Google Helpful Content Update: How to Write for Humans--Not Search Engines

In August 2022, Google announced a search algorithm update called the “Helpful Content Update.” This was part of a larger effort to help us write more original content–people-first content that’s written for humans–not search engines.

• Improved user engagement: When you create content that is useful and caters to your intended audience’s needs, they are more likely to engage with your website. That means more traffic and lower bounce rates.

• Increased trust and authority: Establishing yourself as an industry expert.

• Avoiding ranking suppression: By focusing on people-first content, ensure that your website is not penalized by the update. No one knows what Google hell looks like, but then no one really wants to know. Follow the rules.

Think in terms of content that provides value. Keep it simple and accessible. Helpful content spans a wide variety of formats

• A detailed how-to guide that walks users through a particular process is helpful. Including images and graphics makes these even more helpful.

• Explainer and whiteboard videos—great for those who hate to write

What to include:

• Resource pages on your website

• Product reviews and comparisons

• Step-by-step tutorials and demonstrations

• Informative blog posts on industry trends and news

• FAQs to answer common questions

• Case studies and success stories

• Checklists and cheat sheets for complex processes

• Infographics and visual aids to simplify complex concepts

• Expert interviews and Q&A sessions

What to avoid?

• AI-produced content. It’s sterile and generic. It’s just not good enough. AI is a tool, a place to start. At least for now. And remember that search engines recognize AI content. 

• Repurposing someone else’s content. That’s plagiarism and it’s also duplicate content. Google hates it, and you’re sabotaging yourself by using duplicate content. Search engines get confused and end up not being able to index this content at all, so this content is not helping your site rank.

• Keyword stuffing. Google is also wise to this one along with clickbait titles that have nothing to do with the blog’s content.

For more than a decade, Google has been changing its algorithms to elevate the quality of content. Good content became nonnegotiable, and keyword stuffing was out. The old E-A-T model was upgraded in 2022 to E-E-A-T. Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. That’s the new model for helpful content.

If you’re writing an article comparing a few products, include descriptions with some pros and cons of each product. Include pricing, testimonials and images. These days we don’t do anything without reading reviews, so include a few of these. In general, any content that provides value to readers and helps them solve a problem or answer a question is helpful content.

I look for content that’s easy to understand. It’s well-written with simple sentence structure and vocabulary—remember that we should be writing at a fifth-grade level and avoiding acronyms. Include diagrams, graphs or charts that illustrate a process.

Finally, Google Search's helpful content system generates a signal that's used by their automatic ranking systems. It's designed to help ensure that users see original content that's written by and for people.

The Future of Twitter: Elon vs the Wannabes

Elon Musk is now the majority shareholder of the pared-down Twitter. Gone are the famous Silicon Valley perks–the free meals, daycare and a high-end espresso machine. They’ve auctioned off conference room tables and chairs as well as a statue of the company logo—a big blue bird—that sold for $100K. While the company once employed 7,500 employees, there are now an estimated 2,000 and falling. Musk laid off critical teams in charge of infrastructure and user experience. Many of these layoffs were made via email. The future of Twitter remains unclear. Read about Elon and the wannabes.

Musk famously thrives on a self-imposed crisis mentality

He expects his employees to adopt this mentality as well. He threatens bankruptcy if everyone doesn’t hunker down and work under extreme conditions to save the company from the brink. Stories about employees having to bring in their own toilet paper may or may not be true. 

A free-speech advocate, Musk has reinstated 60,000 accounts of those once banned for inciting hate and other kinds of questionable online behavior, including that of former President Donald Trump, who used Twitter to propel his way to the White House. The irony is that while Musk champions free speech for others, it is not tolerated within the Twitter workplace. The engineer who reported that fewer people are reading Musk’s tweets lost his job. “I have more than 100 million followers, and I’m only getting tens of thousands of impressions,” Musk complained. 

