What Google’s Helpful Content Update Really Says About AI Content?

Himani
LongShot AI
Published in
6 min readAug 28, 2022

Are you someone who usually generates content using AI?

Are you worried about your blog rankings after the new Google Helpful Content update?

If your answer is yes, you are at the perfect place. In this blog, you will discover how Google’s new update will impact AI-generated content.

So, stay tuned till the end!

What Is Google Helpful Content Update?

What Is Google Helpful Content Update?

Google has recently published an overview of a new Google update on August 18. The “Helpful Content Update” seeks to eliminate content that exists just to improve one’s ranking in Google search results. The latest Google update is supposed to affect content written for this purpose but did not help or educate users.

According to Google’s release note, it appears that Google wants content creators to shift away from simply producing articles that they feel would do well in search results and toward providing information that their target audience will like and learn from.

“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.”

The term that sticks out is ‘expectations,’ which refers to an implicit ‘content promise’ that every creator makes to the content consumer. It’s authentic. It opposes clickbait. Human-first content, not “search engine-first content.”

The word that springs to me is ‘transparency.’ As a result of Google’s Helpful Content Update, sites that are breaking this trust may face rank degradation.

“People-first content creators focus first on creating satisfying content, while utilizing SEO best practices to bring searchers additional value.”

The aim is to increase search engine traffic, but not by creating low-value, useless content. The word “satisfying” also stands out to me.

According to my understanding, Google’s Helpful Content Update encourages content creators to prioritize quality and user experience. When someone performs a Google search, they have a specific purpose in mind. An itch that must be scratched. They must require something, don’t they? They aren’t worried about word count or SEO tactics; they simply want their queries addressed. They want to be satisfied.

Here’s a quick rundown of the new Google algorithm update:

  • Name of Update: Google Helpful Content Update.
  • Date of Launch: To be revealed in further detail, but most likely during the week of August 22.
  • Length of the rollout: The update will take around two weeks to roll out completely.
  • Purpose of Update: It’s about creating content to help or inform people, not to rank high in Google Search results.
  • Search Only Update: The Google update presently affects only Google Search and does not affect Google Discover or other Google features. Google may, however, expand the update to include Discover and other elements in the future.
  • Penalties: Google did not specify a penalty, but this update appears to be a punitive action for affected sites. For instance, the entire site will be affected if a website has a significant volume of the affected content.
  • Affected areas: Since it is a site-wide Google algorithm, this upgrade will affect all websites.
  • Type of update: This Google algorithm update isn’t a core update.
  • Affected languages: The update presently only impacts English-language content, but it will most certainly be extended to other languages in the future.
  • Impact: The percentage of searches or searches affected by this update is currently unknown; however, Google indicates that the effect will be considerable. Furthermore, Google stated that the impact would be most visible in online educational resources, entertainment, shopping, and technology-related content.
  • Recovery: If the update has impacted you, you must analyze your content and see if you can improve it by following Google’s guidelines.
  • Refresh: The exact procedure is undisclosed. However, there will most likely be a time-out for impacted content, followed by a validation period after the content has been improved. As a result, recovering from this update might take many months.

What Does the New Google Update Mean for AI-generated Content?

What Does the New Google Update Mean for AI-generated Content?

The big question with the Google update is what effect it will have on AI-generated content.

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence can create both short-form content, such as writing product descriptions, and long-form content, such as SEO-optimized blog posts. But what will AI content look like following Google’s latest update? Will Google punish such content specifically in the future?

It is critical to clarify that the Helpful Content Update is not targeting AI content specifically but rather content in general that is of poor quality and does not enlighten or satisfy readers.

So, if your content is of poor quality and does not benefit users, it makes little difference whether it was created by humans or artificial intelligence.

In general, AI content generators like LongShot AI only give the foundation for new writings. A human should always review this foundation. Ensure that the content speaks to your target audience, provides relevant information, or answers critical concerns.

The AI is the writer, and you are the editor. Only you can decide what content will be published on your website. As long as you use AI content generators in this manner, you will not be affected by the latest Google update and can continue creating high-quality content using AI without any hassle.

How Will Content Creators Be Affected by Google’s Helpful Content Update?

More than anything, this Google update underlines that the traditional “search engine first” approach is not the best method to rank when considering the reader’s interests.

Whether we like it or not, Google is a platform for online learning, and there is no room for meaningless content.

Google has confirmed that the release date will be in the week of August 22nd, 2022. Right now, SEO agencies are bustling, and content creators are rushing.

Here are the three most impactful ways using which content creators can prepare for Google’s Helpful update:

1. Understand Your Audience and Give Them First Priority

Most writers understand what this implies, but it all boils down to engaging your readers where they are in their journey and offer as much value as possible.

If you’re trying to market an SEO course you created, but your target audience is simply seeking an answer to the query “What is SEO?” Perhaps they are not ready to invest in a course. Determine what they desire and deliver it to them.

Google seems to prefer that older sites, as well as freshly launched sites, have a thorough understanding of their target audience rather than focusing just on ranking web pages.

2. Give Importance to Content Transparency

Clickbait should be avoided at all costs. According to Google, if you offer your visitors ten vegan cookie recipes, don’t try to sneak in irrelevant information, stuffed keywords, or anything else that will leave them unsatisfied.

3. Provide Value Through Your Content

This is your opportunity to shine and showcase true expertise. Yes, the length of the article is essential, but guess what? It’s OK if people love what they’re reading or learn from the post. You want to create content that makes readers happy.

Your audience doesn’t even care about the word count of your blog or how many keywords you have used. They just want value out of your content.

Wrapping it up

There will be some changes with the new Google update. To boost user satisfaction, the objective is to increase the volume of high-quality content in Google Search.

The emphasis is not just on AI-generated content but on any type of content that is poorly written and provides no added value to readers.

Despite the Google algorithm update, the ongoing usage of AI text generators is safe as long as a human performs quality checking.

The Google Update will not make content creation more difficult or stressful, at least not with LongShot AI. Your favorite tool in the writing industry is adaptable!

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Himani
LongShot AI

Himani is a content writer at LongShot AI. She loves to explore the content marketing and SEO domain.