Google has traditionally rewarded the best content in an effort to make the internet somewhere which prioritises good practice, while penalising content which doesn’t have the reader as its priority.
To further encourage good content, Google recently rolled out its ‘Helpful Content Update’ – which has been described by commentators as the biggest change to the algorithm since the Panda update in 2011. While the Panda update targeted people who were buying lots of low value, spammy links, this update focuses on bad content.
As Google explains: “Google Search is always working to better connect people to helpful information. To this end, we're launching what we're calling the ‘Helpful Content Update’ that's part of a broader effort to ensure people see more original, helpful content written by people, for people, in search results.”
At the moment the update is only looking at English language searches, but it’s likely to be rolled out to other languages in due course.
This new update from Google is site wide and doesn’t just affect the blogs or articles in your news section. Even if you have paid attention to creating excellent articles, then you could still be penalised if content on other pages of your website is considered not useful or relevant.
There was certainly a need for an update as there are people out there still sharing low quality articles – either using content copied from somewhere else or even written by A1 to include keywords. There’s also been an increase in clickbait articles, which claim to answer a particular question or suggest you’ll be ‘amazed’ to see what a person looks like now… With this update, Google wants to see people-first content in the top position of its search results.
Put simply, people-first content is written for people, not for search engines. As Google says: “People-first content creators focus first on creating satisfying content, while also utilising SEO best practices to bring searchers additional value.”
Google says that if you answer ‘yes’ to these questions, you’re probably on the right track with a people-first approach:
* 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?
* Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge?
* Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
* After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they've learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
* Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they've had a satisfying experience?
Website visitors are, in general, short of time and a little more discerning than they used to be. They will soon click away if your content isn’t real, unique, relevant and useful. Google will quickly recognise if an article has been published just to mention keywords or it’s what is generally now described as ‘thin content’, pulled together just to get something up on the website.
Google also looks for regular fresh content – so don’t write some good blogs and assume your work is done; you have to keep going. The search engine also likes it if people share your content on social media, linking back to your site – so if you post a new blog, always share it to your social media channels, so it’s seen by others who may also share it.
One reason that Google actively searches for quality content is purely selfish… it is the most popular search engine and it wants to remain in that number one position. So, pointing its users to badly written content and copy which doesn’t live up to expectations, could potentially see people moving across to another search engine.
Google doesn’t like to see copy which is ‘lifted’ or simply copied from other sites. While it also penalises content which has perhaps simply been repeated across the website or ‘doorway’ pages which are padded out with keywords and don’t serve a practical purpose.
When you are creating content for your website, don’t get too hung up on SEO during the writing process. Instead, put your marketing head on and focus on your customers and write for them, offering them solutions and content which is both engaging and informative.
If you want to find out more about how content creation can benefit your business, do get in touch on tel: 020 3397 3222.