Helpful Content Update? Well, there actually is no such thing as Helpful Content Update. Because there is creating helpful content that is reliable and focused on people-first as opposed to creating content for search engine rankings. Can you see the difference?
Because search engine optimization in 2024 is different compared to previous years, and it is important to understand that the latest updates are about creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.
Google’s “Helpful Content Update” means that Google in 2024 is looking for utmost quality (both in terms of content and user-experience) when it sends traffic to a website.
What Really is Helpful Content (HCU) in SEO?
It matters not whether you have a basic personal blog, marketing a product, blogging, or operate a local business website. Only you know your target audience, and only you can determine what they will find useful in terms of searching for your products or services. However, this video should guide you to better understand the latest core update.
Video Showing What HCU is About
Why Website Content Quality is Important for Search Engine Optimization in 2024?
Perhaps the above heading is misleading, because quality of the website and its content has always been important for Google rankings (not just in 2024). But since there are new technologies and new ways people use the internet, today Google search engine wants to provide enriched user experiences in search (particularly for mobile device usage).
How to Create Helpful Reliable & People-first Content?
Simply research your market more in depth, conduct keyword research and take a look at competitors website. Above all else listen to your target audience (online reviews are a great place to start). Furthermore: consider publishing complementary content.
For example: RankYa offers Website Optimization related services, and creating how to related videos as well as PDFs adds additional value to the website visitor. But this approach may not work for your industry, and yet, you can definitely think of new ways to enrich your website user experience.
In simple terms, do the opposite of creating content that has “little value, low-added value or is otherwise not particularly helpful to people”.
How Bad SEO Practices Influence Google Rankings
If you’ve learnt website optimization from reliable sources such as Google Help and RankYa’s free or paid Courses, each core Google update should mean you get higher volume of website traffic and website conversions.
However, if you’ve listened to those fly-by-night operators using spam SEO methods, then, you need to step back right now and start evaluating your online approach.
Forget about Google rankings for a second and think of your website visitors, what type of content would they like?
How Can Google Work Out Site-Wide Signals of Content Quality?
Google technologies are evolved in 2024, they use machine learning to determine rankings, and their recent Page Experience update (which includes Core Web Vitals) tell Google if the website is based on quality.
Above all else, Google advanced tracking technology means that whenever they send a website traffic to a particular website, they can track many things (does the searcher search again, how long do they stay on the website, do they visit other pages etc. etc.). That coupled with the latest March 2024 search quality guidelines ensures that the new algorithm update can work out what is based on quality.
How-To Create Highest Quality Content?
Understand the fact that Google combines hundreds of signals to determine which results they show for a given search query, and the latest Google algorithm update is built on hundreds of other signals as well as main webmaster guidelines (Google Search Essentials). Meaning, even if you adhere to below guidelines, your website must still be within other Google Guidelines (technical, quality and best practices. This also includes Page Experience and Core Web Vitals updates.
High level of effort: The website or content creators worked hard to create content that achieves the purpose of the page. The Main Content is well-organized, edited, and curated to support the purpose.
Originality: The Main Content is unique or original to the website (this usually means the content can not be found elsewhere on internet). It is important to understand that original content isn’t about textual information, but rather everything on the web page including photos or video footage produced by the website or content creator. Also, the content on the web page is unique to the content creators, such as a personal perspective based on first-hand life experience.
High level of talent or skill: The Main Content showcases the talent of the creator, e.g. a video of a talented content creator dancing, or, video of a plumber showing how to fix basic plumbing issues, or how-to SEO article created by experts such as RankYa.
World of Google search engine results page are changing, if anything, simply ensure that your website loads reasonably fast, is mobile friendly, has unique original content and you make sharing of your content easy. If you do have technical skills, then, make sure to explore and use Structured Data Google supports. Check out the latest how to add structured data tutorials by RankYa.
