Google Helpful Content Update: A History of Major Google Updates  

In the world of SEO, keeping up with Google’s algorithm updates is crucial to ensure your website’s visibility and success. One of the most important updates is the Google Helpful Content Update, as it plays a key role in improving the quality of search results.  

Understanding its impact and adapting to its changes is essential for any digital marketing professional looking to stay competitive. Join us on this journey to uncover all the secrets of Helpful Content from the past few years!  

What is the Google Helpful Content Update?  

First, it’s important to explain that the Google Helpful Content Update is a search algorithm update launched by Google in August 2022. Its main goal is to improve the quality of search results by prioritizing useful and relevant content for users. It primarily aims to combat and reduce low-quality content that tries to deceive search engines through tactics like keyword stuffing, cloaking, and other manipulative methods.  

In other words, Google seeks to encourage the creation of content that is genuinely useful, informative, and user-focused, rather than content designed to manipulate search rankings without offering real value. Are you interested in learning more about this? Then dive into this article with us!  

Why is it important for SEO and Digital Marketing?  

The importance of these updates lies in maintaining the integrity and quality of search results, ensuring users find valuable and trustworthy information without being overwhelmed by irrelevant or deceptive content.  

Updates like the Google Helpful Content Update, the Spam Update, and the Core Update are crucial for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and digital marketing because they set the rules for how content is ranked and displayed in search results.  

For professionals in digital marketing, understanding and adapting to these updates is vital to maintaining and improving online visibility.  

Creating user-centered content and avoiding deceptive tactics not only improves search engine rankings but also builds trust and credibility with your audience.  

If you want more details about the Google Helpful Content Update, we recommend checking Google’s Update Dashboard, which provides a detailed history not only of the latest Helpful Content updates but also of Core and Spam Updates. If you have questions about their main differences, hang on and keep reading – we’ll explain it all shortly.  

Google Helpful Content Update: How does it affect websites?  

The Google Helpful Content Update affects websites in various ways (both positively and negatively):  

• Content relevance: Naturally, sites that publish genuinely useful content for users are more likely to see improvements in their ranking. This means that content must address real questions and needs of visitors.  

• Penalty for non-useful content: Websites that publish superficial content or content designed solely to attract search engines may see a decrease in visibility. Google can better identify content that doesn’t provide real value and penalize it in search results.  

• Focus on user experience: Content creators must focus more on the user experience, ensuring that their content is easy to understand, useful, and accessible. This includes content structure, information clarity, and site usability.  

• Content review and updates: Websites should regularly review and update their content to keep it relevant and useful. Outdated or irrelevant content can negatively impact a site’s ranking, so it’s better to review it periodically.  

• Improvement in traffic quality: By focusing on useful content, sites can attract a more relevant and engaged audience, which can translate into higher traffic rates, clicks, conversions, and, consequently, better engagement.  

Adopting these practices not only helps meet Google’s expectations but also improves user satisfaction and, ultimately, the success of the website in terms of traffic and conversions.  

Google Helpful Content Update September 2023  

The latest Google Helpful Content Update was released on September 14, 2023, following the August Core Update. This new Update is an evolution of Google’s approach to helpful content and marks a significant change from the previous Helpful Content update in 2022. Below, we explore the main features and impact of this update.  

Key Features of the Helpful Content Update  

Some of the key features introduced in this latest Helpful Content update are:  

Quality evaluation without considering the origin  

Previously, Google stated that high-quality content should be created by humans. However, with this update, Google has removed that restriction. The focus is now on content quality itself, regardless of whether it was generated by artificial intelligence (AI) or by humans.  

This change reflects a recognition that the battle against AI-created content cannot be won simply by rejecting it, but instead by evaluating the intrinsic quality of the content.  

Warning about “renting” subdomains or subdirectories  

The practice of renting parts of a website to third parties, whether on subdomains or subdirectories, has been quite old in SEO but is now frowned upon by the algorithms (or so they say, at least). Google has renewed warnings about this practice, noting that it can negatively affect the main domain’s content.  

This measure aims to counteract the impact third-party content can have on the overall reputation and visibility of the site renting out its spaces.  

Updating content dates without real changes  

With the new update, Google insists that content’s last update date should only be changed if significant changes have been made. Previously, some webmasters would adjust these dates without making real modifications to the content, which is now considered misleading. Google aims to ensure that dates reflect the actual freshness and relevance of the content.  

General considerations about this update  

It’s clear that the Google Helpful Content Update of September 2023 represents one of the most significant changes in Google’s strategy towards helpful content. The update emphasizes the quality of content regardless of its origin, warns against subdomain rental practices, and promotes honesty in content date updates.  

Its impact on website visibility has been notable, with valuable changes in various sectors. For instance, a site like findthisbest.com, which focuses on product recommendations, saw a traffic drop of over 60% due to these updates.  

