Google Is Not But Executed Rolling Out The Helpful Content material Update

We keep watching to see if this Google helpful content update is making some sort of dent in the rankings but so far, we are not seeing massive, Panda-like, ranking changes due to this update. No fear, Danny Sullivan said yesterday it is not yet done yet and Google will update this page when it is done.

Danny wrote on Twitter “Update isn’t done.” “It’s also part of a continuing effort, as we’ve explained. We’ll keep refining how it works. Directionally, the guidance we’ve given is what SEOs and creators should be considering,” he added.

Update is not done. It’s also part of a continuing effort, as we’ve explained. We’ll keep refining how it works. Directionally, the guidance we’ve given is what SEOs and creators should be considering.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 31, 2022

John Mueller of Google also said it needs a bit more time:

I’d give it a bit more time.

— 🍟 johnmu (personal) updated for 2022 🍟 (@JohnMu) September 1, 2022

He added “updates don’t necessarily mean a big giant shift. If you have good content, you’re generally fine.” “Those who have content with issues, there can be reasons why they might not want to be particularly vocal about a change,” Danny explained.

So it kind of does sound like the impact will be felt at some point in the future, maybe with this rollout or maybe in a future rollout? Maybe? Or maybe SEOs really all write amazing content and this update won’t affect them or their clients?

Here is more from Danny Sullivan:

Those who have content with issues, there can be reasons why they might not want to be particularly vocal about a change…

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 31, 2022

With this helpful content update, as I said before, it’s part of a continuing effort. Directionally, it’s what SEOs and creators should pay attention to. We’ll continue to tune it, refine it. It matters, which is why we’ve spent so much time talking about it.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 31, 2022

I expect if we make really significant changes to how our classifier works, we’d give notice about that. But more incremental improvements might happen as part of ordinary operation. And it’s very much not a case, as our post tried to explain, of “wait until the next update”….

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 31, 2022

If there hasn’t been any announced update, but you notice a change in traffic, it makes sense to review all our guidelines and advice. And if you find “hmm, maybe some of this content I have isn’t meeting what’s advised about helpful content,” that’s a sign of what to work on.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 31, 2022

So it might be done when this story goes out or maybe in a week or so after. We will update you when the update is done rolling out.

But like I said before, this update, so far, is very much a dud of an update.

As a reminder, the helpful content update on August 18th and it officially started to roll out on August 25th.

We will keep an eye on this and keep you posted but I do write these stories less than 24 hours in advance this week because I am on vacation. So there is a chance that this story gets published and Google has just confirmed the update is done. So check this page to see when it is done.

Forum discussion at Twitter.