Musk makes noises about stepping down as CEO

Musk remains in charge, making unilateral decisions, often without apparent thought or counsel. In the early days of his takeover, his mass firings left the company without a number of key engineers and other personnel who are critical to the platform’s day-to-day-operations. Musk is known to realize his mistakes and hire employees back.

Anyone who has worked for a company that’s gone through a merger can relate to this one. The waiting, the wondering if you’ll still have a job. You start getting to work later, leaving early, updating your resume. In the early days of the Musk takeover, that’s just what Twitter employees were doing–waiting to be fired. Some were pulled into Musk projects, pulling all-nighters to meet contrived deadlines. If they failed to meet those deadlines, they were told they’d be fired. For some, being fired was beginning to look increasingly attractive.

By fall, 2022, only exceptional performance was tolerated

According to theverge.com, it was on November 16, that Musk emailed his remaining 2,900 employees with an ultimatum. He was building Twitter 2.0, and workers would need to be ‘extremely hardcore,’ logging ‘long hours at high intensity’. The old way of doing business was out. Now, ‘only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.’ He asked employees to sign a pledge to the new standard by the end of the next workday.” Two days later he and two bodyguards met with employees to lay out his new strategy. Yet towards the end of the year, Twitter shut down data centers, including one in Sacramento, and more staff celebrated the holidays with pink slips. 

Tesla stock started the year at $400/share. By September, it dropped 25 percent. It ended the year at $123. Investors and employees want Musk to step away from Twitter, as he has promised since the beginning. 

Musk’s vision is to create an “everything app”

Fashioned after China’s WeChat “everything app”, this new version of Twitter would make it it possible for us to order our groceries, buy airplane tickets and schedule appointments—all from a single application, Twitter. 

Why users are abandoning Twitter

The rise of Twitter competitors has been spurred by Twitter’s character limits and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain that Twitter does not support. But it’s also about Elon Musk himself. Many are simply weary of the drama. 

Let’s take a look at two of Twitter’s competitors

It’s a competitive space, and while Twitter is still a major player, the landscape has shifted and users are now looking for the best Twitter alternatives. These changes have generated interest in Twitter alternatives, and the market has responded with a variety of options. While these alternatives still have a lot of room to grow, they’ve already managed to capture the attention of Twitter users looking for a better/different user experience—or maybe it’s just one that doesn’t include Elon Musk.

CounterSocial 

This is the first platform to take a “zero-tolerance stance to hostile nations, bot accounts, trolls and disinformation networks who are weaponizing OUR own social media platforms and freedoms to engage in influence operations against us. And we’re here to counter it.” If you’re tired of the proliferation of disinformation, it may be time to migrate.

CounterSocial has seven columns, so the first look at the interface can be a little intimidating, but it all works together. If you want to start with a single column, that’s an option as well. It starts with your posting column. These are your toots. The other columns are the main community feed (the firehose), there’s one for your friends’ posts; there is a hashtag column and a newsfeed column which can be paused. 

The other columns include the main community feed (the “firehose”) shown in chronological order, which can be curated; a feed featuring friends’ posts; notifications and hashtag feed columns; personal profile and a news feed option which can be paused. 

Mastodon, whose interface most resembles Twitter’s

The interface for this application most resembles that of Twitter, so for Twitter users, this may be the option with the smallest learning curve. Mastodon is favored by tech enthusiasts as an open-source blogging platform. 

According to its German developer, Eugen Rochko, “It has no ads, respects your privacy, and allows people/communities to self-govern. We present a vision of social media that cannot be bought and owned by any billionaire, and strive to create a more resilient global platform without profit incentives. We believe that your ability to communicate online should not be at the whims of a single commercial company.” Mastodon is made up of independent servers. If you don’t like the rules of the server you’re on, hop to another. 

Let’s not rule out Elon Musk

It’s difficult to predict what the future will hold for Twitter, but it’s clear that the platform will have to make some changes if it wants to remain competitive. It’s likely that Twitter will continue to focus on its core strengths, such as its ability to connect people in real-time, but it also will need to address some of the issues that have led users to explore the alternatives.

