Answerbase White Paper
Why “People-First Helpful Content” is the Present & Future of SEO
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Google’s results notably changed with the release of the Helpful Content Update and Helpful Content System, Google’s new automated ranking signal that judges how helpful content is. This new signal rewards “People-First Helpful Content” and Google’s recent communication and quality assurance processes are making clear that this type of content is both the present and future of SEO. As a result, it’s more important than ever for companies to know what “People-First Helpful Content” is, how to create it, and how AI and automation is making it possible to accomplish at scale to drive meaningful and measurable results.
As a result of these shifts in SEO and the latest core updates, Answerbase has collaborated with our digital marketing agency partners to create an informative white paper on how Google’s latest updates reward “People-First Helpful Content”, what people-first content is, how to create it, and how AI and automation is making it possible to accomplish at scale.
What Does The White-Paper Cover?
This white paper details how companies can create “People-First Helpful Content” that will survive and thrive through future Google updates, while also providing real conversion attribution on top of the SEO value. As we’re exploring this topic, we’ll cover the following:
- Present and Future of Content SEO: Google says it’s “People-First Helpful Content”
- Current Content SEO Practices are Failing: What is happening and why its failing
- Google Needs Helpful Content: Why “People-First Helpful Content” is critical for Google
- How to Create Helpful Content: Identifying and creating “People-First Helpful Content”
- AI’s Role in Helpful Content Creation: Google’s guidance on AI and automation
- Measurable Monetary Value: How “People-First Helpful Content” drives real value
The purpose of this white paper is to be a helpful resource to companies as Google is incentivizing the SEO world away from content created primarily to impact and manipulate search results. Companies should be creating “People-First Helpful Content” that not only will drive organic traffic from Google but also results in meaningful and measurable ROI.
Some Highlights of What Google Has to Say
There are some items covered in the white paper that many customers are surprised to learn and didn’t know Google’s perspective on. We’ve highlighted several of those below, but you should download the white paper to understand the full picture of how (and where) Google has communicated around each of those topics.
The Best Content is Sometimes Shorter Content
Many queries on Google are better serviced through short 1-2 sentence answers vs writing a long article. Google doesn’t care, it just wants to satisfy the search intent.
What Google says:
“‘There is no length requirement for Highly Meets results. Sometimes what makes a result satisfying is that it is short and easy to understand. Other results may be very satisfying because of the depth and richness of content.”“
Using AI is Not Against Google’s Guidelines
Google says very clearly that the use of AI is not against their guidelines.
What Google says:
‘Appropriate use of AI or automation is not against our guidelines. This means that it is not used to generate content primarily to manipulate search rankings, which is against our spam policies.”
In fact, they offer their own generative AI services for use. But AI should be used appropriately and not spam.
SEO is Great, IF It’s Applied to “People-First Content”
Applying SEO best practices is great, but only if it’s applied to people-first content.
What Google says:
‘SEO can be a helpful activity when it is applied to people-first content, rather than search engine-first content.”
Google Judges a “Satisfactory Experience” on Pages with both Content and Functionality
SEO is not just about content, it’s about accomplishing the goal of the searcher. If they are there for specific info, it should be easy for them to find it.
What Google says:
“Remember that MC (“Main Content”) also includes page features and functionality, so test the page out.”
You Should Use Keywords in Your Content that People Use Most When Searching
Optimizing with keywords that people actually use isn’t “keyword stuffing” if done appropriately.
What Google says:
“Use words that people would use to look for your content.”
Google Judges Content from Perspective of Knowledgeable Visitors
If your content is created by somebody without in-depth topical knowledge, Google may not love it. Google instructs Search Raters to look for this…
What Google says:
“Do your best to imagine that you are someone who’s very interested in the topic, functionality, or purpose served by the page, then think about how satisfying the MC would be for that person.”
Highest Quality Content has Multiple Perspectives
Google recognizes that having a great answer to a search query is good, but the best content rating should be saved for when there are multiple knowledgeable people giving their perspectives based on their unique experiences. Community Q&A capabilities can help provide the best quality content for your business.
What Google says:
“Be conservative when using the Fully Meets rating. Even queries that seem to have a single right “answer” may benefit from more perspectives to satisfy all or almost all users. When in doubt, use a lower rating.”
The items noted above are just a taste of what is covered in the white paper, so download the white paper below and you can also book a meeting with one of our SEO specialists to talk about your site and how to approach creating “People-first content (and how avoid “search engine first” content).
Created In Collaboration with Leading Marketing Agencies
Answerbase partnered with reputable digital marketing agencies to create an in-depth explanation of what Google is doing, why, how to create “people-first” content vs “search engine first” content. The following agencies contributed to creating this White Paper.
