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Why Duplicate Content is Bad for SEO

Why Duplicate Content is Bad for SEO

30 Nov 2022 | Content Marketing, SEO

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Navigating SEO can be a tricky job for businesses, particularly if there isn’t the resource in-house to focus on digital marketing full-time.

We support organisations of all shapes, types and sizes to grow their organic digital presence, increase their search rankings, and to ensure their online exposure to both potential and existing clients within their target audience.

A common aspect within SEO is duplicate content issues. But why is duplicate content bad for SEO, and why? Read on to learn more and ensure you are producing valuable content and managing your online content in the best possible way.

How Does SEO Work?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), is the process of making sure that the content on a website is as apparent and clear as can be so that the automated algorithms behind search engine rankings know what the site is about, who it’s for, and what purpose it serves.

This, along with several UX (User Experience) metrics such as fast loading speeds, good accessibility, mobile responsiveness, web design elements and high security standards allow search engines to identify the best possible results for users when they make a search query through.

SEO is usually considered to be the optimisation of websites and web pages specifically for Google, as this is the market leader in the space. In most of the world, Google holds a 90%+ market share of online searches completed, although there are geographical variations that businesses will need to be aware if they’re targeting audiences in locations other than the western world.

What is Duplicate Content?

Duplicate content issues can be considered any identical content that appears in more than one URL online. This may be the result of a bot or other website copy-and-pasting content onto their own domain, or from a company publishing duplicate content or duplicate pages. This applies to written content and not necessarily to shareable content such as videos, photos or infographics.

Shorter bursts of text that are likely to be organically repeated such as strap-lines or short descriptions are not considered duplicate content for search engine purposes.

Google instead indicates that duplicate content refers to “substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content in the same language or are appreciably similar”. There are no specific limits or word counts given to the definition of ‘substantive’ in this case and so it could be anything from a product description paragraph to a lengthy article.

Duplicate Content IS bad for SEO, But Why?

Technically, Google doesn’t penalise a site for producing content that is duplicate within its own domain, saying: “Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results. If your site suffers from duplicate content issues, and you don’t follow the advice listed in this document, we do a good job of choosing a version of the content to show in our search results.”.

However, this doesn’t stop internal or external duplicate content issues being bad for SEO. Where duplicate content exists – particularly where it is spread across more than one domain – the search engines algorithm must judge which is the original and which is the most relevant to appear in each search engines results or search rankings – which is an automated process and may not necessarily decide in the original website’s favour.

If a site duplicating content from another is an older domain, has more backlinks to notate authenticity, hosts other content more relevant to the topic or has a higher DA (Domain Authority) than the original, the search engine’s algorithm may decide to feature that same content above other results.

This can mean that competitors, industry press or even entirely unrelated websites gain competitive advantage above the original and are subject to more click-throughs and completed actions. For this reason, the removal of internal duplicate content across your website web page can be considered improving its UX.

Duplicate content is bad for SEO

How Does Duplicate Content Affect SEO Rankings in Search Engines?

Generally speaking, the issue with internal duplicate content that results in it being bad for SEO is that it will confuse search engines. This is due to two primary issues:

  • Search engines will usually only show one version of content where the same content appears online more than once, and so it must differentiate between multiple versions.
  • Duplicate content dilutes link equity as other websites also must choose between which version of a duplicate content to link to. This can affect the number of inbound links to the original source of the content, and as inbound links are a Google ranking factor, it can impact negatively on search engines ranking and search visibility.

Managing Duplicate Content Issues

Remove Duplicate Blocks of Text

Ideally, a website will have no more than one instance of anything that may comprise a ‘substantive text’, and so webmasters and digital marketers are wise to remove any multiple versions of copy to improve the UX of the site and make it clearer for site users which version is best suited to their needs.

Minimise Boilerplate Repetition

‘Boilerplate text’ is the repetitive text that some businesses are required to repeat around their domain for legal reasons, such as copyright notices or legal disclaimers.

Where this appears in the main body text of a page, it is likely to be considered as standard duplicate content by the algorithm, but of course the organisation may have no choice but to feature it. Instead, it is best practice for webmasters to use a shortened version on each page and link through to the full required legal text. This avoids unnecessary duplicate content and the confusion it may cause for search engines.