Issues include character count and AI

To remain relevant, Twitter likely will need to make changes. Twitter is going to have to address issues that are driving users to other platforms, including messaging character count and AI. And then there is the matter of disinformation and privacy, which many of the Twitter competitors are addressing. This matters to users. 

Ramping up to a new social media app is a lot of work

I got hacked and shut out of my Facebook account last summer, and I kept trying to reset my password and log in and it wouldn’t let me. After a significant amount of runaround, Facebook disabled my account. This meant that both my personal and professional accounts, with contacts that I’d been building for more than ten or 15 years were gone. Frankly, I just haven’t had the stamina to rebuild these connections. It was really disappointing because I loved checking in and seeing what people were doing. Some of these contacts went back years to my old high school pals. There was just a lot of history there—so making a change to another platform isn’t something to take lightly. Each of the Twitter alternatives is recognized for a specific capabiltiy. 

• Mastodon is a favorite among tech enthusiasts, but it’s not as user-friendly as some of the other alternatives. 
• MeWe is a great choice for those looking for an ad-free experience, but it doesn’t have the same level of engagement as other platforms. 
• Gab is known for its free speech advocacy, but it has faced criticism due to its lack of moderation. 
• Minds is focused on privacy and transparency, but it may not be the best choice for those looking for a more mainstream experience. 
• Vero is a great choice for users looking for a more curated experience, but it has faced criticism due to its paywall.

Strategies for using Twitter alternatives

When using the Twitter alternatives, it’s important to have a clear strategy in mind. This will help you make the most of the platform and ensure that your content is reaching the right audience. Here are a few strategies to keep in mind:

• Identify your audience: With whom do you want to be communicating? Is this personal or do you want to be using this for your business? Big, big difference.
• Engage with your audience: Don’t get started if you can’t maintain a presence. Social media requires work. It’s another communication channel.
• Leverage visuals: Make you’re incorporating photos, videos, and other images into your posts.
• Experiment: Don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of content to see what resonates with your audience.

Conclusion: The broadening of the social landscape

The rise of the Twitter alternatives has broadened the social media landscape. Many people are tired of Elon Musk and are ready to move on. Some of the new apps are using AI, or they’re not imposing character limits; they may provide more privacy or transparency. If you’re ready to try a new application, make sure you understand the audience you’re trying to reach and your goal. Each platform has strengths and weaknesses. Migrating to a new social media application is time-consuming, so think about what you want to accomplish before making a change.

Increase Website Traffic with Offpage SEO

 Increasing your organic traffic takes more than onpage SEO—that’s the easy stuff that you’ve likely nailed by now. 

Onpage SEO includes activities like: 

• Writing really good content that you post consistently to your website and social media sites.

• Developing metadescriptions that include your focus keyword. 

• Identifying keywords and phrases and using these in your headings and subheads, and using H tags

• Creating smart inner links among your website’s pages. 

• Optimizing images and using alt tags. 

Offpage SEO is an essential part of a successful SEO strategy 

Despite what they may tell you, even great content and good onpage SEO is just not enough for you to show up in search engines.

It’s the activity that’s OFF your website’s pages. It’s your total online and offline presence. It’s social media sites where you’re posting on a consistent basis. Offpage SEO includes brand-building and PR. Pitching articles to local publications or industry newsletters. Getting guest blogging and speaking opportunities and including links back to your website. It means networking and meeting people to grow your overall presence.

• These are examples of ways that you can build your offpage SEO:

• • Linkbuilding/Brand Building–Linkbuilding builds your brand. Building links starts with getting guest posts. Look for opportunities with online publications in your niche.

• • Content Marketing—this continue to evolve to include everything digital media. Content marketing fundamentally involves developing and distributing content across a growing number of channels. 

• • PR—developing relationships with online and traditional print media. Interviews, articles in the local paper or interviews on a popular radio program.

