It’s that time of year again folks! Time for Google to roll out another big update and send the whole marketing and SEO world scrabbling to keep up.
Ok it’s not that bad really. But Google has once again rolled out a new update to their search algorithm, this time focusing on content and how it’s assessed and ranked within the search engine. And as your friendly neighbourhood copywriter, it’s my job to guide you through what it means. So let’s dive in!
Small Changes Making A Big Difference
In the 2023 Helpful Content update from Google, they have very subtly changed their opening statement. The original statement said ‘Content created by people, for people’ as a way of warning people away from using AI-generated content. Now, that statement is:
‘Content created for people’.
Not much different, but that small change has a huge impact. It shows us that Google is prioritising content that is helpful, engaging and genuinely useful to the readers, rather than for search engines. In fact, to quote Google themselves:
‘If you’re producing helpful content, then you don’t need to do anything; in fact, this system may be good for your site, as it is designed to reward helpful content.’
What’s This Done For Search Rankings?
Well, for a start a lot of previously well-performing websites saw their rankings drop like stones, almost overnight. Once the new update rolled out, these sites no longer met the guidelines, and so their position in the search engine rankings started to slip.
Of course, helpful content isn’t the only ranking factor with Google. There are thousands of things Google looks for when it ranks your website, and creating a web of interconnected, high-quality of absolutely essential for any ongoing SEO strategy. Businesses that used to employ what are now known as ‘black hat’ SEO tactics will find themselves suffering purely because their sites are full of duplicated content with little tweaks for target locations or industries.
Of course, if you’ve been creating genuinely useful, interesting and engaging content, then your rankings might well have gone up, rather than down!
How To Check Your Content For SEO
Thankfully, alongside the new Helpful Content update, Google released an awful lot of documentation to support businesses in understanding the update and what it means for their content. This included a lot of questions to ask of your content to decide if it’s classified as ‘helpful’ or not. A few to start off with include:
- Is your content original? Is it providing new information for your audience, fresh analysis, reporting or unique research? Or are you just copying what your competition is doing?
- Have you covered the topic in detail? Or are you posting 300 words that don’t really say anything, for the sake of writing a blog?
- Does your content provide insightful analysis or information beyond what’s obvious? In other words, could a simple Google search tell your readers the exact same thing?
- Do you have headings that provide a useful summary of the content in each paragraph?
- If you were reading this content, would you bookmark it, share it or recommend it? If not, then you need to re-write it.
- Does the content have any spelling issues, or look weird on the page? These things will put your readers off.
- Have you taken your time putting this content together, or was it rushed? Trust me, readers can always tell when you’ve been rushing.
Oh, did I mention that’s just a few of them? While I’ve paraphrased and simplified some of the points, this should give you a good idea of what Google is actually looking for.
How Do I Write Content Now?
Well for a start, you can do what it says on the tin. Write helpful content! But there’s a caveat.
One of the reasons Google has brought out this algorithm is because many businesses were writing content solely for the purpose of SEO. To get to the top of the search results. They weren’t really thinking about the people reading it. But Google is a business, and it stays in business by providing relevant and useful content to its customers – the searchers. And the content written for search engines just wasn’t hitting the mark. The helpful content update is designed to change that, and the best thing you can do is this:
Write content for people, not search engines.
Remember, Google releases updates all the time. Several a day sometimes! Sometimes, those updates will improve your rankings. And sometimes they will completely fuck with them. So rather than chasing your tail writing content for search engines, go back to basics and write for people first.
Not sure how to do that? Let me help.
I specialise in helping businesses create unique, engaging and very human content that connects with your readers on an emotional level. Which, as it turns out, is exactly what Google wants you to create! Whether you need someone to help you create new content from scratch, or dig through the archives and update your old content, you know where to find me.
But just in case, click here to contact me.