Prioritise URL Parameters and Variations

Minor page URL variations may result in unintended instances of duplicate content, and can prove pretty harmless but should be dealt with and removed if possible. Most commonly, these small variations are as a result of analytics codes, click tracking, print-friendly page versions and session IDs. Despite the URLs only having tiny differences due to their sub-domain status, this can result in search engines indexing two versions of the same website page.

The Google Search Console can be used in these incidences to set the preferred domain for crawling and to tweak parameters around these so that the search engines algorithm knows which to ignore. Google search console often provides many immediate answers that will affect search results. Ensuring early Google search console connectivity with your website will provide insight on matters such as duplicate page issues, multiple pages of external duplicate content and even internal duplicate content across multiple urls that could affect search results.

Pay Attention to Any CMS-Generated Pages

It is not uncommon for content management systems to inadvertently create duplicate content on a website without the business realising. This may be a result of a bug or a shifted standardised setting on the back-end of the software. It is imperative that businesses understand the inner workings of their CMS and know how to remove same content when it does duplicate.

Get Website, SEO and Duplicate Content Support

Duplicate content is bad for SEO, and is an important aspect of your SEO that needs to be managed efficiently. Woya Digital manage SEO for businesses of all shapes and sizes, and can help advise on how best to manage and fix duplicate content issues. Get in touch to learn more and let us optimise your site to gain the best possible online search results!

What is Google Indexing in SEO?

What is Google Indexing in SEO?

21 Nov 2022 | Digital Marketing, SEO

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Businesses simply can’t afford for their website to not be listed on Google. With the Google search giant processing over 99,000 searches every single second, the potential is extremely important.

But for Google search results to list a website or page, it must first know it exists and match it up to relevant search terms ‘behind-the-scenes’ using its algorithm programming. This is called Google indexing.

But how does this happen and what is its relevancy to an overall SEO strategy?

What is Google Indexing?

Search engine indexing (or Google indexing in the case of Google), is the automated process of a system collecting, parsing and storing data it finds online. This data is then stored in the Google search index database so that when a search engines user carries out a search, Google can reference this index for the appropriate information and indexed pages, rather than scouring the entirety of the internet every time.

Google indexing is a highly complex process and incorporates interdisciplinary concepts from computer science, cognitive psychology, mathematics and probabilities, informatics and even neuro-linguistic programming.

Why is Google Indexing Important?

Google is the world’s biggest search engine, with a market share of over 90% worldwide. This means that even if it isn’t the most popular search engine in a business’ target location, it is still simply too large to ignore when it comes to strategizing for digital marketing.

If Google doesn’t undertake crawling and indexing on your website, it won’t just not rank well on Google – it won’t rank at all on Google.

If businesses don’t ensure that their digital presence is listed on Google in some way, shape or form they will lose competitive advantage to brands who are listed, who will benefit from the massive traffic that ranking well on the Google search engine can bring.

While not all other sites rely on Google’s search index in particular for their search results, several other systems do, and so it should not be discounted even if it isn’t the primary target system.

How Does Google Indexing Work?

Google indexing takes place when Google’s ‘crawlers’ (that is, automated software programs) visit publicly accessible website’s pages and follow their links.

This helps them travel from page to page and store information on what the pages on your site are about, who they’re for and what they’re aiming to do. The Google algorithm also judges the the site/all of your pages on their User Experience (UX), performance, accessibility and content quality to ascertain how and for what the site should rank when users completes a relevant search.

Google indexing can only happen if a website is publicly available. If it requires a log-in, is in a test environment or is ‘hidden’ from public consumption, this will prevent Google’s ability to read the site and it will remain un-ranked. This allows businesses to present exclusive content to subscribers or members but does mean that anything they wish to include on search engine rankings must be prioritised for public pages.

How Do Search Engines Work

How to Tell Google to Index Your Site

If a website or page has yet to be indexed by Google, the webmaster can request that the crawlers navigate it on the next occasion they’re able to. To do this, a webmaster tells Google through the Google Search Console tool and the crawlers will index the page/s whenever possible.

