Google's "Helpful content" Update - What I've Noticed

[MrManyHat]

This made me chuck my URL into Ahrefs for a quick check.

As of the last 2 days, Google have indexed every single one of my posts (had been only half of them up until now) and as a result my estimated traffic has doubled and I’m showing for up to almost 70 more keywords.

Granted my site is super small at the minute, but I’ve been working on it for almost a year.

And the site is in English - maybe this is a coincidence or Google has rewarded me with this update?

 

[homeriscool]

This made me chuck my URL into Ahrefs for a quick check.

As of the last 2 days, Google have indexed every single one of my posts (had been only half of them up until now) and as a result my estimated traffic has doubled and I’m showing for up to almost 70 more keywords.

Granted my site is super small at the minute, but I’ve been working on it for almost a year.

And the site is in English - maybe this is a coincidence or Google has rewarded me with this update?

I've noticed a lot of my shorter blog posts have gained traffic and the very long posts are losing traffic....

 

[MrManyHat]

I've noticed a lot of my shorter blog posts have gained traffic and the very long posts are losing traffic....

I have a total of 19 articles so far.

The most recent is only 500 words long - first affiliate test post and couldn’t bare to add meaningless fluff.

1 other post is just over 900 words. The majority are between 1100 and 1500 with one at around 2200.

 

[Alexion]

So you believe short and to the point PAAs will be the future in some niches?

Since almost three years passed since PAA websites appeared, and no steps have been taken to address this, I can only take an educated guess and say Google doesn't see them AS BAD as we think.

From my personal observations, they will rank ONLY when there's nothing else better than PAA snippets.

 

[Kinu Actaz]

I now prefer 700-800 length articles since my long articles have lost their rankings in this update.

 

[Alma]

I was thinking of chopping my 4k word articles in half.

Focus on the keywords that are ranking....

Also delete posts that aren't getting traffic

 

[Deleted member 752298]

Yup, my posts are still doing good too =)

 

[HenryObi]

Also delete posts that aren't getting traffic

I don't think this is actually a good approach. Unless those posts were not written targeting any keywords.

I recently went through my posts and checked posts that were getting no impression or traffic, optimise them and republish them.

They're begining to pick up search impression and improving in rank.

 

[HustleTong]

In most cases, it should bounce back as soon as the update rolls out

 

[Alma]

I don't think this is actually a good approach. Unless those posts were not written targeting any keywords.

I recently went through my posts and checked posts that were getting no impression or traffic, optimise them and republish them.

They're begining to pick up search impression and improving in rank.

I always thought keeping all posts even if they don't get traffic should be beneficial because of topical authority, but I am not so sure now.

This is what google wrote in their recent update:

"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."

 

[timetostartwork]

I was thinking of chopping my 4k word articles in half.

Focus on the keywords that are ranking....

I think this is the best approach. Just break it up if it’s not working. 4k word article is too long imo. I had some long posts (before this update) that dropped in ranking. I split it up into individual posts targeting different keywords, removed unnecessary fillers, and they are doing well now.

 

[TheMarquis]

From a personal perspective, based on a few websites I have, I saw that short articles, without 100% good grammar (I'm not a native EN, so there are major grammar mistakes), but with a helpful response for the audience, are ranking very good (1st, 2nd, 3rd positions).

On the other hand, some long articles (3k words or more, well structured, even with the summary shortcuts), "written from SEO perspective" and not with the "just for helping others" in mind, are buried on 5th, 6th page, and so. There are just a few sites, so I cannot say this is a general rule, but this is what I seen.

As a conclusion, I think articles near 1k words (more or less), but very informative on the subject (and well structured) are very good for ranking.

 

[kalpana007]

Did you add some AI content on the blog lately? Because of this change, Google might have punished entire site.

 

[Stitches and Burns]

It's probably 4,000 words to answer a simple question such as "Do cats eat cheese?"

 

[N1ckG2]

I had some really good blog posts ranking on page 1 for years but now they are sliding off page 1.....

The only thing different about these blog posts is that they are 4000 word +

Well written content (not ai or spun)

My other blog posts (on the same site) are still doing great.

Maybe Google hates long content now?

Who the hell would read 4k in the tik tok era?

I hate to read and write long long articles. I am fed up when I search for a simple thing and all articles on Google explain to me what I am looking for instead of the solution written in 3 sentences.

 

[Turbo B.]

I now prefer 700-800 length articles since my long articles have lost their rankings in this update.

You mean article length or total words count on the page?
How about homepage, if you want to rank it?

 

[Alexion]

Look at this
https://www.healthline.com/health/do-you-lose-weight-when-you-poop
Short, simple, and to the point.

Now, I imagine any 2022 SEO guru doing a 5k word article about why people poop in the first place, how did our ancestors poop 50 000 years ago, what is inside poop, what each color variation means in your poop, why does it smell and why doesn't, why is it watery and why it's like a brick, AND ONLY AFTER ALL THIS will he write "Yeah, poop weighs about half a pound, thanks for reading 5,000 words"

 

[webmaster2222]

It was a good update . so far so good

 

[Hunter112]

I think Google is too old-fashioned or unchanging. I think 90% of internet users now prefer to see a Tik Tok result for a simple question rather than a 1200 word post. But they rely on time on site index, number of keywords... as ranking criteria

 

[Turbo B.]

Look at this
https://www.healthline.com/health/do-you-lose-weight-when-you-poop
Short, simple, and to the point.