Google Releases A New Update Focusing On People-First Content

Google releases a new update focusing on people-first content, a further step in the direction of Google search to provide more valuable results for searches. Google also looks to penalize sites with spammy or non-useful content that is only created for rankings. Quality content is still Google’s focus as they continue to work on making their search engine the best place to look for answers.

Unlike the most recent product review update, which targets specific types of sites, the helpful content upgrade is focused on English language sites to start. However, the update implies it has the capacity to affect all pages on your site. The helpful content update will introduce a new signal that Google will use to rank your web pages. Although Google did notify website owners on the Google Search Central blog about these algorithm changes, they will go into effect rather quickly. If you were already producing quality content, you should not have to worry much as your content should be written for people to read, share, and learn something.

Google’s new update reinforces what has been confirmed for a while now: content is still king.

Google says that there is no need to take any action if your content meets their standards of being helpful. However, if your content is not as helpful as it could be, Google recommends a few steps to improve it.

First, ensure your content is original, engaging, and valuable. Google wants to see new perspectives and ideas that help people learn something new. Second, focus on creating shareable content. People should want to share their content with others because it is well-written and informative. Finally, Google suggests making your content easy to read and understand. Use clear and concise language, and break your text into shorter paragraphs.

Following these steps, you can improve your content quality to ensure it is “Google-approved.” Google’s new update is just another example of how important quality content is to the success of your website. Make sure your content is helpful, shareable, and easy to read, and you will be on your way to Google search success.

“This classifier process is entirely automated, using a machine-learning model. It is not a manual action nor a spam action. Instead, it’s just a new signal and one of many signals Google evaluates to rank content.”

This means that “unhelpful content” and sites having a high amount of unhelpful content are less likely to perform as well in the searches. This will make having “better content” than your competitors even more critical. Web site owners may need to remove unhelpful content that could cause your website not to rank. Google has not given a definite answer on what types of content are considered “unhelpful.” In a Google Webmaster Hangout, Google’s Gary Illyes stated that Google would use the new ranking signal to negatively impact sites that publish a high amount of content with a low value to searchers.

What is Google’s definition of high-quality content?

Google has not released an official statement on what it deems as “high-quality content.” However, previous statements from Google executives and updates to Google’s algorithms suggest that Google values originality, fresh perspectives, and helpfulness when ranking web pages.

Google Search Central States:

“Any content — not just unhelpful content — on sites determined to have relatively high amounts of unhelpful content overall is less likely to perform well in Search, assuming there is other content elsewhere from the web that’s better to display. For this reason, removing unhelpful content could help the rankings of your other content.”

In summary, the news was released on August 18, 2022, from Google Search Central. Google’s latest update, nicknamed the “People-First Content Update,” is focused on penalizing sites that produce spammy or lack informative, helpful content. This move comes as part of Google’s ongoing commitment to delivering the best possible experience for its users. Under the new update, sites with high-quality, shareable content are more likely to rank higher in Google search results than those with unhelpful content. To ensure your site remains Google-approved, focus on creating original, engaging, and valuable content that is easy to read and understand.

Note: Google specified that the update impacts English searches globally and plans to expand to other languages in the future.