Where webmasters or digital marketers wish to rank, they should prioritise Google indexing as once a site has been crawled it will be periodically re-visited, so can be ranked on search engine results pages even before the full site content has been populated.

How Long Does Google Indexing Take?

There’s no one-size-fits-all timeframe for Google to index a website, although generally it takes longer for larger sites with more content than it does individual pages with little or short-form content.

The amount of time it takes to get a site indexed is influenced by Google’s current workload (ie it will take longer during periods where a major update or change is being rolled out), but also how many websites are being submitted for indexing at any one time.

Anecdotally, webmasters and digital marketers state that it has taken anywhere from 4 days to 6 months to get their site indexed for the first time. However, this is almost always expedited by requesting indexing through the Google Search Console (as mentioned above), so this is recommended.

Duplicate content will harm the quality of your site and Google will penalise you for this.

How Does the Process of Google Indexing Relate to an Overall SEO Strategy?

Any digital marketer embarking on enacting an SEO strategy should prioritise Google ranking as an effective way to gain targeted organic traffic. In order to best ensure adequate and appropriate ranking for relevant searches, all websites should be subject to timely, consistent and pertinent new content upload as well as hosting a clear sitemap, offering mobile responsiveness and ensuring fast load times.

Google indexing can be considered the foundation for an SEO strategy. Once the site and all the pages have been indexed, a more thorough online presence can be built using target keywords and advertising, further new content creation and an increased focus on the overall User Experience.

How To Fix Indexing Issues

It is not enough for webmasters to create web pages and just expect them to be crawled and indexed by Google, instead there are a variety of best practices they should look to meet. If any of the following issues are experienced, they can be easily rectified by doing the below:

Site is not indexed because it’s too new – you can still request indexing through Google Search Console, but a newer domain is unlikely to get higher rankings than an older one as its authenticity and trustworthiness can’t yet be fully verified. As more website content is added and the site ages, it will be re-indexed and re-prioritised.

A recent redesign should have improved SEO, but hasn’t – it may simply be that Google hasn’t re-indexed the site since it has been improved. A request for re-indexing can be submitted through Google Search Console.

A sitemap wasn’t in place when the site was indexed – all websites should have a sitemap somewhere in order for Google to easily crawl its pages. If, for whatever reason, this wasn’t the case when the indexing happened, the site map can be submitted directly to Google through the Google Search Console tool and then it’ll be re-read the next time the site is crawled.

Site isn’t mobile responsive – Google prioritises websites that provide a good User Experience over those that don’t, and so if a site isn’t mobile responsive, Google is very unlikely to favourably rank it. In this instance, the webmaster should seek out a redesign of the site to ensure better accessibility.

Where to Get More Help with Google Ranking

At Woya Digital we have a whole team of SEO specialists who work around-the-clock on keeping up with Google’s latest updates and developments.

We work not just for but also with our customers to ensure their SEO goals are met and that their online presence works perfectly to fit their needs and wants, as well as the idiosyncrasies of their business and target audience.

Why You Must Include Long Tail Keywords In Your SEO Strategy

Why You Must Include Long Tail Keywords In Your SEO Strategy

10 Nov 2022 | Content Marketing, SEO

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is not just a ‘nice to have’ marketing tool for businesses presenting online – it’s not an option! Showing up in the right place at the right time digitally for customers searching online, is critical for any organisation wishing to gain competitive advantage, remain relevant and grow its audience.

The discipline of SEO covers a wide of variety of topics, but a prominent one is keywords. Here specifically we’re going to flesh out long tail keywords!

What Are Long Tail Keywords?

Most keywords refer to a single word or couple of words that match together to create a searchable phrase that users type into a search engine in order to find results. Long tail keywords are formed of between three and five words usually (though no such numeric limit actually exists) and are, by their nature therefore, more specific and less common.

The term ‘long tail keyword’ comes from a book called The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, which focuses on the niche of markets and products, and how successful focusing on a specific sector or area can be.

For example, a standard keyword search may be ‘pink trainers’ but a long tail keyword search would be ‘pink Nike trainers size 5’.

How Do Long Tail Keywords Work?

The longer nature of long tail keywords compared to briefer search terms means they are more specific and will as a result drill down more specific (and hopefully relevant) search results. For search engine users, they present an opportunity for more appropriate results and ideally, less clicks to find exactly what they want. For businesses, they present an opportunity to target more niche markets.

