What were the effects of Google’s Helpful Content update?
What were the effects of Google’s Helpful Content update?
Blog Article
Grab a coffee and let me tell you a story …
Back in late August 2022 I was enjoying a rare, work-free holiday—feet in the sand, cocktail in hand—when my phone started buzzing like a swarm of angry bees. One client after another: “Our traffic just fell off a cliff!” It wasn’t the Wi-Fi ruining my beach vibes; it was Google’s brand-new Helpful Content update rolling out in real time.
Fast-forward to September 2023 and Google cranked the dial again. By then I’d seen enough analytics carnage to understand what was happening: Google had finally declared war on fluff—and it was winning.
Why the update matters (a.k.a. my Tuesday night meltdown)
Picture me, 10 p.m., hair-in-a-bun, staring at a dashboard where a once-dominant blog line takes a nosedive worthy of an Olympic diver. What do all the plummeting pages have in common? They’re:
Stuffed with recycled tips you could find on five other sites
Written by someone who’s clearly never touched the product
Built around “best + keyword” templates rather than real questions
Sporting bounce rates so high they make kangaroos jealous
Google wasn’t trimming hedges; it was clear-cutting the entire spam forest—and sometimes collateral damage hit brands I actually like.
The secret sauce: E-E-A-T (hold the mayo)
Remember when E-A-T (expertise, authority, trust) was the buzzword? Google added an extra “E” for experience, and suddenly everyone wanted author bios with photos of them actually doing the thing they write about. My poor marketing intern had to pose with power drills, yoga mats, and a slow cooker—all in the name of “first-hand authority.”
What winning pages look like (starring one of my clients)
Take Sarah, a sleep-consultant-turned-blogger. Instead of regurgitating “10 tips for better sleep,” she live-tested ten mattress toppers, filmed herself unboxing them (complete with excited dog cameo), and tracked her REM cycles on a smartwatch. Result? Her review outranked the big retailers within a month, and affiliate sales paid for her new puppy. Google loves that kind of lived experience.
The fallout checklist (a.k.a. how I spent my weekends)
Content triage: I deleted more thin blogs than emails in my spam folder.
Merging mini-posts: Fifteen 300-word blurbs became one monster guide—with a shiny new table of contents.
Proofreading boot camp: Typos? Gone. Passive voice? On notice.
Expert interviews: I bribed engineers, chefs, even my dentist for quotes.
Engagement metrics: Dwell time is my new love language.
“But how long should my article be?”
Wrong question, amigo. The right question is: “Did I actually answer the reader’s problem, or did I just waffle for 1,200 words?” If you can nail it in 400, do 400. If you need 2,000, grab a refill and keep typing.
Topic drift is real (and deadly)
I once worked with a law firm that tried to rank an article about its sponsored rugby team—on the firm’s employment-law blog. Google side-eyed that faster than I hit “unsubscribe” on spam. Moral of the story: stay in your lane unless your new lane is clearly linked to what you already do.
How to stay on Google’s nice list
Listen to actual customers. Your inbox is richer than any keyword tool.
Show, don’t tell. Screenshots, photos, videos—anything that proves you’re legit.
Make it skimmable. H2s, bullets, TL;DR boxes keep bounce rates low.
Keep polishing. Quarterly updates keep content fresh and your rankings safer.
Measure what matters. Engagement beats raw traffic 100 % of the time.
Final thought (pep-talk edition)
Google’s Helpful Content update isn’t out to ruin your day; it’s a polite nudge—well, maybe a shove—toward writing stuff that actually helps people. If you’re the brand that answers questions with flair, honesty, and a sprinkle of personality, you’ll be fine. If you’re banking on those 200 spun blog posts from 2017, you might want to pour another coffee.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a beach holiday to reschedule—this time with a laptop on standby. Cheers to creating content that’s genuinely worth reading!