What Does Google’s Helpful Content Update Mean for Beauty Brands?

Google recently made some announcements about writing content for your website and while it’s nothing new, it’s worth taking note as they’ve clarified a few points. Starting from this week, they’re going to be launching a “helpful content update” which seems to suggest that they’re going to be using an algorithm that can determine which content is useful and which is SEO fluff.

You can find the full announcement on the Google Search Central Blog, but in the meantime, here’s what you need to know if you create content – like blogs, answer box content or keyword-rich written content – for your beauty brand.

Write for people first

Google have been saying this for a while, but they recommend writing content that’s useful and interesting for a human audience. Whether that’s solving a problem, giving advice or adding expertise you need to write for actual humans first, not just to rank for keywords.

Don’t just write for the algorithm

Google have said that content that’s created primarily for search engine traffic (i.e. to get you to the top of the rankings) tends to be unsatisfying for the end user, so you need to skip the regurgitated content and be original. Write with the end user in mind.

Unhelpful content won’t perform well

Any content on sites determined to have relatively high amounts of unhelpful content overall probably won’t perform well in search. Especially if there’s better content out there for users. This means that if you have unhelpful content, it could actually help other more useful content to rank. It might be time to clean up if you have lots of content written solely to rank for SEO.

The update will focus on English content first

This update impacts English searches globally to begin with a view to expand to other languages going forward. They’ll continue to refine how their algorithm (they’re calling it a “classifier”) works as they go to reward people-first content.

Does your content need a refresh?

If you’re worried that your content isn’t all that helpful and might fall foul of the update, then it might be time for a refresh to avoid being penalised by Google. This can mean that your content doesn’t rank and that your competitors rise above you.

Need help making your content more helpful? Contact me to find out how I can help you update your content and keep you on Google’s good side.