Generally speaking, long tail keywords are less competitive than more generic keywords because they’re designed to better reflect how users make queries. They are more likely to attract high-quality traffic to a website, which is likely to increase conversion rates.

Often, long tail keywords aren’t the first search query typed in by search engine users. It is not uncommon instead for users to type in a more generic search term, uncover generic results, and then use long tail keywords to drill down to more specific results.

How Do Keywords Form Part of an SEO Strategy?

Statistics suggest that over 70% of all search queries are now made using long tail keywords, with voice search being a key factor in consumer behaviour.

Users are more likely to use the same types of phrasing they would in colloquial speech, in such searches – an evolving behaviour recognised and catered for by Google with their focus on NLP (Neural Linguistic Programming) in search algorithms to produce relevant results. This high level of long tail keyword search means that including these keywords in an SEO strategy is imperative.

Long tail keywords should be used to create blog posts, web pages and other relevant content to explain the specific topics within the agreed product or service pillars of the business. Together, the relevant long tail keywords should create a cluster of information around each pillar topic, with the algorithms behind the search engines depending on these to connect users with exactly the details they’re looking for.

Once uploaded, businesses should monitor the performance of each piece of content and continue to produce relevant content around areas of both shortfall (to bridge the gap and supply info where it doesn’t already exist) and success (to continue to build upon the content that users find useful).

Long tail keywords should be focused on alongside other keyword types, as part of an overall concerted effort to improve a websites content quality and quantity.

Different Keyword Ranking Difficulty Levels

The most commonly used generic search terms, by their nature, have the most competition online. This means that it is difficult for businesses to rank highly for them.

Long tail keywords tend to be easier for businesses to rank highly for as they’re searched less and are considerably more specific. Generic search terms sit at the head of search, a tiny number of keywords with exceedingly high search volumes. Long tail keywords constitute millions of search terms all with very low search volumes. This leaves the opportunity for digital marketing and content production around long tail keywords to be more prevalent and more prosperous.

The type of keyword being used or focused on isn’t the only factor that contributes to the difficulty or ease of ranking. Other such determinants include the content type, the Domain Authority (DA) of the website on which the content is published and the links to and from the content piece.

How To Identify Relevant Keywords To Focus On

There are various tools for keyword research, all of which will advise of relevant keyword combinations (both generic and long tail), their competition levels, search volumes and CPC (Cost Per Click) fees. However, these research tools should be used with caution as oftentimes they are created independent of tangible human input and can be based around theory rather than actual user behaviour, particularly in fields where the relevant keywords may include an ambiguous word or phrase.

Ideally, once identified, businesses should look to target long tail keywords that are low in competition and high in volume.

It is not enough to just look up keywords and produce content including them. Instead, businesses should look to incorporate long tail keywords into a thorough SEO strategy that looks to improve all areas of a website’s accessibility and relevancy, and includes regular content creation as part of this.

At Woya Digital, we have a team of SEO experts who work on creating tailored SEO strategies to best improve our customers’ competitive advantage. Get in touch to learn more!

What is Search Intent in SEO, and Why Does It Matter?

What is Search Intent in SEO, and Why Does It Matter?

1 Nov 2022 | SEO

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The practice of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is growing ever more comprehensive as the programming and algorithms behind search engines become cleverer and more complex.

At the heart of this all is the need for search engines to present the most relevant possible search results for users, and it’s this that they base all of their systems and processes around.

Search intent forms the basis from this and from there, all efforts are focused.

Search Intent User Intent Audience Intent

What is Search Intent?

Search intent, also sometimes referred to as user intent or audience intent, describes the purpose for an online search taking place.

The reason that anyone conducts a search online likely dictates the most appropriate results for it. For example: is the user looking for information? Do they want to make a purchase? Are they searching for a particular brand name and only that website will do? The user’s search intent is the ‘why’ behind the action being completed.

The Four Types of Search Intent

There are four primary types of different search intent, each with its own purpose. These are:

Informational

Those conducting informational searches are looking to find some specific information. These searches are often, but not always, framed as questions, with informational keywords, and can be simple or fairly complex. Searches made with informational intent include those such as:

–        What is the capital of Morocco?

