What creators should know about Google's helpful content update

Google Search is always working to better connect people to helpful information.

 To this end, we're launching what we're calling the “helpful content update” that's part of a broader effort to ensure people see more original, helpful content written by people

people, in search results. Below is more about the update and things creators should consider.

Focus on people-first content

The helpful content update aims to better reward content where visitors feel they've had a satisfying experience, while content that doesn't meet a visitor's expectations won't perform as well.

– Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?

– Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually 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 reading your content leave feeling like they've had a satisfying experience?

Avoid creating content for search engines first

– Is the content primarily to attract people from search engines, rather than made for humans?

– Are you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?

– Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?

– Are you writing about things simply because they seem trending and not because you'd write about them otherwise for your existing audience?

– Does your content leave readers feeling like they need to search again to get better information from other sources?

– Are you writing to a particular word count because you've heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (No, we don't).