The update includes new signals as well as a helpful content update for all languages.
Google has released its December 2022 “helpful content” system update, which has been in the works since the 5th of December. It is the first significant update since the August 2022 update.
The December Content Update
Google’s helpful content method generates signals that Google’s automatic ranking algorithm uses to display to users what it considers to be unique and useful information “made by people by people” in search results. With this particular update, the system classifier has been improved and works with content in all languages.
How Does it Work?
Google helpful content systems seek to better reward content that users feel they have had a positive experience with, while content that does not meet user expectations will perform worse.
Along with many other signals, the algorithm generates a site-wide signal that Google considers when ranking web pages. Their computers detect content that appears to have little value, little added value, or is simply not useful to users performing automated searches.
Any content—not just problematic content—on websites thought to have a relatively high volume of unhelpful content overall is less likely to perform well in search if there is other content from the web that is better to display. Unhelpful content can be removed to improve the rating of other content.
What Does it Mean for Your Site?
Your website’s content is less likely to rank highly in search if Google finds a significant amount of junk content on your website. Useless content acts like poison to the rest of your site. According to Google, removing them can improve your site’s overall content ranking. It may take several months for Google to reclassify your website content as useful after removing obsolete content.
Bottom Line:
Google’s approach to helpful content updates is to promote websites built for users, not search engines. Google’s update aims to put content that is of special value to the web beyond what is widely available from other publishers.