Google Helpful Content Update December 2022  

Let’s move on to the Helpful Content Update from December 5, 2022, which took 38 days to roll out, finishing on January 12, 2023. Some of the main features of this update were:  

• Global update and improved signals: The December 2022 update was a global update, affecting all languages, not just English. Google integrated new signals into its system to better identify low-quality content created primarily for search engines rather than for people.  

• Focus on unsatisfactory content: The update aims to improve the quality of web content, prioritizing sites that offer useful and relevant content for users, rather than content designed solely to rank well in search results.  

• Identification and recovery: If a website is negatively affected by this update, it can take several months to recover its position if proper content adjustments are made. Google suggests reviewing the questions provided about content to ensure it meets the new standards.  

Update goal  

The update aims to reduce low-quality content created primarily to rank well in search engines at the expense of real usefulness to users. Google seeks to promote content that is authentic, useful, and designed for people, not just search algorithms.  

Impact on SEO  

When this happened, there were noticeable changes in Google search ranking and visibility. Many content creators or webmasters had to adjust their strategies according to Google’s guidelines to see a recovery that, in many cases, took months or never occurred.  

Google Helpful Content Update August 2022  

The first recorded Google Helpful Content Update was on August 25, 2022. This update was part of a continuous effort to improve the user experience when searching for information online, ensuring that the results are useful and relevant.  

Helpful Content Update Goals  

The Helpful Content Update focuses on rewarding content that offers satisfactory solutions to users and reducing the visibility of pages designed solely to attract clicks. The update ensures that content is created with users in mind rather than optimized solely for search engines.  

This update affected the entire website, not just individual pages. Websites had to meet quality standards to maintain good performance in search results. Pages that didn’t meet visitor expectations saw a decrease in performance.  

Adapting to New SEO Requirements  

To adapt to the changes introduced by the Helpful Content Update, as a professional or SEO enthusiast, you should focus on three key aspects:  

Authority  

The authority of content can be evaluated through several factors, such as:  

• Backlinks: The number and, more importantly, the quality of external links pointing to the site, indicating that others consider the content relevant.  

• Analysis and structure: The depth of the analysis and structure of the content, using approaches like the 6 W’s of journalism to address topics.  

• Authorship: The credibility and personal brand of the author, which contribute to the perceived value of the content.  

Experience

In this case, you must demonstrate firsthand experience on the topic being discussed. Content that reflects deep knowledge and authentic experiences is positively valued by Google, as it is understood that it also benefits users. This is something that automated content generators, like Chat GPT, cannot fully replicate at the moment.  

Trustworthiness  

Trust is built through a combination of solid text structure, user activity on the page, backlinks, and Google’s approval—a foolproof combo.  

Sites that show authority and experience also develop greater trust in search algorithms, helping them rank higher on Google’s SERP or any other search engine in general.  

Differences between the various Google algorithm updates  

As we’ve explained before, Google typically releases three types of different updates to its algorithms: Helpful Content, Spam, and Core Updates. Don’t know the differences? Let us explain them!  

Google Helpful Content Update  

As we’ve extensively explained throughout this content, this update prioritizes content that is most useful and focused on meeting user needs by providing value.  

Its impact improves the visibility of relevant and useful content while penalizing superficial or non-useful content.  

Google Spam Update  

The purpose of the Google Spam Update is to combat and reduce low-quality content and deceptive practices. This type of update focuses on identifying and removing content that tries to manipulate search results using tactics like keyword stuffing and cloaking. Its impact improves the integrity of search results, ensuring that users find valuable and trustworthy information.  

Google Core Update  

Lastly, but certainly not least, it’s worth mentioning the Google Core Update, which was the first of the three updates launched by Google, back in 2021. In other words, it’s the “older sibling” and is responsible for adjusting the search algorithm to improve the relevance and quality of results. These updates don’t focus on a specific area but affect multiple ranking factors on Google’s SERP.  

Websites may experience significant fluctuations in their rankings, requiring a constant focus on improving content quality and user experience.  

As you can see, these three updates are complementary, and you can’t focus on one without considering the other two. It’s essential to establish an optimization strategy for your website’s content, considering the latest updates released by Google.  

Improve your websites and prevent the Google Helpful Content Update!  

In conclusion, understanding and adapting to Google updates, such as the Helpful Content Update, in addition to the previously mentioned Spam and Core Updates, is crucial for maintaining and improving search visibility.  

These updates reflect Google’s commitment to providing a better experience for users by rewarding high-quality content and penalizing deceptive practices.  

Staying updated on these changes and adjusting your SEO strategy accordingly will help ensure your website’s long-term success. But do you know how to do this?  

At MD Marketing Digital, we can help you achieve better results.  

If you have doubts or difficulties adapting your content to Google’s new requirements… Don’t worry! At MD Marketing Digital, we have a team of professional experts in all areas of digital marketing, always keeping an eye on the latest Google algorithm updates.  

If you want to improve your SEO strategy and stay ahead, don’t hesitate to contact us! We’re here to help you achieve your digital goals.