• • Local SEO—this includes Google Business Profile. Getting reviews on your GBP may be the single most important thing you can do for SEO. It’s also more accessible these days—you can access GBPs from Google Maps, etc.

• • Social Media—the social media universe is vast, and includes more than Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn. Decide what you can manage and post consistently with backlinks to your website.

• • Influencer Marketing—developing influencer relationships can help you reach new audiences that might not be available to you. Considered part of offpage SEO.

• • Events—online and in-person events. Networking, meeting people and growing your community opens up new opportunities.

You’re familiar with the Local Pack even if you didn’t know it had a name

You may not have known that the Local Pack was a standalone product in the search space. Let’s say you’re going to be in Athens for a month and you’re looking for cafes with wifi near your airbnb. (This was my local search during May.) You’re served up a map with three listings, your location and three nearby cafes. This is your Local Pack. I found a delightful little café in my neighborhood that became my go-to home for the month. Besides the speedy wifi, I loved this little café for its yummy food and friendly staff—all thanks to Local Pack!

Quality: High-quality backlinks are key to increasing your Google authority

In their simplest form, backlinks are simply links from one website to another. But in terms of SEO, they’re powerful. Google uses backlinks as a ranking signal because the link implies that the content has value, is trustworthy and worth sharing. Local link-building should be your number two priority after onsite optimization. Earning backlinks from high-authority websites helps position your site as an authority as well. These high authority links work like a “vote of trust” from one site to another. Quality trumps quantity.

Backlinks tell search engines what your products and services are about. High-quality backlinks help increase a site’s ranking position and visibility in search engines. Our goal is to get relevant, high-quality links from websites with high domain authority (DA). Note that not all backlinks are created equal. If I get a backlink from The New York Times, it is more relevant and has a higher Google authority than if I get a backlink from a colleague’s website where I wrote a guest post about the five best meeting management applications.  

Relevance: Identify and concentrate on your niche

Focus on getting backlinks from sites that topically align with your own. If yours is a website about biking, you should aim for most of the links you earn to come from other biking websites–bloggers, biking clothing companies, biking trails, biking equipment, etc. 

Public Relations: The perfect way to earn authority links at scale

Digital PR is now the link-building tactic of choice for many SEOs. Use PR tactics to promote a great story and corresponding linkable assets. It’s possible to earn a significant number of links by pitching story ideas to publications, radio and other media. 

Google keeps getting smarter and what that means for us

Google’s maturation has evolved as we key in longtail keyword phrases and get back detailed search results. Google now understands nuances. If I’m writing about weddings, Google knows that I’m also writing about photographers, dresses, caterers, honeymoon travel, etc. Adding a do-follow link to your website will help you show up in searches.

Pay attention to anchor texts

Anchor text are the phrases, URLs or words such as “click here” and “learn more”. If you are the one publishing an article on another platform, try to include your focus keyword in the anchor text. For example, if your focus keyword is “AI content writer”, the more backlinks with this anchor text you get, the better. 

Google’s bots index information 

Search algorithms measure the overall user experience to identify relevance and provide information that’s valuable for users. When someone includes your URL on a post or as a guest blog, the search algorithm counts that as a citation for your business. Citations are about sourcing—citing your website as a source. Offpage SEO calls for adding your website to those local directories that are appropriate. Relevance is key, so look for industry-specific directories. 

GBP ranking factor guidelines

Relevance: Complete and detailed business information will help Google better understand your business and match your listing to relevant searches. 

Distance: How far each potential business is from the location terms used in a search. Google prioritizes by location. 

Prominence: Your overall online presence. More reviews and positive ratings will improve your local ranking.

Guest Posting—this is where backlinks begin, with good content. What happens if you’re not a writer? Think podcasts and webinars!

Podcasts–the perfect medium for those who don’t write. Podcasts are part of offpage SEO, just as influencer marketing is.

