In this talk, Daniel Foley discusses Google's definition of helpful content and how much SEO has changed in his 25+ years of experience. Daniel states that traditional SEO still works in some cases but in the next few years, the SERPs will go through a big shift, the likes of which the industry hasn't seen before. For the full slides and information about the event, go to https://www.searchnorwich.org/events/searchnorwich-12

3. Who am I? / My Background
Daniel Foley Carter -
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-foley-
assertive/
● Started SEO around late 98 early 99
● Originally wanted to be a website designer
● Worked for large SEO agencies back in the
early 2000s
● Started Assertive in 2007 and went
independent
● Have worked with medium/large brands for
a majority of my career
● Have ranked sites in highly competitive
niches
● COVID hit my agency in 2019, set up a
consultancy as a fail safe, agency recovered
● Launched SEO Audits IO in 2022
● Developing an SEO Saas (SEO stack)

4. TRADITIONAL SEO
● Optimising for Google
● Focusing on keywords
● Writing content with keywords in
● Using page elements to house keywords
● Building links
● Focusing on rankings
● Emphasis on blog creation
Late 1990s
Mid 2010s

5. MODERN SEO
● Optimising for End Users
● Search friendly website (good technical
compliance)
● Content created for users not search
● Give users what they want (intent)
● Offer a good user/page experience
● Demonstrate expertise & authority
● Strengthen brand authority & trust
● Build links
Mid 2010s
Early 2020s

6. TRADITIONAL
SEO IS DYING!
But it’s not dead
yet.

7. TRADITIONAL SEO
RELIED ON YOU
MAKING IT SUPER
CLEAR WHAT IT WAS
YOU HAD TO OFFER
URL: seo-agency.co.uk/emds-are-dead
<TITLE>SEO Agency | SEO Agency Near
You</TITLE>
<H1> SEO Agency </H1>
<P>We are an SEO agency……….
As an SEO agency we……………. Not many SEO
agencies do SEO like we do.
<H2>Why you need an SEO agency</H2>
ALT=”Seo Agency”
But the problem
was - QUALITY.

8. JUST BECAUSE YOU MADE IT CLEAR
WHAT YOU OFFERED - DIDN’T MEAN YOU
WERE GOOD FOR THE END USER
Traditional SEO = not enough data points
for Google to work with.

9. THESE COULD
ALL MARKET
THEMSELVES AS
CAR MECHANICS
9 Years
Experience
13 Years
Experience
3 Years
Experience
But how would
you know which
one is best?

10. TRADITIONAL SEO
100 Data Points
Less Data = More Basic
Algo
MODERN SEO
1000 Data Points
More Data = More
Advanced Algo

11. TRADITIONAL
SEO
100 Data Points
Less Data = More
Basic Algo
MODERN SEO
1000 Data Points
More Data =
More Advanced
Algo
FUTURE SEO
1000+ Data
Points
More Data =
More Advanced
Algo & AI / ML

12. MODERN SEO IS MORE LIKELY
TO RESULT IN AN EVEN BETTER
USER EXPERIENCE.
GOOGLE’S ALGO SHIFTS ARE
MOVING THE BARRIER TO RANK.
THIS BARRIER MEANS SEOS
HAVE TO PAY MORE ATTENTION
TO WHAT USERS WANT/NEED

13. TRADITIONAL SEO DIDN’T
NEED HELPFUL CONTENT
AS PART OF THE
STRATEGY.
SEOS COULD RANK
CONTENT THAT WASN’T
GOOD - MEANING USERS
IN SEARCH WOULDN’T
ALWAYS HAVE A GOOD
USER EXPERIENCE.

14. TECHNICAL
PROGRESSION + AI +
MACHINE LEARNING
ALLOW GOOGLE TO
PROCESS MORE + WIDER
DATA SETS TO
DETERMINE
Is this good for the end
user?

