The Monday-to-Friday Roller-Coaster
Picture me on a soggy Monday morning, coffee in hand, smugly admiring a client’s page sitting pretty at number three on Google. Fast-forward to Friday afternoon and — poof — that same page is nowhere to be found, as if it packed its bags and eloped with page two. If you felt a similar stomach-lurch last August, welcome to Google’s Helpful Content Update club.
Google drops algorithm tweaks as often as it changes its doodle, but this one was a proper shake-up. The tech giant basically said, “Right, enough of the SEO sorcery. From now on we’re rewarding sites that are actually… well… helpful.”
What on earth counts as “helpful”?
Let’s rewind to the dark ages of content marketing (a.k.a. five minutes ago). Agencies — yes, I’ve been guilty — chased quick wins: crank out 400 words stuffed with keywords, lob a few backlinks its way, and hope the ranking gods smiled. It worked until, suddenly, it didn’t.
The Helpful Content Update slapped a giant Post-it on our screens: PEOPLE FIRST OR ELSE. Google now checks whether a real human would leave your page thinking, “That was exactly what I needed,” rather than, “Great, seven minutes of my life gone and I still don’t know how to cook a chicken korma.”
EEAT: The new secret sauce (and yes, there’s an extra E)
Google’s quality-rater playbook kept banging on about Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. They’ve tacked on Experience for good measure. Translation:
Show you’ve actually done the thing you’re writing about.
Prove you know your onions (and cite sources).
Build authority — think credentials, reviews, case studies.
Be trustworthy — clear about who wrote the piece, why, and how they got their info.
If your blog looks like it was penned by a sentient spreadsheet, brace yourself. Sites overflowing with fluff are now dragging everything else on the domain down with them. One bad blog post can be the banana skin that fells the whole brand.
Slow content is the new fast content
I get it: publishing is addictive. Hit “post,” watch the traffic spike, do a little dance, repeat. But churning out ten so-so articles in a week is like serving lukewarm tea all day — nobody’s thrilled and your reputation takes a hit. Instead:
Write fewer, better pieces. Three meaty posts that nail EEAT will out-rank twelve half-baked listicles.
Tweak in small bites. Change one thing, measure it in Search Console, then decide the next move.
Audit the attic. Old posts can be rewritten, merged, or binned. Sometimes the best SEO move is the delete key.
Don’t forget the “vitals”
Helpful text still needs a zippy home. Google’s Core Web Vitals care about how fast the page loads, whether stuff jiggles around as it renders, and how quickly visitors can interact. Think of it as table manners for websites: the content may be gourmet, but if the waiter spills soup on your lap you’re not recommending the restaurant.
Tools ≠ gospel
Rank trackers, crawlers, log-file analyzers — love ’em. But I’ve seen marketers obsess over a keyword bobbing from position 18 to 19 and back again like it’s copyright prices. Take a breath. Spend that energy talking to customers, reading their questions, and crafting answers that sparkle.
So, what should you actually do?
Put the customer in the front row. If a complete beginner lands on your page, could they solve their problem without opening another tab?
Invite experts to the party. Interview them, co-write, or at least have them review drafts.
Polish the UX. Fast load times, clear headings, easy navigation. Your visitors (and Google) will thank you.
Mix new and old. Keep an eye on fresh trends in your niche, but also give legacy posts some TLC.
Need a hand?
I’m a Welsh SEO nerd who helps businesses all over the UK tame these updates. If your rankings look like a cardiogram, give me a ring and we’ll steady the pulse together — minus the technical jargon, plus plenty of tea.