Google’s “Helpful Content Update”

Today I’m talking about Google’s recent “Helpful Content Update.”

If you haven’t already heard, Google recently started rolling out an update called the “Helpful Content Update.”

This one seems like a no-brainer: create helpful content that satisfies searcher intent and you’ll be rewarded with better search engine visibility.

But how do you actually do that, according to Google?

Here are questions they provided to ask yourself and my take as an SEO nerd 🤓

• 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?
  
  My Take: Build the encyclopedia for your industry/topic. Become the kind of site where people bypass the search engine or just Google your name to get to your site for the information they are looking for.

• 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)?

  My Take: Prove you are the expert by providing more information, better information, and proof of experience being the expert (reviews, case studies, etc.) Don’t be afraid to share too much.
  
  

• Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?

  My Take: You can’t rank for the best EV vehicle on the market and best mortgage company. Define your niche and stick to it. Search engine dominance comes from topical dominance.

• After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?

  My Take: Don’t leave people hanging. This is a big one to unpack and tells me that Google wants to see great context. Look at every sentence on your site and if it begs another question, either elaborate on it right there or create a new piece of content and link to it.

• Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?

  My Take: Similar to the question above, but this one goes beyond just the written content itself. It’s important to offer a great experience and that means your site and even individual pages are easily navigable, there are other types of media (images, videos, audio, slideshows, etc.), the page loads fast, nothing’s broken, the content is accurate, etc. The list goes on and on and that’s part of the process – never stop optimizing for the user’s experience.