15. SO GOOGLE CREATED A
HELPFUL CONTENT
ALGORITHM
A paradigm shift away from
“SEO Optimised” content,
search engine first content
and content that isn’t
genuinely helpful.

16. AI / MACHINE LEARNING
● Google is better able to understand
content quality
● More able to understand intent &
context of search
● Access to far more data touch points
including content & trust signals
● Better able to differentiate between
content created to rank vs content
created to satisfy end user needs
MODERN SEO
Content Self-Assessment
Content Quality
Demonstrating Expertise
Focus on People First Content
Avoid Content for Search Engines
Get to know E-E-A-T & Quality
Rater Guidelines

17. AI / MACHINE LEARNING
● Better able to distinguish between
content written by an expert vs a
general writer
● Better able to understand overall
topical coverage
● Better able to understand - were the
users needs met
MODERN SEO
Content Self-Assessment
Content Quality
Demonstrating Expertise
Focus on People First Content
Avoid Content for Search Engines
Get to know E-E-A-T & Quality
Rater Guidelines

18. So, what should we be focusing on to
benefit from helpful content updates?

19. Google has published
guidance around
creating helpful
content -
https://developers.goo
gle.com/search/docs/f
undamentals/creating-
helpful-content

20. We can simplify this initially.
In general (very top level) it will look
like this.
● What do we have to offer
● Are we competitive
● What is most important to end users
(information prioritisation)
● Create content in order of priority
of what matters to end users
● Assess our content for quality
indicators & expertise
● Ensure that content is presented in
a way that offers a good page
experience

21. Breaking it down
● What do we have to offer
Product?
Service?
Information?
Review?
This shapes intent & content direction
significantly.
I.e. Product > eCom > Purchase intent >
helpful content = to the point content,
descriptive, trust signals (delivery,
warranty)

22. ● Are we competitive
Coverage i.e. number of product
Pricing
Service coverage
Location
Size of market > competitors
Non competitive areas can impact
behaviour - pricing yourself out of an
engagement as one example
Breaking it down

23. ● What is most important to end users
(information prioritisation)
eCOM (Price, Delivery, Warranty)
Service (Location, price, speed etc.)
Review (Photos, Pro & Con Summary
etc.)
Article (Answering a Q? In-depth
topic? Topical breakdown)
Breaking it down

24. ● Create content in order of priority
of what matters to end users
Create customer/user priority
checklist
Create content - adhering to Google
H/C & E-E-A-T guidelines
Exercise caution with keyword/AI
tools (they aren’t your friend)
Consider expected behaviour - this
should shape content digestibility
Breaking it down

25. ● Assess our content for quality
indicators & expertise
Use for pre-existing content,
generally creating new content you
should adopt H/C as you write
Writers should know the topic or
have experience within it - less
experienced writers more likely to
miss the mark
Breaking it down

26. ● Ensure that content is presented in
a way that offers a good page
experience
Present your content in a digestible
fashion
Make content more accessible
across mobile/desktop i.e.
jumplinks, clean spacing
Breaking it down

27. Worry less about traditional SEO factors
- Google’s relying on them less and less

28. Traditional SEO
How has SEO been changing?
● Evolution of computing power gives Google the ability to process more data
● Advancements in Machine Learning gives Google better ability to understand context,
intent, needs
● Advancements in AI & algorithms allow Google to work with wider datasets & for AI to
help advance algorithm performance
● Touch points for data have been increasing - Google has access to more and more data
points
● AI / ML and a growing set of data touch points allows Google to further refine and
improve results

