Google’s Helpful Content Update And What It Means For Bloggers
As an amateur blogger — or even more unpretentiously, a casual thought-regurgetator who likes putting their word spiel out into the online void — I spend a lot of time reading about blogging.
Actually, most of my time online is spent learning how to improve my writing, or just reading other people’s blogs for fun. I believe that, at least in the early stages of navigating this whole publishing blog posts thing, it’s more useful for me to invest time into learning how to, you know, not be pants at it.
So while browsing r/Blogging and other blogging communities these past few days I’ve seen heated discussions on what Google’s September 2023 Helpful Content Update (HCU) has in store for the future of websites.
What is the goal of the new Google update?
You can read the official statement about the update on Google Search Central.
In short, the changes indicate that Google is greenlighting AI content, as long as it it useful to users and reviewed by someone with expertise in the subject matter. Additionally, they gave guidance about hosting third-party content and recovering lost traffic after the HCU rolls out.
Most importantly, the documentation mentions one phrase fairly often:
people-first content
Essentially, the main goal of the new helpful content system is to prioritize and reward web content that provides a better user experience.
Sounds like a great idea, right?
Right…
If the September 2023 Helpful Content Update works as supposedly intended.
The public reaction
What does this update mean for bloggers, and is the panic over traffic fluctuations the start of widespread demands for a rollback? Is this outrage over nothing or is there serious cause for concern?
A lot of SEOs are furious that sites like Reddit outrank “credible” sources too often, but let me ask you this: as a user, not creator, how often do you google search something and all the top results are cookie cutter SEO optimized texts with no real substance or useful answer to your question? And how often do you just add “reddit” after your input and immediately find the info you’re looking for there.
From my point of view, bloggers who focus on authentic, original and useful content have nothing to worry about. In fact, if this prioritizes human-written stories instead of traffic-bait AI generated nonsense it’s a really good thing for us.
Honestly, I’m a bit baffled by the number of people protesting as though this is the very first time Google has altered how their search engine operates. You see, the tricky part about blogging and depending on it for your livelihood is that the internet is anything but static; it’s constantly evolving and shifting. You have to be very flexible in your approach and always prepared to adapt to whatever changes come your way (or Google throws at us because it’s not like we have much of a choice 😐).
However, site owners and bloggers are not frustrated only about the impact the changes will have on their websites. There’s much to be said about the attitude from certain Google representatives who are responding to people online. Google seem set in their decision to continue with the rollout of the recent HCU, despite many webmasters raising concerns about sites like Reddit or Quora ranking higher than niche websites in SERPs. Many creators are disgruntled and feel like Google’s recent changes don’t take into serious consideration how this impacts individual creators.
To summarize what unanimously I’ve read over hundreds of forum and article replies across different platforms, users feel like
Quality writing, useful information and user experience are NOT Google’s priorities!
They’re concealing excessive regulation as a “Helpful Content Update”
Meanwhile, OpenAI is teasing the next ChatGPT update, which gives their GPT-4 model the ability to hear, speak and see:
Many have expressed this poses further risk for human creators, in particular those running tutorial or how-to blogs. Although let’s be real, AI isn’t a reliable source for factual information and can’t give its own expertise and experience on a subject like a human can (yet 😬)
My personal opinion
Possibly a controversial take, but I’m feeling mostly positive about these changes!
Perhaps it’s my nostalgia for early 2010s blogger and Tumblr blogging era, but I much preferred the content on the internet when it was more personal, a bit more informal, and a lot less affiliate marketing all up in your face.
Obvious advertising and sponsored posts are almost never the useful answer to a user’s search query. And the Internet is flooded with such tidbits to the point where users easily notice and choose to actively ignore websites that try to sway their purchase decisions with such practices. No, of course it’s not illegal, but yes, most users don’t enjoy it. Users want concise, straight to the point answers that are unique and as objective as possible. Even better if they get multiple of those to compare and then make their choice.
Users expressed they cannot trust a lot of blogs because the obvious affiliate marketing makes them feel like the blogger is just trying to generate money, not writing to be actually helpful.
As a blogger, my main writing goal is not to profit off visitors (that’s why I’m still not monetizing any of my work here on Medium). My work is much more fulfilling when I receive emails with people saying they found my writing helpful or inspiring.
But I hear you say, this is my business, my livelihood, of course I need money! True, we all need the doubloons to survive. But if you are emphasizing on quality content that people want to search for, instead of bulk creating AI generated sludge and using black hat SEO practices, then you’re got nothing to worry about!
Also don’t panic too much over momentary fluctuations in your analytics. Volatility in traffic is to be expected the day a new Google update starts rolling out and a bit of time after. Blogging is a slow grind and a long game, it can take significant time to make true sense of what these changes mean for all of us as both users and creators.
In Conclusion
The impact of the Helpful Content Update may take months to become evident, with periodic updates to the system being communicated by Google. Site owners and bloggers producing helpful articles don’t need to take action, but if you’re experiencing drastic changes in traffic you should self-assess and improve or remove unhelpful content.
Thanks for reading!
This post is part of my 45-Day Writing Challenge on Medium | Day 16
Check out more of my writing on Medium! 💌
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