Recent Google Core Update: What Is Helpful Content?
Google has unveiled a major update to its search algorithms and policies. This update is aimed squarely at addressing the issue of spammy and low-quality content that sometimes appears in its search engine results.
Known as the March 2024 Core Update, this update is more comprehensive than the typical updates Google periodically rolls out. It encompasses changes to the algorithm that are designed to enhance the overall quality of search results. The aim is to ensure users find relevant and high-quality information while significantly diminishing the presence of spam or ‘unhelpful’ content.
Understanding The March 2024 Core Update
Google is updating its core ranking systems to better evaluate if webpages are unhelpful or provide a poor user experience. In addition, it wants to be able to identify whether web pages were created for the purpose of ranking on search engines instead of being helpful to people.
Google is also completely deindexing websites that provide low-quality content and poor user experience. The ultimate goal is to reduce unoriginal, poor-quality content in the search results by 40%.
What this means is that it is more important than ever to ensure your website is providing valuable, original, and helpful content.
So What Is Helpful Content?
Helpful content is information crafted by individuals with in-depth knowledge or expertise in a particular area, targeted toward a specific group of readers. The key characteristic of such content is that it aims to address questions or topics the audience is interested in comprehensively.
Helpful content has the following characteristics:
First-Hand Expertise
A major factor that determines the quality of helpful content is how well it reflects the real-life experiences or perspectives of the writer. This means that authors should possess some level of expertise on the topic they are writing about, whether through personal experience, extensive research, or professional training.
The more personal knowledge or expertise a writer has, the greater the likelihood of them being able to address readers’ queries and provide valuable insights accurately. This is why helpful content often includes industry experts, thought leaders, and individuals with hands-on experience in a particular field.
A Primary Objective Or Purpose
In addition to being informative and insightful, helpful content should have a clear objective or purpose. Whether it is to educate, entertain, inspire, or persuade, the content should serve a specific purpose that aligns with the website’s overall goal.
The objective or purpose of the content should also align with the needs and interests of the target audience. Understanding your audience’s demographics, preferences, and pain points is crucial to creating relevant and meaningful content that resonates with them.
Easy To Understand And Engaging
The best content is easy to read, understand, and engage with. This means using simple language that is accessible to a wide range of readers and avoiding overly technical jargon. You also want to use a writing style that is conversational and relatable.
In addition to the language used, the format of the content plays a crucial role in its engagement. This includes:
- breaking up long paragraphs
- using headings and subheadings
- incorporating visuals like images or videos
- using bullet points or numbered lists to organize information
New Content
Having outdated or irrelevant content on a website can harm its credibility and usefulness. Helpful content should always strive to provide the latest and most up-to-date information on a particular topic. This ensures the accuracy of the content and keeps readers coming back for more.
Also, regularly updating and adding new content shows that the website is actively engaged with its audience and committed to providing valuable information.
To keep the information fresh and engaging, you can also repurpose existing content by creating new formats, such as infographics, podcasts, or webinars.
Encourage Interaction
Another aspect of helpful content is its ability to encourage interaction with the audience. This can be achieved through comment sections, discussion forums, or social media shares.
The content becomes more dynamic and fosters a sense of community by allowing readers to leave their thoughts and opinions.
Encouraging interaction also opens up opportunities for readers to ask questions or provide feedback. It can help gather valuable insights into the audience’s interests and needs, allowing future content to be tailored and targeted to their preferences.
Final Thoughts
Crafting valuable content is an ongoing process that requires continuous learning, adaptability, and creativity. By staying up to date on Google’s updates and understanding your target audience, you can create content that meets their expectations and helps drive traffic and conversions for your website.
At the end of the day, quality is better than quantity. Always provide genuine, informative, and engaging content that adds value to the user experience. With a solid understanding of these principles, you can continuously improve and refine your content strategy to succeed.
If you need help creating quality, helpful content, get in touch with our team at The Hoyt Organization. We can develop an effective content strategy, curate original content, and audit your existing content to ensure your site is set up for success.
