Google announced that it will launch a new algorithm update next week called useful content update. It aims to promote content written for people and devalue content written primarily for SEO.
Unlike the last product review update, which targets specific types of pages, the useful content update is throughout the country. This means that it has the potential to influence all pages.
Useful content update also introduces a new signal Google will use to rank websites.
Although Google is being tight-lipped about these algorithm changes, a week is not a long time to prepare. However, it could be argued that all pages should be written for people in the first place.
Here is all the information available now.
Google’s useful content update
Google released the following announcement on Twitter today:
“Next week, we’re launching the ‘useful content update’ to better ensure people see more original, useful content written by people, for people, instead of content created primarily for traffic engines of research.”
The tweet links to a blog article with more information, including details on how websites can continue to succeed after the helpful content update is released.
What does useful content update do?
This update introduces a new ranking signal that will negatively impact sites that publish large amounts of content of little value, have low added value, or are not useful to searchers.
“Any content – not just junk content – on sites determined to have relatively high amounts of junk content is generally less likely to perform well in Search, assuming there’s other content elsewhere on the web that is more good to show. For this reason, removing useless content can help your other content rank.”
What should I do if the useful content update affects me?
If the useful content update strikes you, Google advises to remove the useless content from your website.
Sites affected by the update may find the effects last for several months, Google says. Google’s blog post continues:
“Our classifier for this update runs continuously, allowing it to monitor both newly opened and existing pages. Since it determines that useless content has not returned in the long run, the classification will no longer apply.”
Other notes about updating Google’s useful content
Finally, here are some final notes about the helpful content update:
- Updating is not a manual action. The process is automated using a machine learning model.
- People’s first content can still rank even if it is published on sites with large amounts of useless content.
- The signal is weighted, meaning some sites are hit harder than others.
- Only searches in English will be affected, initially.
spring: Google
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