• • Reviews influence the way we spend our money. Getting reviews on Yelp and GBP should be a component of every marketing plan. According to Whitespark’s 2021 Local Search Ranking Factors report, reviews can influence both the Google Local Pack and Local Finder rankings as well as local organic rankings. 

Reviews are important component of offpage SEO

A Google Business Profile (GBP) review well may be one of the first places a user encounters your name and brand. An estimated 79% of people said they trust reviews as much as a personal recommendation from friends or family. Your GBP acts as a mini-website that is displayed on the right-hand side of the Google search results page, which business owners can manage. 

Feedback from your clients will produce more keywords and phrases—your company name shows up again and words about your services. It’s always a good thing to be drilling down into the big, robust Google network. You can use a vast inventory of proprietary apps for just about everything, including keyword research. But Google owns the search space. Using their tools means that you’re in synch with their way of doing things. We may as well take advantage of this.

Conclusion: If this seems like a lot, it is! But SEO builds on itself

Once you develop good SEO habits and start writing good content, getting quality backlinks and guest blogging opportunities, you will start building momentum. It’s important to believe in the process. Keep reading and start saving articles that would be the foundation for good blogs and guest posts. Add your own experience to make these articles meaningful. Include little case studies. Be patient because results are not immediate. 

You may find that you need help or want to outsource part of the content development or backlink-building part of the process. Maybe it’s posting to your social media sites that someone else can take over. It’s for you to assess as you start to realize more success. 

We help businesses optimize their websites and show up in search. Contact Being Top of Mind. We’re writers, SEO and digital media specialists.

Building your Google Authority with Backlinks

 

Why are backlinks important?

A backlink is a link from one website to another—a “link back” to a site. Search engines like Google use backlinks as a ranking signal because when one website links to another, it means they believe the content is noteworthy. 

It’s all part of building Google authority

Remember that old thing about the more times your name appears in the online space, the more likely you’ll show up in search? While that has certainly evolved, the basic premise remains true. High-quality backlinks help increase your site’s ranking and visibility in search engine results.

How do backlinks work?

Backlinks play an important role in search engine algorithm, SEO, and your overall strategy for growing your website’s traffic. Think of backlinks as conversations between websites. Let’s say that Olivia is a landscape designer who writes about winter gardening in her popular blog. Michael is a master gardener who owns a nursery and has a blog with a large following. He links to Olivia’s article on his blog. 

Because both of these blogs have large followings and authority, others will link back to these articles. This is how backlinks are built. These are the third-party links that you want—not the one-on-one links where you and I trade links. 

There are two types of backlinks

• A Nofollow tag tells search engines to ignore a link. They don’t pass any value from one site to another. These links will not improve your search rank or visibility.
• Dofollow links are what we all want. They come from respected sites, hold the most value and will improve your search engine (Google) rankings. A link from The New York Times has significantly more value than a link from your small community paper. 

Building backlinks to your site takes time and effort. If someone promises to help you show up on page one of Google, be suspicious. It doesn’t just happen. 

Here are five ways to start building quality backlinks for your website

1.     Add links back to your site from your social media profiles.

2.     Do a Google search for a post that’s already ranking well and then improve and expand it.

3.     Create list posts, “how-to” posts, “why” posts, infographics, or posts with embedded videos. These formats usually get more backlinks than standard posts.

4.     Write guides or how-to articles–comprehensive posts containing several thousand words.

5.     Look for guest posts on other blogs and websites. Opportunities are numerous. Every company providing products and services has a website. They generally have a blog because they need content, and they’re happy to have guest posts. They generally require at least 1,500 words and have stringent requirements. To find these opportunities, Google your industry, then something like “guest post opportunities” or “write guest posts”, etc. This is a project, not a one-off. It’s time-consuming and takes a commitment. There’s a big difference between a 1,500-2,000-word and a 500-word article, but it’s worth the effort.

Questions? Ask me about improving your Google ranking! 

We help businesses optimize their websites and show up in search. Contact Being Top of Mind. We’re writers, SEO and digital media specialists.