Answer
Aug 09, 2024 - 09:23 AM
Google has continued to communicate that when creating content for the purposes of SEO....companies should "Focus on people-first content" and not create content for search engines. Google has continued to move towards rewarding this "people-first content" first with the Google 2022 Helpful Content Update, the release of the Helpful Content System in 2023, and then as Google incorporated it's Helpful Content System into their Core Ranking Systems in March of 2024. It's important for businesses to know what "people first content" is and how Google's updates are rewarding this content when it's created and published well.
When it comes to "people-first content", the only thing you need to focus on is ensuring that the content would be satisfactory for a user who is actually looking for that content. You need to shift your mindset away from "what content is going to rank and drive the most traffic from Google" and you need to focus first on what is going to be the most satisfactory experience for the visitors to your site.
In Google's original Helpful Content Update (which turned into the Helpful Content System which was distributed to their core ranking systems in March 2024) Google communicates about the type of content they're looking to reward. They say they want to "reward content where visitors feel they've had a satisfying experience". So, when creating content you need to think about the user and the specific needs that they have and the experience they have when they get to your page looking for that content. If their specific issue is not addressed and very quickly found within the "Main Content" of your pages....that's not a great experience.
When Google communicates what people-first content is....the first thing Google tells you to ask yourself is this question:
"Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?"
When customers do come to you, they request content in the form of questions they ask....and if you fulfill answering those questions in the format that will best satisfy the user (not what you think will satisfy Google). There are a couple core things you need to focuse on from a content standpoint which we'll cover below.
Sharing Actual Expertise that Services the End Customer
At the end of the day.....Google is just looking to fulfill the searches with content that is demonstrating E-E-A-T wich stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It's not enough just to have marketing personnel who don't have any actual knowledge on the topic to create content...you need content that actually demonstrates that you know what you're talking about and are adding to the information already available on the internet to provide "information gain" that Google is looking to discover.
Google patented an "information gain score" in 2022 so they can understand who is actually sharing something in their content as opposed to just creating content for performance on search engines. When it comes to creation content, it's unfortunately very normal for companies to do keyword research, then do competitor research to see what current articles/pages are currently ranking...and then they have their marketers create copy-cat content. Many times the best they do is have somebody who is somewhat knowledgeable to review the content to ensure no big mistakes are made which would cause a bad impression, but otherwise those are approved for publishing. Bottom line, this content isn't adding anything new and when the content creators are honest with themselves.....they're creating it for search engines, they're not creating it for people. Good content actually adds something for the benefit of users, with original insights and tips based on real expertise. Your content needs to have that if you're expecting it to perform for you.
Primarily Focus the Customer Experience on Each Page
When customers search on Google and click a link, they are brought to a specific page on your site and Google is looking to reward content where that specific page is satisfying the specific search intent of each searcher. This is important because it's what Google's core ranking system are primarily taking into account....because they want to ensure each experience with a search result is a great experience for the user.
Google communicated about this in their Helpful Content FAQ where they said this:
"Our core ranking systems are primarily designed to work on the page level, using a variety of signals and systems to understand the helpfulness of individual pages."
So, it's not just enough to get the visitor to your product page or a lengthy blog post....it's about consider what their specific request is for information and making sure that is easy to get to. Google will reward the content where that experience is the best for the searcher when they get there. Because of that, you need to ensure the content that you're posting is satisfying each specific request that searchers on Google have. Because of this, the length of the "main content" on the page is a big deal which we'll dig into next.
Pages with Different Lengths of Content
Google's rewarding "people-first" is focused on the searcher.....and not everybody is searching for an article to read. That means a 3 sentence answer can outshine a longer blog post....if it meets the search intent. It's important to understand this because if you're creating content for specific word counts because you think Google cares....that falls under what Google considers creating content for search engines vs people. The temptation is there, but you need to get out of that mindset and simply satisfy the specific questions/needs of the user...and Google's latest updates are rewarding that content in spades (we'll show you charts below).
When it comes to length....we run into many customers who think that they can't have a page focused on a shorter answer to a question...because they've bought into the SEO myth that Google won't respect a page that doesn't have a minimum threshold of content on it. Well, Google has clearly communicated that is not accurate......see what Google says about content length when they specifically say within their list of things you should consider to make sure you're not falling into the category of creating "search engine first content" vs what they're looking for which is "people-first content". See what Google says under their section of how you should "Avoid creating content for search engines first" where they tell you to ask yourself this question:
"Are you writing to a particular word count because you've heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (No, we don't)."
Google knows that there are a lot people and companies trying to have a leg up in the "quality" of their content....and they fall into the common mistake of "more is more"....but Google recognizes that many times "less is more" because that is what the searcher is looking for.
If you understand what Google has actually said on this topic and what their quality assurance processes have in place regarding this topic, Google understands that shorter content should sometimes be considered the content that is the highest quality and they look to recognize and reward that content. In Google's Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (where they guide a large network of people who are manually reviewing and judging the quality of Google's results, kind of like a feedback form in a restaurant, so Google can recognize/improve quality) they specifically communicate that length of content is NOT a factor in if Google will judge content based on it's length...and that sometimes the "Highest Rated" content is very short.
