Google has announced some important updates to its Search algorithms which will work to highlight ‘valuable results created for humans’ instead of pages that have been designed purely to rank high in search engines.

With so many low-quality aggregator-type websites with low-quality content designed to game the algorithm and appear higher in search results, Google is now working to show more quality content that has depth; content that was designed for you to read.

To put it another way – if you create shallow content that purely exists to match current trends or keywords in an attempt to rank in Search, you may see your Google Search results.

“This ranking update will help make sure that unoriginal, low-quality content doesn’t rank highly in Search, and our testing has found it will especially improve results related to online education, as well as arts and entertainment, shopping and tech-related content.”

Google has always been about delivering users high-quality results and previously has dominated in being the search engine of choice across the globe. But recently, with a combination of aggregator sites, the emergence of TikTok (yes, TikTok is a threat to Google for search and discovery), the Helpful Content Update is undoubtedly the first of many Google Search updates designed to improve the platform for users.

This means sites will have to review the type of content they create and ensure they do not fall into the category of poor/superficial content or poor SEO practices in the page (really bad) and get back to creating and providing quality content that’s of value to the reader.

If you already do this, and focus on providing quality, informative content on a page that is built with good practice SEO, you are in a great position. Keep this up, review your data and you should see an improvement in related search results.

Google has also announced new updates to its review ranking process which already helps surface quality, helpful reviews in search results.

“Last year, we kicked off a series of updates to show more helpful, in-depth reviews based on first-hand expertise in search results. We've continued to refine these systems, and in the coming weeks, we’ll roll out another update to make it even easier to find high-quality, original reviews.”

With user-generated content and authenticity a key factor in today’s social web, ensuring you are invested in reviews is also a good move. These changes suggest a greater investment in more in-depth information and not just quick-hitting quotes or clips from others is going to further promote your pages as relevant, quality results in Google Search.

In short, if you can provide quality, informative, authoritative content on your pages, the better your Search performance should theoretically be!