Picture this: You’ve just finished bingeing season 1 of a thrilling new show on Netflix and immediately take to Google to search for a season 2 release date.
You click on the first few results and get directed to articles that promise to reveal the release date, but once you start reading, you notice that the article in fact comments on everything and anything but the release date.
They might comment on the fact that season 2 has been approved, or summarise plotlines of season 1 and speculate what season 2 has in store, but what about the release date? Upon more research, you discover no release date has even been announced. How frustrating is that?!
This is a prime example of content that is produced to perform well on search engines, but that isn’t actually what we call ‘people-first content.’
Google just released an update on August 25th that targets this type of content and websites that produce such content. So what exactly will this helpful content update do, and how will it work?
How Does the Update Work?
Google has set into motion algorithms to target websites that are seemingly gaming the system. They were intentionally careful with their words on their blog post, not calling the update a penalty per se, but rather a ‘signal.’
The algorithm is designed to run continuously and automatically, and if the signal is applied to a site, it may feel like a penalty in that the website will suffer a degree of ranking suppression. Further, the signal is weighted, meaning sites with big amounts of unhelpful content might notice a stronger effect. The good news is that this signal doesn’t have to be permanent. If a website makes an effort to improve their content and make it more people-focused, the signal might be reduced or lifted completely.
Google has published a Search Quality Rating Program that helps content creators gauge how helpful and satisfying the results are for users:
With this, Google expects more care put into the how’s and why’s of content creation. From now on, it will become harder to create content for search engines or write a whole lot of words without much focus or meaning.
Google’s Helpful Questions
As part of the helpful content update roll-out, Google has provided us with a series of helpful questions to guide us toward people-first content.
Let us explore 5 key questions to consider:
1. “Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?”
To produce people-first content, Google encourages websites to focus on one topic or provide a niche service rather than cover a variety of wide-spanning subjects.
Oftentimes, websites will produce a lot of content on different subjects in hopes of performing well on search engines. This content, however, is not usually fleshed-out and leaves searchers questioning for more.
Instead of being a site that tries to be everything for everyone, Google makes it clear that a website should focus on one subject, and do it well.
2. “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)?”
Expert knowledge is important to say the least. For example, websites that are oriented toward product reviews know that providing first-hand user generated knowledge is highly valuable and provides accurate information about a certain experience of a product.
Further, incorporating original photos or testimonials helps strengthen the originality of the content. In posing this question, Google is implying that summarising what others are saying and providing external links is not sufficient.
Users should leave your website satisfied with the knowledge they’ve gained in order to achieve their goals.
3. “Does your content promise to answer a question that actually has no answer, such as suggesting there’s a release date for a product, movie, or TV show when one isn’t confirmed?”
We’re back to our original scenario. Google strongly discourages websites that promise or suggest an answer to a question when no information is actually available.
It is still ok to write about speculative knowledge, but the fact that information is rumoured or inconclusive should be stated clearly.
To intentionally misguide readers just for clicks suggests content that is being made to perform well in search engines, not to satisfy users’ inquiries.
4. “Are you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?”
AI-produced content doesn’t always have to be bad. However, users can usually discern content that isn’t created by humans, for humans. If AI is utilised extensively, it might pop up on Google’s radar.
AI-written content frequently performs well on search engines because it includes many keywords.
However, if you were to actually read the content, it usually echoes much of what has been said before and doesn’t typically generate new or valuable insights.
5. “Are you writing about things simply because they seem trending and not because you’d write about them otherwise for your existing audience?”
While writing about trending topics isn’t inherently wrong or punishable, that shouldn’t be the ultimate focus of your website.
Many content creators will produce trendy content with the intent of getting maximum exposure. While doing so, details get lost and content may become too fluffy.
The goal here shouldn’t be to echo what is already out there, but rather to cater to your audience’s needs and answer their questions properly.
Final Thoughts
Google’s new helpful content update is meant to put people first, not algorithms.
Websites can still use SEO, and this update is by no means a penalty to all SEO activity. In fact, Google clearly states that “SEO is a helpful activity when it’s applied to people-first content.”
…And people-first content is the key phrase here. With this important update, keep in mind Google’s useful questions, and be cognisant of your users’ needs and expectations.
While the update might get some people panicking, if you stick to Google’s guidelines, you should come out on top. From here on out, be well informed, but most importantly: keep calm and carry on.