Providing Relevant, High-quality, and Helpful Content

Google’s Helpful Content Update (HCU) is a leading aspect of Google’s search algorithm that aims to provide its users with the most relevant, high-quality, and helpful content on search engine result pages (SERPs). The HCU was initially introduced in August 2022 and became part of the algorithm in March 2024.

It helps Google bot understand if webpages are unhelpful, have a good or poor user experience, or were created for search engines instead of people. The HCU rewards high-quality pages that thoroughly answer searchers’ questions and provide educational, value-added information that aligns with user search intent.

What most sites hit by Google’s Helpful Content Update have in common:

• Need to declare article authorship more often (transparency).
• Need to provide more evidence of author’s actual experience (E-E-A-T factor).
• SEO content is too templated versus unique with value-added information.
• Too many disruptive ads displaying per page.
• Video ads begin playing automatically.
• Still lack a recognizable online brand entity.
• Lacking sources that back up facts and claims.
• Still relying on stock photography.
• Misleading or inappropriate use of affiliate links.
• Easy to identify SEO strategies meant for search engines versus site visitors.

Google’s helpful content system has changed. Its systems strive to prioritize content that users genuinely find helpful, not just optimized for search engines to find and favor. The former HCU classifier is going away completely. Multiple systems have replaced it. They assess the helpfulness of content and are part of Google’s core ranking systems. So “helpfulness of content” is not a separate algorithm.

The systems it relies on to determine which “Discussions and Forums” will be “helpful” for users are – for whatever reason – seem to lack the usual YMYL content filters. For a website to have been hit by the Helpful Content Update, the majority of its content will have been deemed “unhelpful.”

For example, YMYL sites with helpful pain management information must have accurate information.

Remember, since search engines are supplying the majority of most sites organic traffic – for free – Google, Bing, and others have the right to filter for high-quality search results.