29. Traditional SEO
Googlebot mid
2000s
Keyword Search -
Cheap Ford
Fiesta
Google’s Algo’s advanced year on
year, as processing power & tech
advanced, Google had a growing
ability to better filter results
In the early days SEO was really as
simple as getting your keywords into
content and having a clean site (and
building links regardless of quality i.e.
reciprocal links, FFA, link farms etc)
<title>Cheap Ford Fiesta | Buy Ford Fiesta | My Car Shop</title>
<H1>Cheap Ford Fiesta</H1>
Buy a cheap ford fiesta from my car shop - we
have over 100 cheap ford fiestas in stock for you
to buy.
You can buy a red ford fiesta, buy a blue ford
fiesta or browse our stock for other colour and
trim options
<H2>Where can I Buy a cheap Ford Fiesta></H2>
Our local showrooms are in London, Luton, Norwich - we have over 200
cheap ford fiestas for you to browse. You can buy a cheap ford fiesta
from just £999 with warranty.
FORD FIESTA
LONDON
FORD FIESTA
LUTON
BUY CHEAP
FORD FIESTA
BUY CHEAP
RED FORD
FIESTA
BUY CHEAP
GREEN FORD
FIESTA
CONTACT US
LINKS
PRIVACY
POLICY

30. Traditional SEO
Googlebot mid
2000s
Keyword Search -
Cheap Ford
Fiesta
However - many “traditional”
elements still exist - page titles,
header tags from H1 to H6, keywords
in anchors, needing a clean site and
internal links / external links.
BUT
Google relies less and less on
traditional touchpoints.
<title>Cheap Ford Fiesta | Buy Ford Fiesta | My Car Shop</title>
<H1>Cheap Ford Fiesta</H1>
Buy a cheap ford fiesta from my car shop - we
have over 100 cheap ford fiestas in stock for you
to buy.
You can buy a red ford fiesta, buy a blue ford
fiesta or browse our stock for other colour and
trim options
<H2>Where can I Buy a cheap Ford Fiesta></H2>
Our local showrooms are in London, Luton, Norwich - we have over 200
cheap ford fiestas for you to browse. You can buy a cheap ford fiesta
from just £999 with warranty.
FORD FIESTA
LONDON
FORD FIESTA
LUTON
BUY CHEAP
FORD FIESTA
BUY CHEAP
RED FORD
FIESTA
BUY CHEAP
GREEN FORD
FIESTA
CONTACT US
LINKS
PRIVACY
POLICY

31. Traditional SEO
Google’s gotten smarter
● Google relied more heavily on keywords in elements years ago, because that’s what their
algo relied on - less complex algo meant for a more straightforward approach to SEO
● Google didn’t understand intent, context of search query years ago - so if someone
wanted to rank for cheap ford fiesta - it would be a case of creating lots of keyword
optimised content around cheap ford fiesta and then bolstering it with lots of links
● Google couldn’t see what a website looked like - it could see HTML / parsed HTML
● Google didn’t know whether your site would be a good fit for the end user, it relied more
on link signals (popularity factors)

32. Traditional SEO
This journey didn’t happen overnight, it’s
taken more than 2 decades of search
evolution for Google to be pivoting to new
models for evaluating what’s best for end
users.
Here are some of the memorable updates
over the last decade - we see different
update types addressing different aspects
of search / evaluation of different factors
from links to content.

33. Traditional SEO to Modern SEO
The transition from traditional to modern
SEO has been slow - but, we’re seeing
faster paced developments with more AI
infused algorithm updates that look past
whether someone put keywords in a title
tag or whether the content contains
keywords or even “semantic” variations.
Modern SEO is a pivotal point because we
see a widened array of data points that can
be used to ascertain - is this result good
for the end user?
Potential Data Points:
● POGO Factor
● User Engagement Factor
● Expected Behaviour Factor
● Needs Met Factor

34. Helpful Content: Modern SEO
Modern SEO brings SEO away from
traditional factors - because putting
keywords in things doesn’t make your
result a good fit for the end user.
Keywords in title tags, header tags, in content
- they may still help to a degree, but they’re
not a the forefront of SEO anymore.
Google SPECIFICALLY wants content made
for people that helps users to get what they
need (intent satisfaction)
Keyword in a title to INITIATE the journey -
but, ultimately, the offering is what will
attract the click.
Google can serve alternate titles if it feels the
one you provide isn’t optimal for the end user
(less likely to attract a good CTR)

35. Helpful Content: Modern SEO
Modern SEO incorporates helpful content
analysis and alignment.
As opposed to a keyword in page strategy like
traditional SEO would require - Google’s
helpful content is about providing something
that’s helpful.
What’s helpful? Content that meets a majority
of searcher needs.
How can Google ascertain this?
Traditional SEO could mean a landing page
FULL of text - that text being there to
influence rank and not to support and end
users need.
Modern SEO is about meeting end user
needs - conforming / aligning to various
factors such as E-E-A-T.

