Do you write helpful or unhelpful content? It’s an important question, especially considering all the changes Google has made to how they use content to rank sites and pages.
It’s only a short time before the Helpful Content Update completely rolls out and content written solely for SEO purposes becomes obsolete.
And honestly, good riddance! The web’s been full of sub-par, unhelpful, uninteresting content designed to hit the right keywords for far too long.
That’s not to say keywords won’t continue to be necessary. They will, and keyword research will always be crucial to any good content marketing or blogging plan. After all, it’s the best way to find out what people are searching for when looking for a site like yours. Keyword research isn’t just for ranking; it helps you figure out what to write about to answer your audience’s questions.
But when they land on your site, what do they find? Is your content ticking the boxes? It’s all good and well to be ranking for a keyword, but readers will never stick around if they don’t find any value in your content. That will cause problems for your SEO. And once the Helpful Content Update’s been finalised, that fact will hold even more weight than it did already.
Unhelpful content won’t just damage your site’s ranking. It’ll also squash your reputation. Have you ever searched for an answer to your question, or a solution to your problem, only to find that the content you end up looking at doesn’t provide either? Is it just a load of keywordy waffling? It could be a more fulfilling experience. You won’t want to return to that site.
Google has kindly published a list of questions you should ask yourself to determine if your content isn’t helping anybody.
Let’s have some fun and unpick them!
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Are you writing content to attract people from search engines without considering if they’ll find it helpful?
Well, they’ve gone in for the kill here, haven’t they? But it’s a big one that all too many sites and blogs on the internet are guilty of. Are you focused too heavily on keywords and making your content rank? It’s OK to research keywords and place them naturally in the content but going overboard, not so much.
Let’s say you’re setting up an affiliate site about cats. You conduct keyword research and place the top twenty keywords you’re ranking for in all the content you write. Your content’s helpfulness has just considerably dropped because you’ve made it a pain to read. It’s not going to read well, even if you’re the world’s most significant cat expert.
A quick keyword search for ‘cats’ brings up the above. Now you can use those to generate many content ideas for a site about cats.
The problem:
The biggest mistake writers see people making all the time is wanting to place all those top keywords in the same blog post. Not just in one, but in several posts – probably several times and on different topics. It makes for an awkward, unhelpful read, even if your content contains decent information.
Realistically, how are you going to write content about a Ragdoll, a Maine Coon, a Siamese cat, catnip, a black cat, and a kitten? It’ll have to be super-general if you want those keywords to slot in nicely and flow with the content.
Sure, you could write ‘How to Choose the Best Kitten Breed’, but how often do you think that’s been done before? A quick Google search shows that you’re up against fierce competition. And you’re likely not providing the reader with anything they can’t already find in a thousand other places. Unless you happen to know something about kittens that nobody else does, it’s not helpful content.
The solution:
Writing helpful content ultimately means narrowing your keyword options and picking something more niche. It means using fewer keywords from your research per post and choosing them strategically.
So, narrow it down. Have a look for a topic that needs to be covered. Think about what your readers might be looking for. A simple way to do this is to quickly look at the related searches in Google. For example, when I searched for ‘training a Siamese cat’, it told me that people also ask:
‘Do Siamese cats scratch when bored?‘ Now, that’s a niche idea that could work for your cat site. It’s specific.
Imagine you’re the reader – your Siamese kitten is tearing up your new sofa, and you have no idea how to stop them. You search online, and boom – there’s some content entitled ‘How to Stop My Siamese Cat Scratching My Furniture’. It’s got a catchy introduction and it gets into the nitty-gritty of why the kitten is being such a little pain in the ass and how to stop it: it’s helpful content. You might not have put all the keywords you want to rank for in there, but nevertheless, it’s made an impact. It works.
Are you producing content on many different topics just in case some ranks?
Ooh, another biggie. Yeah, don’t do this. If you’re starting a blog, it’s really tempting to write about literally anything you can.
It’s common knowledge in the blogging sphere that you should choose a niche and stick to it. And there’s an excellent reason for this.
Imagine you’re reading this post and like it, so you head back to our blog to find more content. Suddenly, you find a piece on a totally random topic, like ‘How to apply smoky eye eyeshadow’. (There isn’t, by the way).
It might be helpful and help you perfect a fantastic smoky eye, but still, ‘what the heck?’ you wonder. This is a content marketing blog, and that should not be there!
Do you see the problem? Your blog or website visitors have come to expect information on a particular topic from you. So, if you’re writing about healthy eating, and then you veer completely off-topic and start publishing posts that tell people how to do their car repairs, all you’re going to do is cause confusion.
Perseverance and patience is crucial – keep going if your blog isn’t ranking well yet in your niche. Figure out what you can write about that’s not been done before or doesn’t have much information on it. Don’t veer off course and start throwing out information on other things. Unfortunately, it’s not a good look, and you’ll lose reader trust. After all, you want to be the expert in your chosen niche. Experts don’t write about any old random stuff.
Do you add value to your content, or are you just summarising existing content?
It’s not easy to develop a unique idea for content – everything’s been covered at least once by now. But if you’re only ever summarising what’s already out there, that’s not very helpful.
Imagine somebody gave you advice that you’d already been given ten times. You’d be sick of it by now. The same is valid with online content. Summarising existing content and adding the keywords you want to rank for isn’t useful for readers.
Imagine reading one article, then reading another, and it provides literally nothing new. It’s frustrating.
