There’s more to helpful web content than just useful information, although that’s definitely essential.
In August 2022 and September 2023, Google announced ‘helpful content updates’ which included major changes to how sites were ranked. In March 2024, the search engine incorporated its latest helpful content update into its core update, which is more extensive than previous core updates. With stricter measures against automated and low-quality content, Google aims to reduce unoriginal and unhelpful content by up to 40%.
It’s common knowledge in content marketing that you should write for people, not search engines. Google prefers quality content written for human eyes. While search engine optimisation (SEO) is useful, it’s most helpful when applied to people-first content rather than used to tick boxes. Google’s helpful content update focuses on rewarding content that addresses genuine user concerns.
What are Google’s helpful content guidelines, and how do they extend beyond just offering useful information? And how can a full-service creative marketing agency help you create content that satisfies human beings while keeping the bots happy? Here’s the Anchor guide to Google’s helpful content algorithm update and what it means for you.
What Does Google Mean By ‘Helpful Content’?
If you’ve been creating content for a while, you probably have some idea of what kind of information is useful and what is just filler for the sake of bots. If your content is well-written, and informative plus gives your readers enough information to achieve their goal, that’s a sign that you’re on track. If you’re producing reams of content just so something ranks and repeating what others are saying with no new insights, it’s time to rethink your strategy.
Google’s helpful content update defines ‘helpful content’ according to four main areas:
It’s created with a particular audience in mind
Helpful content exists to genuinely serve the interests of visitors to your site. If you’re creating content merely to jump on what’s trending or focusing on what you think will rank rather than meeting people’s needs, this is a counterproductive approach. Google’s helpful content update rewards content with a strong purpose and a focus on useful information. Automated content and redundant content won’t win you the results you’re after.
It demonstrates expertise
Helpful content demonstrates clear knowledge and understanding of the topic at hand beyond the obvious. It doesn’t neglect research and it helps to position you as an authority in your industry. If your content doesn’t provide a unique amount of value, it’s unlikely to stand out among the sea of other search results.
It’s trustworthy
Helpful content leaves you with the impression that you can trust the information you read and the brand behind it. It’s the sort of content that makes you want to share, whether on your social networks or with friends who could use the information. Helpful content commonly comes from a reputable source (e.g. a business with a track record of achieving the kind of success they promise).
Content that’s full of easy-to-spot errors or more concerned with grabbing your attention than offering substantive solutions is unlikely to rank as well.
It meets the reader’s needs
A web user who’s found your site is looking for something, whether that’s a new understanding of a topic or the confidence to make a decision. Helpful content should leave readers feeling satisfied, not feeling like they have to go elsewhere to find a better answer.
Why Is Helpful Content More Important Now Than Ever Before?
Helpful content has always been important. Companies with blogs have 434% more indexed pages and 67% more monthly leads than those without, and video traffic can boost your organic traffic by 157%.
Yet, as the digital landscape changes and new developments in technology continue to arise, helpful content is now more important than ever before. The reasons it should be a high priority for your brand include:
AI
While artificial intelligence is a useful tool for businesses, it has its limits. AI-generated content can be too generic, lack character and personality, and contain factual inaccuracies. Google may also flag it for being too similar to other content. While the use of automatically-generated content is not in itself against Google’s guidelines, the search engine does penalise low-quality spammy content and content that only exists to summarise other sources. A lot of AI-generated content fits that profile.
UX
User experience (UX) is the full picture of how a user perceives, experiences and interacts with a website, app or device. UX design is a cost-effective way to improve the experience for the customer and give your business a competitive advantage. Like good copywriting, quality UX design is focused on human eyes, and brands that can’t embrace both are at risk of being left behind. UX copywriting has even emerged as a discipline of its own, with microcopy-like button labels and form field instructions playing a useful role in the UX process.
Mobile devices
It’s important to have a website because, even in your own city, people will be looking for you online. 97% of web users search for local businesses and 28% make a purchase after a local search. Web users carry more searches out on mobile than desktop, so content not only has to be user friendly but also mobile friendly. Creating mobile-friendly content will lead to better results for your business.
Competition
Everyday, more than 252,000 new websites are created and over 71% of businesses have a website. With the majority of businesses adopting content marketing, video, blogging and social media, competition for the top Google spot is fierce and there’s never been a more important time to make yourself stand out in a positive way.
How to Create Helpful Content
How do you create content that leaves users feeling satisfied without falling foul of Google's helpful content updates? Creating people-first content is the key.
Helpful content is content that provides original information, reporting or research. It offers useful answers and substantial information on a topic. If it draws on other sources, it avoids simply copying or rewriting them and instead provides value compared to other pages in the search results. Helpful content is well-written and well-researched as opposed to sloppy and hastily churned-out, and it has a heading or page title that neatly summarises its main points.
Main Focus Points for Creating Helpful Content
Some key points for providing helpful content include:
Provide a great page experience
Focus on the overall experience a user has when interacting with your website: page loading times, how easy and intuitive the page is to use, whether it’s optimised for mobile devices, etc.
Create people-first content
Focus on content that provides value and useful answers for your readers, not content designed for search engine rankings.
Avoid search engine-first content
SEO is still important. But if you’re producing a lot of content on different topics, using extensive automation or focusing disproportionately on factors like word count or trending topics, that’s a sign that you should reevaluate your approach.
Get to know Google’s E-E-A-T and Quality Rater Guidelines
Google rewards content that demonstrates the attributes of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), with more weight given to topics aligned with health, wealth, and safety. Search quality raters are trained to check if guidelines are providing good results based on how useful a page is and how well it meets users' needs.
Create Effective Helpful Content with Anchor
Anchor provides content marketing services that include compelling content that leads to conversions and sales. With services like SEO, content strategy, social media, paid advertising, content marketing, photography and film, we use a multidisciplinary approach. We’ll create a content marketing plan that works for you and accurately represents your brand while helping it to grow.
Let’s talk content creation; drop us a line.
