Google's helpful content update begins rolling out today. Google announced it a week ago, on August 18, and indicated that the rollout could take up to two weeks. For now, it applies only to English-language searches; Google has stated that other languages will follow later, without specifying a date.
The objective can be summarized in one sentence: Google intends to lower the ranking of content written mainly to rank in search, and raise the ranking of content written for people.
Many SEO professionals are skeptical, since Google has expressed some version of this goal for fifteen years. This update, however, includes a new element that we consider significant: the signal applies to the entire site. If a large share of a site's pages appear to have been created for search engines, even its strong pages may be affected.
What type of content does the helpful content update target?
Pages created to capture searches rather than to inform. The web currently contains many such pages: a "best canoe paddles 2022" article written by someone who has never held a paddle; a 2,000-word article answering a question that required two sentences, lengthened because long content is believed to rank better; ten city pages with identical text and only the town name changed.
These pages do not serve any real reader. They exist to capture a search and place an ad or an affiliate link in front of whoever arrives.
Google's guidance on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content is worth reading in full. It is one of the most candid documents Google has published, and it states explicitly that Google has no preferred word count. That statement should settle a long-standing debate, although it is unlikely to.
How can a small business assess its own website?
Most small business sites are not the target. A bakery, a garage or a campground does not operate a content farm. However, many small sites have adopted poor practices over the years, often based on well-intentioned advice, so a one-hour review is a worthwhile investment.
Would the page exist if Google did not?
This is the most important question. An opening hours page: yes. A services page: yes. A page on "the history of plumbing in ancient Rome" on a local plumber's site: probably not. A page that exists only because someone expected it to rank is a candidate for removal.
Does the page demonstrate first-hand experience?
This is where small businesses hold a real advantage, which most do not use. They have actually done the work. They know which trail floods in May, which part fails on a given water heater model and what customers consistently forget to bring. This knowledge belongs on the page: original photos, mistakes observed in the field and details that only practitioners would know.
Google's guidance asks almost exactly this: does the content demonstrate that the author has actually used the product or visited the place? We expect this criterion to gain importance over time.
Does the reader leave satisfied?
After reading the page, does the visitor have the information they were seeking, or must they return to Google and search again? If visitors return to the results, the page has not fulfilled its purpose, regardless of its ranking.
What should be done with thin pages?
Delete or merge them. This step is often difficult, as it can feel like discarding past work.
Many small sites contain dozens of thin pages: old blog posts of three lines, tag archives no one visits, service pages with nearly identical content and location pages cloned from a single template. Individually, each appears harmless.
With a site-wide signal, they are no longer harmless. They lower the performance of the rest of the site.
We recommend the following steps this fall:
- List every page on the site along with its traffic over the past year.
- Keep and improve pages with real traffic or a clear purpose.
- Merge pages covering the same topic into a single, stronger page, with redirects from the old addresses.
- Remove pages with neither traffic nor purpose.
Fewer, stronger pages: the approach is not glamorous, but on small sites it generally produces results.
Will the helpful content update affect your site?
For most small local businesses, the effect is likely to be limited. This first phase appears aimed at large content operations, affiliate sites and "best of" list producers. A ten-page site about a real business, maintained by the people who do the work, is likely to be unaffected.
The longer-term trend warrants more attention. OpenAI's GPT-3 has been available for some time, and we have spent considerable time experimenting with it. It produces fluent, plausible text in seconds. At present, obtaining usable output requires some adjustment, but this limitation is unlikely to last. When anyone can produce a thousand acceptable pages in an afternoon, the problem Google is addressing will grow considerably and rapidly.
In that scenario, first-hand experience gains value. It is the one element a machine cannot convincingly reproduce: it has never stood behind your counter or paddled your lake.
Who should website content be written for?
For readers who already know the basics. Our guiding principle is to write for someone who understands the fundamentals and wants to learn more. Omit definitions that can be found in ten seconds, and provide the information only your business can offer.
Be prepared to remove content as well. When a page does not serve its reader, we recommend removing it rather than adding filler.
For businesses unsure how their site measures up, an SEO audit is a sound starting point. The most significant improvement is often a list of pages to remove, rather than a list of pages to add.