Google’s helpful content update

To understand the helpful content update, it’s important to know how Google’s algorithm updates typically work. Google regularly releases updates to its search algorithm—the complex system that determines which pages rank for specific search queries.

Most updates target specific ranking factors like page speed, mobile-friendliness, or link quality, and they tend to evaluate individual pages independently.

The Google helpful content update was different. Instead of focusing on technical factors or evaluating pages in isolation, this update applied a site-wide classifier that assessed the overall quality and helpfulness of all content on a domain. It was designed to answer a broader question: Is this website primarily focused on helping users, or is it trying to game search engines?

If it determined that your content was low-quality and unhelpful, it would target and reduce the organic search visibility (aka keyword rankings) for your site on Google search.

Why? Because Google wants to promote expert-written, user-focused content that genuinely answers search intent. In general, helpful content is defined as:

• The intended audience would find the content useful
• Content clearly demonstrates first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge
• The site as a whole has a primary purpose or focus
• Someone reading your content will leave satisfied that you’ve met their needs
• Your product reviews follow Google’s review guidelines

Google pushed out this update to address a growing problem: websites publishing a lot of keyword-targeted content that technically satisfied search queries but didn’t provide value for human visitors.

Users were increasingly encountering content that they almost felt tricked into clicking on—for example, pages with compelling titles that promised comprehensive answers but delivered thin, surface-level information instead.

Another example, a common SEO tactic at the time (that still pops up today) was to choose a keyword that’s at least partially related to your subject matter and write an in-depth article targeting it. While the content might be well-written and comprehensive, if it doesn’t really match the niche of your website, it could be classified as “unhelpful” according to Google.

Commonly penalized sites included:

• Articles that aggregated basic information from other sources without adding insights
• Product roundups created by people who’d never used the products
• How-to guides written by authors with no practical experience in the subject

These pages might have answered users’ immediate questions but then left them unsatisfied, forcing additional searches to get the information they were looking for.

Google wanted to surface more content demonstrating authentic expertise rather than content that simply mentioned relevant keywords. This shift toward rewarding genuine value over SEO tactics was meant to preserve user trust in organic search results.

After all, Google’s aim was, and remains today, to keep people using its search engine as much as possible. More satisfaction in search results leads to more people using Google.

Google’s system uses machine learning to identify patterns that distinguish genuinely helpful content from “content that seems to have little value, low-added value or is otherwise not particularly helpful to those doing searches,” according to them.

Rather than periodic updates, this update operates continuously, meaning your site’s status can change as you add new content or as Google gathers more user interaction data.

The helpful content update applies to entire websites based on overall content quality. If Google determines that a site has too much unhelpful content, the whole site may be negatively impacted, including content that might otherwise rank well.

However, if just a portion of your content is deemed unhelpful while the rest of it is people-first, it’s possible that just the unhelpful portion may get demoted.

In March 2024, Google rolled the helpful content update into its core ranking algorithm.

The helpful content update and Google’s Experience-Expertise-Authorativeness-Trust (E-E-A-T) guidelines are very closely aligned.

E-A-T was first mentioned back in 2014 as a way to identify sites and content that were high in quality. Google said: “High quality pages and websites need enough expertise to be authoritative and trustworthy on their topic.” The extra E for “experience” was added in 2022.

The helpful content update description doesn’t explicitly call out E-E-A-T, but the acronym is mentioned in their guidelines for creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.

Basically, adhering to E-E-A-T is the best way to create people-first content and make sure the helpful content update doesn’t negatively affect you. Both E-E-A-T and Google’s Search Essentials strongly suggest publishing content where you have first-hand knowledge and experience with a topic, plus genuine expertise and authority.

Now you understand what is needed to create people-first content, but what makes content unhelpful? Some qualities of unhelpful content are:

• Too much unrelated content on too many different subjects on the same website
• Extensive automation used to produce content on many topics
• Summarizing what others have said without adding value
• Covering trending topics that don’t match your audience’s interests
• Promising to answer a question that has no real answer

Publishing substantial amounts of this type of unhelpful content can trigger significant drops in organic rankings and traffic across your entire domain. Because Google’s algorithm evaluates your site as a whole, even your high-quality pages may see reduced visibility if Google determines that your site overall prioritizes search engine optimization over providing value to human users.

The helpful content update has reshaped how SEO professionals and content creators approach building strategies. Many websites have shifted away from high-volume, keyword-focused content strategies toward creating fewer, more comprehensive content pieces that demonstrate genuine expertise.

The update has really influenced industries like affiliate marketing, product reviews, and educational content, where publishers now have to prioritize author credentials, first-hand experience, and detailed evaluations over quick, templated articles.

Looking ahead, Google probably isn’t going to announce another major “helpful content update” since the system is now part of its core ranking algorithm, meaning those updates now run continuously alongside all other ranking factors. Instead, we can expect tweaks to how the algorithm identifies and rewards genuinely helpful content.

As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, for example, Google will likely continue to enhance its ability to distinguish between automated content and material created with human insight and expertise. The focus will likely remain on rewarding content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authority, and trust, giving genuine value to users.

So, stick to topics you know, don’t use too much AI, add value with your content, and don’t be misleading.