With billions of searches processed on Google per day, it is no surprise that they constantly update their systems to make searches more relevant. While minor changes take place regularly, a Google Core Update brings a massive change to the company's algorithm. It happens twice each year, aiming to improve user experience and provide more useful and trustworthy content.
The most recent Google Core Update, called The Helpful Content Update, launched on 22nd August and continued for 16 days to fully roll out.
What is The Helpful Content Update?
The new Google update is primarily focused on "content that seems to have been primarily created for ranking well in search engines rather than to help or inform people" — as explained by Google.
The purpose of this update is to help individuals find relevant and useful content. Many companies upload content with stuffed keywords purely to drive traffic and rank their pages. To fix this, Google targets those websites and downgrades them in favour of sites with more authentic, helpful information.
"Even if a website is newly launched, if the content is helpful and up to the mark, it has a higher chance of ranking on Google's first page."
1. Content Created for People
Previously, Google stated content should be written by people. The new update shifts this to "helpful content created for people."
Google described it as an "ongoing effort to reduce low-quality content and make it easier to find content that feels authentic and useful in Search." This notably targets content written for search engines over human-first content.
This means there is no longer a requirement for content to be written entirely by humans. Even if content is partially generated by AI, if it is relevant, user-friendly, and informative, it will be ranked accordingly.
2. A Sitewide Algorithm Update
Prior to this update, Google algorithms directly impacted individual pages. However, this new update is sitewide — it will not only impact pages or sections but the entire site.
This demonstrates that if your site generates a high amount of unhelpful content, that content will harm the rankings of your entire site — regardless of helpful content on other pages.
"Removing unhelpful content could help the rankings of your other content." — Google
3. Is it Reviewed by Experts?
With this update, Google also places emphasis on whether content is reviewed by an expert. The documentation under 'Creating Helpful Content' has been updated to ask:
"Is this content written or reviewed by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?"
This is listed under the expertise section — a direct signal that authoritativeness is now a more prominent ranking factor.
What to Do if You Are Hit
If you notice your website has de-ranked, Google explains: "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."
You can revise your content to make it more engaging and informative. According to this update, high-quality content should:
- Thoroughly cater to readers' answers and queries
- Prove to be valuable to readers — helping them accomplish a task or teaching them something
- Be digestible and comprehensible for all readers
To summarise: the new update can affect your site if you have more unhelpful content than helpful. Update and curate content with the above points in mind — it will improve your website's SEO. Create fresh, engaging, and evergreen content that stays relevant and helpful to your audience. This way, your content will automatically signal to Google that your information is ranking-worthy.