Impact of Google's Helpful Content Update Algorithm on Your Websites
After a long wait, Google’s Helpful Content Update is finally here.
On September 9, 2022, Google officially announced its update on new content policies, which has been a debated topic ever since the world’s leading search engine brought something unexpected to its posts on August 25, 2022.
The things that became pretty much apparent since day 1 are confirmed now!
The update can unlock opportunities for websites that have been loyal to their audiences for a long time.
Simply put, if you also write and publish “people’s first” content on your website and don’t intentionally make it to impress the search engine, this update is going to be rewarding for you.
Here’s how Google’s Helpful Content Update will impact your website because a few things are still unclear to our viewers.
What Does The Helpful Content Update Do?
It isn’t hidden that, as modern viewers are growing smarter, persistent efforts are being made by Google Search to help people find accurate and trusted information.
The new update also aims to value content originally written “by people for people” and devalue content written “by people for the search engine.”
Google’s algorithm will be in charge of the whole process.
Only those contents will be promoted and ranked by Google that truly serve satisfying experiences.
Similarly, content that fails to meet viewers’ expectations will struggle to perform well on Google.
However, the rule won’t apply to a specific page or post but will be applied sideways. The search engine will review and analyse websites itself and may provide a relevant ranking based on
- content carrying superb value
- content carrying little value
- content carrying zero value or useless
Compared to before, unhelpful or useless content will now rarely be visible among the Search Results because Google’s core focus is now on content that carries at least little to moderate or excellent value.
Multiple signals determine whether content is lowly valued, moderately valued, or superbly valued. Google utilises a machine learning model to analyse signals from content to qualify it as “valuable content” or “helpful content.”
How Google’s Helpful Content Update May Impact Your Websites
After the quick heads up, it is very clear that only those pieces of content will now survive that aren’t just human-written but also serve value to the audience.
Indexing Issues
Your well-indexed pages can be delisted from the search engine once they are no longer visible to people. However, you may still have the option to get it re-indexed on Google. But the cycle will keep going. But websites that are publishing value-rich contents — regardless of whether they carry moderate value or little value — will maintain the same ranking on the searches until competing domains replace that post. Low-value or unhelpful content may keep struggling with indexing issues. However, there’s no update from Google on whether such content will be permanently removed or banned.
But, given the previous Google updates, such posts are already being taken down from the search engine.
Low Ranking
The Google “Helpful Content Update” can lead to low rankings for websites that may have been ranking in the top search results earlier but not now.
Perhaps you have also experienced the change with some of your posts that were ranking pretty well but have slipped lower now.
Well, it is possible that your post might be ranking pretty well for back links or other powerful signals, but viewers are interested in another post now, which might have replaced your post recently on Google results.
As discussed, Google now prefers content written by “people for people” and devalues content that is exclusively designed to be visible for the queries in Google Searches.
Low Earning
Content’s low ranking directly impacts Adsense revenue and other revenue sources linked to a website.
It is possible that the earnings you might have been receiving from your blog will not be that attractive or conversions can be lower. However, the concern is genuine for websites incorporating low-value or unhelpful content.
On the other hand, the latest update is being watched as a satisfying metric for websites that, despite being comparatively smaller, have left no stone unturned in serving value and retaining users.
In short, some websites are likely to capture more conversions and revenue than before if they are struggling to beat some domains.
Conclusion
That’s all the “helpful content update” by Google will do for your website. The only thing to keep in mind to go stress-free is the quality of the content. If it’s serving value, retaining customers, and satisfying viewers, there’s no reason to feel disappointed or concerned about your website. You can delete posts on your website that were already of no value because they will experience no great results after this update.