–        Directions to London Luton Airport

–        How does blockchain work?

–        How do you say hello in Mandarin Chinese?

Navigational

A search made with navigational intent is done to find a specific website or web page. The user already knows where they want to go but either don’t know the URL to type in directly to the address bar or find it quicker or easier to search for it instead with navigational keywords. Searches made with navigational intent include those such as:

–        Twitter

–        Peugeot official website

–        LinkedIn login

–        BBC news headlines.

Transactional

A user searching with transactional intent is looking to make a purchase and in many cases, already know what it is they’d like to buy and are looking for a retailer to buy it from. Searches made with transactional keywords include those such as:

–        Buy MCFC kit

–        Newest iPad cheap

–        John Lewis coupon

–        Zoom pro subscription.

Commercial Investigation

When a user is searching with commercial intent, they are also looking to make a purchase but have not yet decided which specific product or service they’re going to buy. This is part of the user journey online ahead of a transactional search, and may find the user searching for reviews and comparisons as they seek to make an informed purchase decision. Searches made with commercial investigative intent include those such as:

–        Best vegan eyeliner

–        Macbook Pro review

–        Plumber near me

–        Trustpilot vs Feefo.

Why is Search Intent Important?

Google’s number one goal is matching search intent of their users with relevant search results, in order to ensure they are providing as accurate and appropriate search result pages as possible, to continue their reign as the most successful search engine in the world.

When content on a website is properly tailored toward an audience’s search intent rather than simply whatever message it is the business wants to convey, they are able to meet their user’s needs by satisfying search intent: demonstrating relevancy, authenticity and helpfulness to Google’s algorithms. These factors all feed into the overall SEO ranking and are likely to boost the position of the webpage, as well as increase conversions and time spent on the domain as well as lowering bounce rate.

Realistically, if a business isn’t able to adapt and create content to meet the needs of user’s search intent, they’ll find that they’re unable to cater appropriately for their target audience, and that audience will move to other online domains, including likely those of their competitors.

How to Identify Search Intent

Search intent can often be identified through the language used in the search. For example, the word ‘buy’ is only likely to be present in a search made with transactional intent, and ‘how to’ in a search with informational intent.

Generally speaking, you can determine the search intent behind a search if it includes the following language:

Informational intent: who, what, where, when, why, how, guide, tutorial, resource, ideas, tips, learn, examples.

Navigational intent: brand name, product name, service name.

Transactional intent: best, good, top, review, testimonial, comparison, product attribute (such as colour/size/specific feature).

Commercial investigative intent: buy, coupon, voucher, order, shop, purchase, price, cheap.

Of course, this isn’t necessarily accurate at all times dependent on the exact phrasing of the search, but it forms a good guideline. If a business is using a keyword research tool they may be able to filter relevant search terms by intent.

 Google’s Guidelines on Search Intent

Google has provided exact guidelines on search intent and how webmasters can and should understand and work with it. These are known as the Google Quality Raters Guidelines.

Google employs quality raters who conduct search queries online before rating how appropriate and accurate the results they are served with were for their search intent. The guidelines that inform these raters highlight the importance of search intent along with the different types of intent and the impetus that Google puts onto intent, but explains that intent may vary between location, time and device.

For example, a search for a supermarket on a mobile device is likely to be a user looking for a nearby location, but on a desktop or laptop computer is more likely to be intended for an online order. When the search is made early in the morning or late at night, it’s more likely to be an enquiry for opening hours. The intent varies based on the way in which the search is made.

All of this signifies the prestige that Google holds behind user search intent, and how it builds its algorithms and systems around it to meet these needs. This includes the introduction of the Google BERT update in 2019 which focused on natural linguistic programming to inform the search engine of the intent behind the search and help more accurately convey appropriate results.

How to Optimise to Meet Search Intent Needs

Businesses can best analyse and optimise their digital presence to meet user search intent needs through collaborative working with an SEO specialist. At Woya Digital, we have a team of SEO expert professionals in-house who analyse business’ web presence entirely bespoke: taking on each job as an individual entity and never applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

We can help you meet the needs of both your potential and existing customers online through content optimisation to meet the needs of their search intent – raising your organisation’s profile, rank and success online all at the same time.

