Introduction
Google recently announced another core algorithm update back on September 12th which is a major one and will have huge impacts on rankings of the websites.
The rollout was announced to take at least 2 weeks and now we are starting to see a huge volatility in the SERP’s.
A core algorithm update announced by Google is typically felt by publishers and SEO marketers in general as it tends to shake things and create a lot of volatility. We may all remember the big ‘earthquake’ felt when Penguin was rollout ten years ago.
Google has labeled this update ‘Google helpful content update’ and every business should be across it. In addition, they mentioned it could take a long time to recover and need to show the site is providing helpful content first.
For everything you need to know about the impact of this update and what you can do about it if your site has been affected, continue reading this blog.
How Will Your Site Be Affected
Google was noticing searchers are getting frustrated when they land on unhelpful pages that rank well because they have been designed to rank well in search engines rather than help or inform people.
Therefore, the key SEO best practices will still reap rewards and will continue to remain the same, however the big change now is that you need to ensure your content is focused people-first content.
How Does The Helpful Content Update Work
This helpful content will act as a ‘signal’ to Google and will be part of the other +200 ranking factors that Google is using to rank sites vs others.
Similar to the Penguin and Panda updates, at first the update brought massive changes to websites but then these changes became a core of how Google algorithm works. I think something similar will happen with this last update.
Will the Update Impact All Websites?
Some websites will see a bigger impact than others and this will be a deliberative thing.
In essence, the main websites that will be impacted are the ones that have manipulated the ranking systems by implementing SEO tactics to rank on the top places but disregarded completely the value they were offering to their users and readers.
If your site has mainly focused on SEO first instead of producing quality content and thinking of your actual target market so as to better service them, then you may be more affected than other sites.
It’s still early stages to really understand the actual impact of the update so we will need to wait for the upcoming weeks to have a better view.
What Should be Your Focus in the Next Months
This update should be taken seriously for existing sites but also for any brand new site in case you want to rank in the nearby future.
The first thing to ask yourself honestly is to determine if the content is helpful for the reader. Consider the E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness) and spend more time in doing a detailed keyword research.
Search for Google trends, Google suggest, forums and really focus on answering the questions people are searching for. The good news is google has provided us with detailed guidelines on what they are expecting to see moving forward.
So What Does ‘Helpful Content’ Even Mean?
Your Existing or Intended Target Audience
I always emphasis on this with my clients, as your business and website should have an existing customer avatar in mind. Make sure the way your content is laid out, such as blogs or service pages are helpful and useful to your target audience.
Does it answer all their main questions and provide the information they are looking for to make critical decisions about your products and services?
Build Human First Content
Here are some questions for you to review and keep in mind when creating content:
Does your site have a primary purpose or focus? Are you producing lots of content on different topics in hopes that some might perform well in search results?
Is your content helpful? Is your content generic? Is it templated, or are you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?
A Website Designed for People
Here is another way to look at the similar question. Is your web content primarily intended for search engine rather than being created with humans in mind?
Avoid doing keyword stuffing on unhelpful content that is hard to read and doesn’t really add any real value to your readers.
So ultimately, the websites that will be penalised are the spammy ones that have little value to offer to searchers.
Turn to the Experts at eWebsites for Guidance
The latest Google update will shake things up but the way we see it at eWebsites is that it’s actually lifting the quality of what is currently available online.
We live and breathe content and have an experienced team of copywriters so this is actually and update that we’ve been looking for.
With so few benchmarks to really understand the depths of the impacts of this update its best to turn to experts to help you recover any penalties your site may have suffered.
eWebsites is a leading SEO agency which specialises in providing a result driven approach when dealing with local SEO campaigns that bring more leads and phone call to our clients.
Contact us today and book a free seo strategy to boost your rankings, generate more leads and increase your brand awareness with a tailored SEO plan in place.
