Where were you on December 5th 2022? Here in the world of SEO, we were closely monitoring blogs, forums and our own websites to understand the impact of Google’s latest algorithm update – the ‘helpful content’ update.

There are countless updates from Google throughout the year that cause fluctuations in the SERPs – that’s search engine results pages. These can see your website rise to the top or fall off page one, which can cause significant ripples in the success of your business online. Without those top positions, you’ll see traffic and enquiries drop.

Google’s helpful content update is similarly causing waves and making its presence known, so what are the key facts that you need to be aware of? And why should you choose to partner with a digital marketing agency that understands this? We’ve put together some key facts to crack Google’s algorithm – as well as a few bits of trivia along the way.

But this is just the beginning. To understand how to work with Google and win more enquiries for your business, talk to the experts today.

Helpful Content Update – An Overview

Put simply, Google’s helpful content update does exactly what it says on the tin – it prioritises content that is, you guessed it, helpful. Let’s look at the literal definition of this for starters, so listen up, class.

Helpful, adjective: willing to help, or useful

Sounds straightforward enough, right? And it makes sense. Google wants to prioritise content that helps people. After all, most people go to search engines with a question or a topic to research, and they want to find their answer quickly and easily. If Google ranks a piece of helpful content right at the top, users are more likely to find it, click through and have their query resolved.

In Google’s Own Words

What better way to understand what Google is thinking than to go right to the source? In its own resource centre, Google provided some information on the helpful content update as far back as July 2022, demonstrating how this has been in the works for a while and yet it’s continuing to roll out and cause ructions even now.

Google says: “The helpful content update aims to better reward content where visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience, while content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well.”

In line with other algorithm updates relating to unique content, experience and expert authority, and site speed and technical performance, Google is making a judgement call on webpages and articles that give the consumer what they want, quickly and easily.

It’s clear that Google knows what it wants, so writing in a way that will keep it happy is the best course of action, right? Perhaps not…

Search Engines vs Real People

It’s a long-running and confusing debate – should copywriters create content with Google in mind or focus purely on the end user? Google’s own guidelines seem pretty clear on the matter: “Avoid creating content for search engines first.” This is all well and good and makes total sense: Google wants to deliver results to people – to the right people – so we should write with them in mind.

But who makes the decision on what is the right content for the right people? Well, that’s Google, of course. So if we don’t impress them, the gatekeeper or the dragon guarding the tower, how can our expertly crafted and helpful content reach the real people in this muddled metaphor?

Content creation in line with Google’s algorithm updates, such as the latest helpful content guidelines, can be a complicated business. That’s why you want to partner with the experts at ICAAL to create webpages and online articles that are loved by search engines and real people alike.

Helpful Content From The Experts

Our expert copywriters will thoroughly research your sector and immerse ourselves in the industry, carrying out swathes of expert research and in-depth competitor analysis to fully realise content for your website that’s as helpful as it is high-converting.

We never lose sight of lead generation, and we understand that ranking highly on Google is just one part of the process. Once we’ve won those top positions, we’ll take those web visitors and turn them into enquiries, so you can win more leads and grow your business.

For more information about Google’s algorithm updates and what they mean for your website, talk to our team. We can help you to grow your business because of Google’s latest updates, not only in spite of them, so trust the experts at ICAAL.