Google first announced the Google Helpful Content Update on 18th August 2022 to crack down on low-quality, unhelpful content. This caused huge ripples in the search result rankings, as big websites like HubSpot and Search Engine Journal started experiencing month-over-month drops in total keyword traffic. So, what does the update mean for your SEO and rankings? Here are all the important bits you need to know about Google’s Helpful Content Update and its impact on rankings.

1. How
Does
Google’s
Helpful
Content
Update
Impact
SERP
Rankings?
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2. What is Google’s Helpful Content
Update?
It is a site-wide ranking signal
used by Google’s automated
ranking systems, which aims to
ensure people see only original,
helpful content created by
people whenever they run a
search query. This is a global
signal and works across content
in all languages.
This algorithm update also
automatically identifies
“unhelpful content”. And what
is that?

3. Here’s what Google qualifies as
unhelpful content
• Search engine-first content
that’s focused on keywords
• Content with little to low-
added value
• Regurgitated content
repeating what others have
already said
• Making false promises in
content
• Publishing content on
trendy topics only
• Too much fluff in content
to meet a specific word
count

4. This is also not the first
time Google has taken
major strides to improve
the quality of SERPs.
Here’s a look at the past
updates.
Source: CMSWIRE

5. A Timeline of Google’s HCU rollout
August 18,
2022 – first
announcement of
the update
September 9, 2022 –
The rollout was
complete after 15 days
September 12, 2022 –
Google rolled out a core
update, which makes
broad changes to its
search systems and
algorithms
September 26, 2022 –
Google finished the
core update
December 5, 2022 –
The “Update” was
branded as “System”
now. It improved on the
August’s update
January 12, 2023 – The
rollout was finally
complete

6. The Immediate Impact
Following its announcement on 18th
August, 2022, many were excited and eager
to learn what the update would bring to
the content game.
But when the update was finally finished,
its impact was lukewarm at best. Have a
look at the SERPs fluctuation.

7. This came as a surprise since Danny
Sullivan, Public Liaison for Search –
Google, had touted the update as
“big” but not a “huge shake-up” on
Twitter.
The webpages most impacted by
the impact included categories like:
• lyrics pages
• ringtones
• dictionaries
• manuals
• coding
But the number game changed
again with the core update of
September, 2022.

8. As soon as the core update was complete, many
people noticed a sudden drop and increase in traffic.
While there’s no official data, the drop in traffic was
between 20% to 60%. But there was no change in
rankings.
The SERPS were fiercely volatile. Here’s how
the tracking tools recorded them.
Impact of Google’s core update, 2022
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Nobody knew what they did wrong or how to make
sense of the update. But it only took a few weeks
to get back to some kind of normal.

9. Site recovery will be slow and painful
Since the Helpful Content System, many
websites have been impacted poorly.
But while some sites lost traffic, there
were many that benefitted. Most
notably the small brands.
For those who lost traffic, however, there
might never be a full recovery. According
to Gary Illyes of Google, you can’t ‘quick
fix’ your content and expect to get back
to your initial rankings.
BBut Google does have a validation period
during which it reviews sites. This can be
months long. To win Google’s favour, you
will have to prove your commitment to
publishing content that’s helpful in the
long run.
Google’s Helpful Content System Now

10. Google Discover is now a feature of
Search and (probably) affected by the
Helpful Content System
Since all features of Google Search are
now affected by the Helpful Content
System, it is assumed that the system
will impact Google Discover visibility as
well.
So, creators who want to get traffic
through Discover should focus on bringing
unique, value-packed content to their
audiences.

11. And, what about AI-generated content?
It was assumed Google would be penalising AI
content. But that doesn’t seem to be the
case. Here’s how Google Search views AI-
generated content.
• Their focus is on content quality rather
than how the content was produced. But
it should have the qualities of E-E-AT
(experience – expertise – authoritativeness
– trustworthiness) – the factors Google
uses to review a particular webpage.
• Google Search doesn’t consider AI
generated content as SPAM. Instead, they
believe AI can power creativity and help
people create useful content.
• But they’re strictly against the use of AI
to manipulate or game the search
engine rankings.

12. Next steps for you
Here’s how you can stay on top of the SERP
game (as recommended by Google)
• Write for people, not keywords. Instead of
using keyword traffic to choose content
topics, focus on solving the challenges of your
audience.
• Refresh old content. After the new update,
some of your older, high-performing content
can be deemed unhelpful by Google. So, it’s
best to update it with the latest info.
• Indicate who created your content.
Providing proper authorship information will
help you align with the E-E-A-T concepts.
• Satisfy the user intent by providing
actionable information. Make sure your
reader feels satisfied after reading your
content.
How has the update changed your content
strategy? Let us know in the comments!

13. Ukti offers content writing
services to help growing B2B
SaaS startups and SMEs create
value and drive conversions
through high-quality content.
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