How To Increase Your Website Organic Traffic

How To Increase Your Website Organic Traffic

12 Sep 2022 | SEO, Webdesign

Reading Time: 4 minutes

It’s all well and good having a beautiful website full of all-singing, all-dancing functionality – but if no one visits it, its impact will be limited and the hard work poured into it fruitless.

There are various ways to gain visitors to your website and widen its appeal and exposure but perhaps the most important channel for visitors is organic traffic.

Here, we cover off what this actually is, why it’s so important and how to get more of it.

What is Website Traffic?

Website traffic refers to the amount of users visiting a website – both those who visit once, and those who return time after time. It is measured in ‘sessions’ (another word for these visits) and is the most common way to understand a website’s effectiveness at attracting an audience, keeping that audience on the site and interested, and ensuring they return.

What is Organic Traffic?

Organic traffic is visits to a website as a result of a user doing a search on a search engine and clicking a link on one of the results pages. In the long term, organic traffic can account for a large percentage of overall traffic and it is favoured amongst businesses because it is the cheapest option to attract users.

Organic traffic is often referred to as ‘free’, but this is just a technicality when compared to paid-for traffic. In most industries and sectors, businesses will need to invest in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) activities and techniques in order to rank high enough to receive a decent amount of organic traffic.

Other types of website traffic include:

    • Direct traffic – where a URL is typed directly into a search bar
    • Paid search traffic – where traffic is obtained from a paid-for search ranking or advert
    • Social media traffic – where traffic is received from click-throughs on social media channels
    • Email traffic – where traffic is received from click-throughs on emails
    • Referral traffic – where traffic is received from click-throughs on any other website.

All website traffic types have their part to play in overall traffic rates, but organic traffic is often considered the most important.

The Importance of Organic Traffic

Organic traffic is considered important for several reasons. Firstly, traffic obtained through organic means is more targeted and appropriate because those typing in a related term to a search engine have a specific intent; likely to be seeking out a website similar to, if not exactly comparable to, the one they land on – heightening conversion rates.

Although not technically free, organic traffic is cheaper to gain than that paid for, and when combined with the targeted nature of it makes it more cost-efficient too.

Studies suggest that search engine users are now increasingly savvy in recognising paid-for rankings and hold more trust in listings that are organic as opposed to those bought. This gives the immediate impression of more authenticity and reliability in the information held within these websites. Increased levels of organic traffic to a website in turn demonstrates the relevancy of said site to search engine algorithms; further enhancing its search ranking position.

As a result, organic traffic remains the preferred driver to websites. According to SEO service BrightEdge, organic traffic makes up 53.3% of all website traffic – a significant percentage.

How to Increase Organic Traffic

The amount of organic website traffic sent to any online presence can be enhanced by SEO techniques. SEO improves the understanding that the algorithms operating search engines have of websites, so that they’re able to better position them in relevant rankings and ensure they present the most useful, accurate results to users.

SEO can be improved in many ways, including (but by no means limited to):

    • The publication of relevant, shareable and helpful content in blogs, articles, videos, infographics and audio files – to demonstrate the relevancy of the site to its audience
    • The inclusion of relevant keywords throughout the site – to demonstrate which search terms would be appropriate for users looking to find the site
    • The optimisation of meta data in the site – to demonstrate what the site is about and who it is intended and positioned for
    • Links to and from other trusted websites – to demonstrate the authenticity of the site
    • Enhanced UX (User Experience) in navigating and using the website – to demonstrate the ease of use for the end user
    • The implementation of mobile responsiveness to ensure UX is consistent across all devices – to demonstrate further enhanced experience for the end user, no matter what device they’re using to access the site
    • The implementation of relevant safety measures – to demonstrate security for the end user.

All of these contribute toward enhanced organic search rankings, but also factor into the price you can expect to pay for paid-for listings.

Paid-for listings will be charged at a higher rate if the search engine does not believe your website to be relevant to the search term or if it delivers a sub-standard customer experience.

Where To Start With Increasing Your Website Organic Traffic

Driving increased levels of organic traffic is cost effective and can help improve conversions and contacts made through a website, and so should be prioritised by businesses.

