If you have a website for your business, chances are you’ve wondered about the best strategy to get your site listed higher in Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). While there is some technical work to be done, one of the most critical factors is to ensure that your content is relevant, helpful, and useful for those visiting your website.

What Is the Google Helpful Content Update?

Google changes its algorithms every day, but typically they are not things we notice. However, several times a year, Google rolls out more significant, broad changes, called “Core Updates,” to their search algorithms and systems. Core Updates ensure that searchers are presented with relevant and authoritative content. The Google Helpful Content Update was released in 2020 as part of a more significant effort to improve search results, and it’s been the prevailing algorithm, with periodic updates, since then.

According to Google, this update looks at how helpful a web page is to visitors. It also rewards websites with “content that seems to have been primarily created to help or inform people rather than for ranking well in search engines.” If you provide helpful information or services on your website, you will likely see increased organic traffic and higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Planning a New Website or a Site Redesign?

Fortunately, Google provided a list of questions you, your website designer, or your copywriter can use to audit your content to give you the best shot at ranking higher on SERPs.

• Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content valuable if they came directly to you?
• Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise from having used a product or service or visiting a place)?
• Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
• After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
• Will someone read your content and leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?

Having helpful content on your website can give you an edge over competitors when it comes to organic visibility online. It’s essential to provide useful information and ensure it is well-structured and easy to understand so visitors can quickly find what they’re looking for without getting confused or frustrated. Unfortunately, if you notice that your site ranks lower than previously, it can take several months to see a positive change.

You’ve got a business to run. Let’s talk about how Craeve can work with you to maximize your potential reach online!