      All the content on your website needs to be focused on the people who would use your site. Basically, know your target audience!

2.      Write content as if you’re talking to people. Are you answering all their questions thoroughly? Are you providing information that is useful?

3.      Don’t rely on AI to write your content.  

4.      Make sure that you are writing about topics that are connected with the purpose behind your website. So, if you’re a cleaning company, don’t write about fashion – it just doesn’t make any sense.

5.      Don’t combine topics/businesses onto one website.

6.      Don’t keyword-stuff, over-optimised or waffle just to get a huge word count. Basically, write well!

Why our clients don’t need to worry

In some ways it’s simpler to explain what Google does want, rather than what it doesn’t. Basically, write well, write for people and write about what you know. The focus must all be on the person using the site, on providing value to them, not on tricking the system.

At Twogether Digital, we have always taken this approach. We are massive advocates of having a user experience approach to website design. The user’s experience on the site is always foremost in our thoughts whenever we have designed and built a site.

Our content marketing also follows this ethos, and our strategies are developed with one eye on search traffic and another on answering user’s concerns and problems. Basically, we don’t just write for search engines, we write for the target audience that our clients are aiming at.

Put the user at the centre

We’re relieved that Google is recognising that the user is at the centre of website design and content marketing. For too long, some sites with huge marketing budgets have been writing content for high volume keywords that have no relevance to their users simply in an effort to draw traffic to their site. The mis-match between content and user has led to large companies dominating the search rankings and squeezing out legitimate businesses with more modest marketing budgets.

In some ways, Google’s helpful content update is an attempt to level out the playing field so that smaller companies can compete against the leviathans who currently dominate the internet. As a company that have always put the user front and centre, we welcome Google’s change.