36. Helpful Content: Modern SEO
How helpful something may be depends on
what it has to offer and the probability it
will satisfy needs met.
So - in this instance a searcher specifying
the word CHEAP as part of their search
query will change the context of the
results.
So helpful content / needs met factors are
likely to shift inline with this.
Search Query:
I.e. BERT - Context of query / LMs (language models)
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Intent:
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Purchase/Buy Entity: Thing

37. Helpful Content: Modern SEO
In searches there are various models that
will shape the outcome of the results -
intent is one part - but serving something
that’s practical is another.
For example - if a user wants to buy
something - the next consideration may be
- should the provider be within proximity of
the searcher - I mean, would it be helpful to
serve car dealerships in Scotland if I lived
in London?
Probably not.
Search Query:
I.e. BERT - Context of query / LMs (language models)
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Intent:
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Purchase/Buy Entity: Thing
Localisation
Factor

38. Helpful Content: Modern SEO
As we delve down - we can look at factors
that are going to impact how helpful
results are likely to be - THIS IS A
POTENTIAL MODELLING - but,
nonetheless a part of SEO.
For example - would Google serve a
dealership that offers cheap ford fiestas within
the locality of the user where they never have
any inventory?
So we can continue to drill down.
Search Query:
I.e. BERT - Context of query / LMs (language models)
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Intent:
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Purchase/Buy Entity: Thing
Localisation
Factor
Offering/Coverage
Ford Fiesta Options
Trim, Price, Colours

39. Helpful Content: Modern SEO
Here we can see how much
offering/coverage of the entity could be
inclusive in the evaluation - the entity can
have variations i.e. engine size, colour,
trim.
How many available?
Then - the landing page content can itself
be taken into consideration.
Search Query:
I.e. BERT - Context of query / LMs (language models)
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Intent:
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Purchase/Buy Entity: HOW MANY OF THE
Thing
Localisation
Factor
Offering/Coverage
Ford Fiesta Options
Trim, Price, Colours
Landing Page
Content / NLP

40. Helpful Content: Modern SEO
Continuing through the drill down - we can
then look at - not only landing page
content factors, but brand trust factors -
i.e. is the dealer reputable? Good or bad
reviews? Supportive link profile? Brand
cited in other places?
Search Query:
I.e. BERT - Context of query / LMs (language models)
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Intent:
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Purchase/Buy Entity: HOW MANY OF THE
Thing
Localisation
Factor
Offering/Coverage
Ford Fiesta Options
Trim, Price, Colours
Landing Page
Content / NLP
Brand trust factors
(Reviews, Ext Links,
brand social / citations)

41. Helpful Content: Modern SEO
This is more to convey
how quickly data points
can stack up.
Search Query:
I.e. BERT - Context of query / LMs (language models)
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Intent:
Cheap Ford Fiesta
Purchase/Buy Entity: HOW MANY OF THE
Thing
Localisation
Factor
Offering/Coverage
Ford Fiesta Options
Trim, Price, Colours
Landing Page
Content / NLP
Brand trust factors
(Reviews, Ext Links,
brand social / citations)
In-page CTAs to buy,
car finance, credit,
payment types
GMB, Business Details
Consistency,
Company Reg
Localised brand
searches
How many other
makes?
Other ford models?
Accessibility /
Filtering
UX
Links from
trusted sites,
relevance/affinity
to topic
Review sources
Review types
Frequency/volume
User engagement
Patterns of
behavior