"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.” - See Section 13.3 "Highly Meets (HM)" within the Guidelines
This gives you an opportunity to grow your organic traffic to the pages on your site through appropriate investment in that content, knowing that a quality/short response can outperform a longer blog post....Google does not care about the length, they only care about the intent of the search being fulfilled through the page they lead the searcher to. We encourage you to read our white paper on what people-first content is and a deeper dive on what Google has said, but let's dig into what good people-first content is doing within search results as Google continues to prioritize this content in the search results.
Results of People-First Content
In general, Answerbase customers have thrived through the Google Helpful Content Update, the Helpful Content System, and then as Google incorporated it's Helpful Content System into their Core Ranking Systems in March of 2024....simply by effectively answering their customer's questions well. Many of those answers are just a few sentences long, and through Answerbase's connection with Google we can understand which of those questions are high enough demand to be indexed and then ensure that there are pages focused on those problems so they can effectively service searchers.
See the activity of those Q&A landing pages below of what happened with a broad range of Answerbase customers that Ahrefs reports back on and how they performed thorugh the Google March 2024 core updates as Google incorporated the Helpful Content System into their core ranking systems. Here is a report that was created July 1st and covers the previous several months as the update was rolled out.
See a chart from Google Search Console of an SMB Ecommerce merchant's overall traffic over the last 16 months (taken on June 5th). Keep in mind that this merchant is seasonal with peaks in the summer and dips in the winter, but you'll see the overall traffic when you compare year-over-year (YOY) the impressions and clicks have almost doubled.
Then, even more impressive, see specifically how the Q&A landing pages spawned by Answerbase have performed for that same period for that same SMB ecommerce merchant.
Again, both the impressions and clicks have almost doubled compared to last year and note that the click-through rate to the Q&A landing pages is 3x that of their normal site. Answerbase customers on average have thrives through all of the Google Helpful Content Updates, the introduction of the Helpful Content System and as they continued with their Core Rankings Systems Updates.
UPDATED CHART AUGUST 2024
Take a look at the continued growth in impressions and clicks and Google continues to evolve the SERPs to display and prioritize "People-first content".....you can see the charts for the Q&A landing pages updated here with a 16 month report taken the first week of August.
Answerbase has AI-enhanced tools to ensure that you're able to efficiently create "people-first helpful content" that both Customers and search engines are looking for, we encourage you to view an overview of what Answerbase's AI is doing on both product-level Q&A and category-level Q&A to get a taste of how Answerbase facilitates the creation of valuable content that leads to both increased conversions as well as organic position and traffic growth as noted above. See a deeper dive on Answerbase's tools for both of these types of optimizations here:
We encourage you to book a demo today to talk about what Answerbase can do for your business.
When it comes to "people-first content", the only thing you need to focus on is ensuring that the content would be satisfactory for a user who is actually looking for that content. You need to shift your mindset away from "what content is going to rank and drive the most traffic from Google" and you need to focus first on what is going to be the most satisfactory experience for the visitors to your site.
In Google's original Helpful Content Update (which turned into the Helpful Content System which was distributed to their core ranking systems in March 2024) Google communicates about the type of content they're looking to reward. They say they want to "reward content where visitors feel they've had a satisfying experience". So, when creating content you need to think about the user and the specific needs that they have and the experience they have when they get to your page looking for that content. If their specific issue is not addressed and very quickly found within the "Main Content" of your pages....that's not a great experience.
When Google communicates what people-first content is....the first thing Google tells you to ask yourself is this question:
"Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?"
When customers do come to you, they request content in the form of questions they ask....and if you fulfill answering those questions in the format that will best satisfy the user (not what you think will satisfy Google). There are a couple core things you need to focuse on from a content standpoint which we'll cover below.
Sharing Actual Expertise that Services the End Customer
At the end of the day.....Google is just looking to fulfill the searches with content that is demonstrating E-E-A-T wich stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It's not enough just to have marketing personnel who don't have any actual knowledge on the topic to create content...you need content that actually demonstrates that you know what you're talking about and are adding to the information already available on the internet to provide "information gain" that Google is looking to discover.
Google patented an "information gain score" in 2022 so they can understand who is actually sharing something in their content as opposed to just creating content for performance on search engines. When it comes to creation content, it's unfortunately very normal for companies to do keyword research, then do competitor research to see what current articles/pages are currently ranking...and then they have their marketers create copy-cat content. Many times the best they do is have somebody who is somewhat knowledgeable to review the content to ensure no big mistakes are made which would cause a bad impression, but otherwise those are approved for publishing. Bottom line, this content isn't adding anything new and when the content creators are honest with themselves.....they're creating it for search engines, they're not creating it for people. Good content actually adds something for the benefit of users, with original insights and tips based on real expertise. Your content needs to have that if you're expecting it to perform for you.
Primarily Focus the Customer Experience on Each Page
When customers search on Google and click a link, they are brought to a specific page on your site and Google is looking to reward content where that specific page is satisfying the specific search intent of each searcher. This is important because it's what Google's core ranking system are primarily taking into account....because they want to ensure each experience with a search result is a great experience for the user.
