Using Google’s Helpful Content Update to Keep Your Rankings High

Google utilizes machine learning to evaluate the value of your content to users through algorithms such as the Helpful Content system and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT). Google’s Helpful Content update prioritizes helpful and relevant content instead of content written for search engines. Keep reading to learn how your website is impacted by this update, according to the experienced professionals from Saba SEO, one of the premier digital marketing and SEO companies San Diego businesses rely on for unmatched expertise and high-quality service delivered with integrity.

What Does the Content Update Do?

The Helpful Content update puts the audience first, assessing content based on how it addresses user queries rather than SEO keywords.

Google uses automated systems to rank content. These systems consider factors like E-E-A-T to determine relevant content and rank it based on what’s most helpful. E-E-A-T stands for:

• Experience
• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness

If the classifier finds most of your content unhelpful, your ranking goes down.

How Do I Ensure Helpful Content?

Prioritizing a people-first approach doesn’t mean abandoning SEO best practices but rather incorporating them into valuable content. A quick way to gauge your content is to answer these questions:

• Do readers feel they need additional information from elsewhere after reading your content?
• Do you cover different topics to perform better in search results?
• Did you choose a niche topic to generate search traffic but have no real expertise in the field?
• Is your content a summary of others’ opinions without additional value?
• Do you use automation to generate content on different topics?
• Do you cover trending topics you wouldn’t write for your current audience just to keep up?

If you answer yes to some or all of these questions, it’s time to reevaluate your content.

How Long Will It Take My Website to Rank Better?

Google’s classifier is automated and continuously monitors new and existing websites. If you eliminate unhelpful content, it may take a few months to move up in the rankings, since the algorithm has to ensure you don’t republish the content.

Keeping up with Google’s changing algorithms and ranking factors is one of the smartest things a business can do in today’s online-centered marketplace. If you need help staying on top of Google trends to remain competitive, call on the experts from Saba SEO. For premier expertise in web design, digital marketing, and SEO, San Diego companies have relied on us for more than 20 years. Call one of our SEO specialists today.