Everything you need to know about the update that industry insiders are comparing to Panda.
Google has recently introduced a new search algorithm update called the helpful content update. Industry insiders expect major disruption from this update with many drawing comparisons with the chaos caused by Panda in 2011.
The update started rolling out a couple of weeks ago! which means time is running out to make any changes to your website and content. In this article! we explain why this particular update is getting so much attention and what you can do if your website is affected.
What is the helpful content update?
The helpful content update will target rcs data websites that have significant amounts of “unhelpful” content primarily created to rank well in search engines! rather than deliver value for the end user.
If you read Google’s first announcement on the helpful content update! published 18 August! this is how it describes the goal of the update:
“The helpful content update aims to better reward content where visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience! while content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well.”
In the same announcement
Google specifies what website owners As important as ever in off-page SEO and SEOs need to do to create content that succeeds with this latest update: “By following our long-standing advice and guidelines to create content for people! not for search engines”.
So the emphasis here is on user expectations and satisfaction. The update aims to reward content that delivers what users are looking for and demote content that fails to live up to their expectations when they click through.
Crucially! Google says this update introduces
“New site-wide signal” which means zn business directory unhelpful pages could impact the ranking of your entire website. Essentially! if you have too many pages on your website flagged as unhelpful! then you could see a major drop in search ranking across your site.
Likewise! removing potentially unhelpful content from your website could have a positive impact on your remaining pages.
Furthermore! Google says the new signal will be weighted! which means the more helpful or unhelpful your content is! the more it will be affected by the update.
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