Google communicated about this in their Helpful Content FAQ where they said this:
"Our core ranking systems are primarily designed to work on the page level, using a variety of signals and systems to understand the helpfulness of individual pages."
So, it's not just enough to get the visitor to your product page or a lengthy blog post....it's about consider what their specific request is for information and making sure that is easy to get to. Google will reward the content where that experience is the best for the searcher when they get there. Because of that, you need to ensure the content that you're posting is satisfying each specific request that searchers on Google have. Because of this, the length of the "main content" on the page is a big deal which we'll dig into next.
Pages with Different Lengths of Content
Google's rewarding "people-first" is focused on the searcher.....and not everybody is searching for an article to read. That means a 3 sentence answer can outshine a longer blog post....if it meets the search intent. It's important to understand this because if you're creating content for specific word counts because you think Google cares....that falls under what Google considers creating content for search engines vs people. The temptation is there, but you need to get out of that mindset and simply satisfy the specific questions/needs of the user...and Google's latest updates are rewarding that content in spades (we'll show you charts below).
When it comes to length....we run into many customers who think that they can't have a page focused on a shorter answer to a question...because they've bought into the SEO myth that Google won't respect a page that doesn't have a minimum threshold of content on it. Well, Google has clearly communicated that is not accurate......see what Google says about content length when they specifically say within their list of things you should consider to make sure you're not falling into the category of creating "search engine first content" vs what they're looking for which is "people-first content". See what Google says under their section of how you should "Avoid creating content for search engines first" where they tell you to ask yourself this question:
"Are you writing to a particular word count because you've heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (No, we don't)."
Google knows that there are a lot people and companies trying to have a leg up in the "quality" of their content....and they fall into the common mistake of "more is more"....but Google recognizes that many times "less is more" because that is what the searcher is looking for.
If you understand what Google has actually said on this topic and what their quality assurance processes have in place regarding this topic, Google understands that shorter content should sometimes be considered the content that is the highest quality and they look to recognize and reward that content. In Google's Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (where they guide a large network of people who are manually reviewing and judging the quality of Google's results, kind of like a feedback form in a restaurant, so Google can recognize/improve quality) they specifically communicate that length of content is NOT a factor in if Google will judge content based on it's length...and that sometimes the "Highest Rated" content is very short.
"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.” - See Section 13.3 "Highly Meets (HM)" within the Guidelines
This gives you an opportunity to grow your organic traffic to the pages on your site through appropriate investment in that content, knowing that a quality/short response can outperform a longer blog post....Google does not care about the length, they only care about the intent of the search being fulfilled through the page they lead the searcher to. We encourage you to read our white paper on what people-first content is and a deeper dive on what Google has said, but let's dig into what good people-first content is doing within search results as Google continues to prioritize this content in the search results.
Results of People-First Content
In general, Answerbase customers have thrived through the Google Helpful Content Update, the Helpful Content System, and then as Google incorporated it's Helpful Content System into their Core Ranking Systems in March of 2024....simply by effectively answering their customer's questions well. Many of those answers are just a few sentences long, and through Answerbase's connection with Google we can understand which of those questions are high enough demand to be indexed and then ensure that there are pages focused on those problems so they can effectively service searchers.
See the activity of those Q&A landing pages below of what happened with a broad range of Answerbase customers that Ahrefs reports back on and how they performed thorugh the Google March 2024 core updates as Google incorporated the Helpful Content System into their core ranking systems. Here is a report that was created July 1st and covers the previous several months as the update was rolled out.
See a chart from Google Search Console of an SMB Ecommerce merchant's overall traffic over the last 16 months (taken on June 5th). Keep in mind that this merchant is seasonal with peaks in the summer and dips in the winter, but you'll see the overall traffic when you compare year-over-year (YOY) the impressions and clicks have almost doubled.
Then, even more impressive, see specifically how the Q&A landing pages spawned by Answerbase have performed for that same period for that same SMB ecommerce merchant.
Again, both the impressions and clicks have almost doubled compared to last year and note that the click-through rate to the Q&A landing pages is 3x that of their normal site. Answerbase customers on average have thrives through all of the Google Helpful Content Updates, the introduction of the Helpful Content System and as they continued with their Core Rankings Systems Updates.
UPDATED CHART AUGUST 2024
Take a look at the continued growth in impressions and clicks and Google continues to evolve the SERPs to display and prioritize "People-first content".....you can see the charts for the Q&A landing pages updated here with a 16 month report taken the first week of August.
Answerbase has AI-enhanced tools to ensure that you're able to efficiently create "people-first helpful content" that both Customers and search engines are looking for, we encourage you to view an overview of what Answerbase's AI is doing on both product-level Q&A and category-level Q&A to get a taste of how Answerbase facilitates the creation of valuable content that leads to both increased conversions as well as organic position and traffic growth as noted above. See a deeper dive on Answerbase's tools for both of these types of optimizations here:
We encourage you to book a demo today to talk about what Answerbase can do for your business.