If you don’t already know what percentage of your website traffic is organic, why not request a FREE website SEO Audit to understand more about what levels of traffic your website is attracting, and where this traffic is coming from.

Understanding The Google Helpful Content Update

Understanding The Google Helpful Content Update

25 Aug 2022 | SEO

Reading Time: 3 minutes

A new update is rolling out right now: the Google Helpful Content Update, and it’s a BIGGIE!

With over 5 billion searches taking place every day on Google, it’s really no surprise that the digital marketing department of businesses worldwide have been shaped by the little search box so many of us rely on in daily life.

A quick reflection on days gone by online will recover memories of varying search result success; alongside older logos and different formats for SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Over the years, the technology behind Google has developed and improved vastly and is now the best it’s ever been: all in pursuit of achieving their mission: “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

What are Google Updates?

In reality, tweaks are being made to improve the algorithm behind-the-scenes at Google constantly, with analyst estimations sitting at around one SEO update a week. Google don’t disclose the exact amount of updates they make or the content (and therefore impact) of them all, but periodically they do announce a major release that will be set to wider-ranging consequences on SEO.

The Google Helpful Content Update is the largest SEO Update in 11 years, so is set to be fairly major. Previous updates include Panda (2011), that was designed to eradicate Black Hat SEO tactics, Penguin (2012), which aimed to eliminate webspam, Hummingbird (2013), that tailored search for mobile devices, and Pigeon (2014), which impacted heavily on local search.

Why You Need to Be On Top of Google SEO Updates

Businesses need to keep abreast of Google SEO updates as a failure to do so will impact negatively on their rankings, amongst other results. In order to not just gain competitive advantage above others but also to maintain it, it’s important that a business’ SEO strategy remains relevant and appropriate to the current algorithm.

It is not enough to enact SEO best practice on a website and then not progress or update it, as over time it is unlikely to remain conforming to best practice and will instead slip down the rankings.

What the Google Helpful Content Update is All About

The exact details of the Google Helpful Content Update will never be fully released to the public, but we do have an overview of what it includes.

The search engine has stated that the update is being implemented to help its users “see more original, helpful content written by people, for people in search results”. This means that content written specifically for search engines in order to rank highly rather than to provide genuinely useful information for a particular audience, will be devalued – and ranked down.

The aim of the Google Helpful Content Update is for users to complete their search and feel that they’ve had a satisfying experience, finding authentic answers to their questions rather than just lists or computer-generated writing. This update follows an uptick in demand for AI-generated content amongst businesses who are looking to save money on their digital marketing – and will now force this work to be undone, unless the organisation isn’t concerned about their organic SEO rankings.

All of this means that businesses and content creators will need to take what Google calls a “people-first approach”. This idea centres on the creation of content for real people, and not just for search engines. Where the impetus is put on creating satisfying content with the SEO best practices put in place second, value is derived and the algorithm will rank the content higher.

The Google Helpful Content Update began this morning, and Google has said that it could take up to two weeks to fully roll out.

What Does the Google Helpful Content Update Mean for Businesses?

Realistically, businesses don’t have time to review and republish all of their content before the Helpful Content Update is released, but there are actions they can take to ensure that future content adheres to the new guidelines and ranks successfully.

Taking on the “people-first approach”, digital marketers should:

    • Produce content primarily to attract humans rather than machine algorithms
    • Produce content only relevant to their niche rather than on a variety of unrelated topics in the hope of ranking
    • Avoid using automation tools to produce content
    • Add value when summarising or reviewing content produced by others
    • Ensure that all relevant answers and information are presented in one place so that users don’t have to search again for more data
    • Abandon word count requirements where they don’t add value
    • Avoid clickbait headlines that aren’t true to the content within

All of the above will ensure that Google understands the value and quality of the content, and rank it appropriately.

Businesses would be well advised to take a more human approach to their digital marketing and content creation where they’ve found themselves previously striving just to work to SEO standards.

While SEO best practice is now fairly well known and understood, it has, for many companies, become too much of the priority – with customer needs flailing behind. Refining business focus again on the audience will help not just gain successful ranking on Google but also realign business and customer values in order to find the right balance.