AI tools, like Jasper, are geared towards making this process a whole lot faster and easier for us in the industry. And, it does so in many aspects–from creating outlines to providing whole paragraphs. Since AI tools can process data at scale and use a number of methods to generate text (including deep learning, sentiment analysis, and NLP), they can also guide you towards content that is highly relevant to your audience’s needs. That said, there is a lot of trepidation about using AI writing tools. After all, isn’t it against Google’s guidelines? Google’s “We haven’t said AI content is bad. We’ve said, pretty clearly, content written primarily for search engines rather than humans is the issue.
That’s what we’re focused on If
someone fires up 100 humans to write content just to rank, or fires up a spinner, or an AI, same issue…” In Google’s Search Essentials, AI isn’t directly mentioned either. But, it does warn against using “spammy automatically-generated content,” which is why it’s best that you use any AI writing tool out there with a grain of salt. Zero Traffic from Google—that is what more than 50% of online content gets everyday. Ahrefs found this out last 2020. And yet, countless websites continue to put them out regularly—a problem made even worse with all the AI-powered content tools out there. The result is an endless flood of low-quality blogs and posts that are, ultimately, not useful for anyone who reads them.
So, what did Google do in response?
They put out another addition to their algorithm, called the “Helpful Content Update.” Their goal with this one was to help make sure that valuable content that actually helps their users (a.k.a., people-first content) would be able to rank. Much like with every update, SEO professionals like you and I need to revisit our strategies to stay ahead of the game. In this article, I will show you some tactics I use to write content for people first, while maintaining good SEO practices. What We Know About Google’s Helpful Content Update The Helpful Content Update algorithm update by Google was designed to improve user experience by putting high-quality content written for people higher up in the SERPs.
Here’s how Google put it in their own words:
“The system generates a site-wide signal that we consider among many other signals for ranking web pages. Our systems automatically identify content that seems to have little value, low-added value or is otherwise not particularly helpful to those doing searches. Any content—not just unhelpful content—on sites determined to have relatively high amounts of unhelpful content overall is less likely to perform well in Search, assuming there is other content elsewhere from the web that’s better to display. For this reason, removing unhelpful content could help the rankings of your other content.” While this update was first announced back in September 2022, it has now progressed into a global update, impacting all languages.
Google also announced that the system will
continue to publish new signals brazil phone number library over the coming months, helping their site identify more content created primarily for search engines versus people. What does this mean for your website? Well, there are a lot of changes that others have documented in the last few months, which I summarize for you here: Purely AI-generated content is considered spam, and Google will be using its machine learning algorithm to detect it. Content made for clicks (i.e., ad monetization) won’t work anymore. There may be no manual penalties, but sites have experienced losing organic visibility. It seems to affect the overall site performance, rather than hitting specific pages—and Google won’t be telling you which pieces of your content it has deemed as not useful.
Google’s Danny Sullivan also talked about this update
possibly working in connection with future updates: Google’s Danny Sullivan talking about Google’s Helpful Content Update So, like Hummingbird, this update may become fundamental to ranking algorithms—which means that its exact effects could be only observed over the next few years. Even so, it already puts a stronger emphasis on your content. Writing with a “search engine first” approach should no longer be your angle. After all, Google is, primarily, a space for users to learn. So, it makes sense that they’re making no room for unhelpful content. While this update will undoubtedly be more damaging for poor-quality sites, it also presents an opportunity for well-maintained sites to take a second look at their content strategy.
How Does Google Evaluate my Content in this New
Update? Google’s complete guidelines the second step is to find a suitable company on creating helpful, reliable, and people-first content can easily be found on Google Search Central. But, I’ve gone through the list and summarized it into the five most important criteria: Content and quality: Does your content have original, substantial information? Does it avoid copying and rewriting existing content? And, does it provide value, compared to others in the search results? Expertise: Does your content demonstrate your expertise, as well as clear sourcing of supporting evidence? Is it factual? Is it written by someone who knows the topic well? Presentation and production: Is the content written well, free of any spelling or stylistic issues? Does it avoid excessive ads or marketing? Does it display well on mobile devices? People-first approach: Does the content have a clear purpose or focus? Does it meet that purpose or focus? Does it provide useful information that helps create a a satisfying experience for the reader? Avoidance of search engine-first content: Was the content written with the reader in mind first, rather than search engine rankings? Does it avoid manipulation of search algorithms (such as through extensive automation, summarizing others’ content without adding value, etc.
)? How to Optimize Your Content—
and Make it More “Helpful” With hk phone number this update, we have to start thinking about our content holistically, rather than just trying to gain as many clicks as possible (or maybe even a featured snippet). To achieve this, you have two main action points to consider: improving your intent and processes, and providing high-quality content. Let’s go over some tips I’ve come up with in the last two months to better tackle these points (and enhance your writing): Review Your Intent and Your Audience Before you even start on your next blog post, you need to know who your audience is. Ask yourself, who are you writing for? What are their needs, and your content to help your target audience.