So, while you don’t have to come up with completely unique and different topics that nobody else has ever covered since the beginning of time (it’s nearly impossible, honestly), it’s a good idea to go with topics you know you can add value to. What are your personal tips? Great! An opinion of yours? Marvellous! Products you’ve purchased that helped solve a problem, so you want to share them with your readers. Brilliant.
Are you only writing about trending topics because they’re hot rather than because your audience will find them helpful?
There’s nothing wrong with writing about a trending topic now and again – this topic is trending in SEO and content circles right now, so it’d be hypocritical to tell you never to do it.
The big question is: is this trending topic relevant to my audience? Will they find it helpful? This is a post for a content marketing blog, so somebody reading this is bound to get something out of it. It’s relevant to the niche and on a topic that the target audience is interested in.
The problem with writing about trending topics is when you pick them to write about just because they are trending. When you give no thought as to whether your audience will care. The topic’s trending, so you’d best get your words out there before the chance to rank goes away.
And therein lies the problem. Are you noticing the theme yet? So far, all the factors that make for unhelpful content are based on putting your rankings front and centre. Put your readers front and centre instead.
Write to your heart’s content on trending topics – but make sure you pick ones your audience is interested in. Otherwise, what’s the point?
When readers reach the end of your content, will they need to search again?
This one’s self-explanatory, really. When readers reach the end of your blog post, guest post, or anything else you’ve written and put out online, will they have the answers and information they need?
Or do they need to head back to the drawing board, lamenting the time they’ve just lost reading something that didn’t give them the answer?
It’s not a good idea to start writing if you can’t answer the question or provide the information you’re promising in your title. Pick something you can really answer, or head back to do more research.
Are you writing for a niche you don’t know much about, hoping for traffic?
It’s obvious when somebody’s written about something they’re clueless about. It’s not usually helpful or interesting when somebody does this to try and boost their SEO.
If you create content online, picking a niche based on what you’re good at, enjoy, and know a lot about is essential. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if it’s the most popular niche in the world. There’ll be an audience out there who finds your content valuable because you know your stuff.
If you’re thinking about starting a website or blog, the worst thing you can do is Google ‘top trending blog niches’ and pick the first one without knowing anything about it. It might seem like a good way to make a quick buck, but in all likelihood your site will flop.
Forget about traffic and rankings for a second regarding what you decide to write about. Now’s the time to be a bit selfish and think about you. What are your passions? Interests? Hobbies? Qualifications? What topics make you feel excited?
Sure, niches like health and personal finance are huge, but if they don’t float your boat, your content won’t float your readers’ boats either. What’s more, it’s a massive undertaking to try and beat the sheer amount of competition when you don’t even like what you’re writing about.
Does your content appear to offer answers that it doesn’t?
Clickbait (aka, the devil) is to be avoided at all costs. You don’t want to entertain the idea of promising or appearing to offer something in your heading and then not delivering on it in the content. Yes, you might get clicks. But readers will hate you for it.
Clickbait is something those spammy sites do – you know, the ones that tell you that you’ve got a virus on your laptop but have been gifted $859,275,92.57 from a random prince in Nigeria at the same time.
It’s not for reputable blogs like yours. Steer clear.
Are you sticking to a particular word count?
Many people create content and believe that Google will favour their content if it hits a certain number of words. But whether your content is 500 words or 5000 words – if it’s helpful, answers reader questions, and provides value, you’ll see results. It comes straight from the horse’s mouth here – they don’t care.
This actually makes life a lot easier for writers and bloggers – if you don’t believe you must stick to a word count, you can just write content without stressing about the length. Focus on providing the answers, and don’t worry about filing it with so many words. Some questions can be answered in a couple of paragraphs; others might need a novel.
Not sticking to a word count is good, because it means you’re not risking fluffing your content out with tons of waffle just to hit it. You can just get to the point.
Are you using automation to produce content on different topics?
Ah, here we are. AI writers are the biggest bone of contention among human writers on Reddit in 2023, and we’re still in January.
AI has its uses. And Google has even said they’re not penalising AI-assisted content if it’s helpful, functional, and enjoyable.
But AI by itself is likely to produce something other than the kind of content Google’s looking for. To get close, it needs a human touch.
That’s good, because it means it’s not coming for our jobs. At least not yet.
AI can be great as a tool to generate ideas, titles, or outlines – it saves a lot of time and is brilliant for overcoming writer’s block. It’s also handy for quick research if you want to avoid traipsing through Google all the time. It becomes a problem, though, if you’re getting an AI tool to churn out post after post on loads of different topics to publish, hoping you’ll rank for one or two. It’s probably not going to helpful or even enjoyable to read. After all, it is written by a robot. Therefore, it’s robotic.
If you use an AI writing tool, do so with care. Rewrite everything it spits at you. Fact-check anything you’ve researched with it (it can generate fake news very well) and put your own spin on it. AI can a fast way to produce content, but it’s usually meh. Don’t rely on it unless meh is the look you’re going for.
Bonus: How to Create Helpful Content in 6 Easy Steps – Infographic
Wrapping it up
So, there we have it – a breakdown of what Google considers unhelpful, SEO-first content. The bottom line is to avoid putting your rankings at the forefront of your content and think about what your audience wants to read. By doing that, you’ll actually have a better chance at ranking.
We get it – producing helpful, engaging content that keeps readers glued to the page isn’t something you can do in five minutes! You know you need it to boost your content marketing efforts and establish yourself as the authority in your niche, but where do you start?
Let us help! We’ve a proven track record of success with writing blog posts, guest post writing, crafting product descriptions, and everything in between. No matter your goals, we can work with you to make them happen.
Get in touch today, and let’s create some helpful content together!
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