Google’s helpful content update has done rolling out on September 9, 2022.
The update took 15 days to get completed as it was started on August 25th till September 9th.
Reminder: This Google update content update is a site-wide signal.
It targets websites that have an excessively large volume of unsatisfactory or useless content that is written only for search engines not for people.
In other words, did you create that piece of content to aid users or to rank on Google?
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Official Announcement on Google's Helpful Content Algorithm Update
Google has itself confirmed that the rollout is done by posting it on September 9th on Google Search Ranking Updates.
More Information On The HCU
The HCU primarily aims to target those websites/content that is knowingly written for search engines so that it can rank easily rather than focusing on helping/providing valuable information to the users.
Google wants to reward high-quality content with this algorithm update so that they can find quality answers to their queries.
Quick Facts on Google Helpful Content Update
The key facts that we know about that we know are added below:
Update Name: Google helpful content update
Launch Date: On August 25, it started to roll out.
Rollout Duration: The full rollout will take around two weeks.
Targets: It looks/finds content that was created to rank well in search of help humans/people.
Search Only: This update is currently only impacting Google Search, not Google Discover or other Google surfaces. But Google may expand this to Discover and more in the future.
Penalty: Google made no mention of a penalty, but the update does feel like one to the sites affected by it.
Site-wide: This is a site-wide algorithm, so the whole site will be impacted by this update.
Impact of The Helpful Content Update
This HCU Update did not feel tremendously widespread but Google did say it was a big update.
See what Danny Sullivan has to say:
It is big, Glenn, in that it’s an important guidance people should pay attention to. That’s why we made such a big effort to talk about it. But that’s not the same as everyone claiming it would be a huge shake-up that we did not say to expect….
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) September 6, 2022
What Should To Do If The Helpful Content Update Impacts Your Site?
Google has provided a list of questions that you can ask to yourself about your content.
Read our previous blog where we posted it to get answers on this question.
Final Notes
If you notice any ranking and visibility changes in Google search ranking over the past two weeks or so, especially if those were big changes, you can likely attribute it to this helpful content update algorithm.
Read Google’s advice, make the necessary changes, and hope for a recovery in the upcoming months.
