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The Helpful Content Content Update will begin rolling out soon, and it's going to have a serious impact on websites with poor content.
Are you ready?
We've built this checklist based on our own experience and Google's direct advice on helpful content. You can use this to audit your current content and make sure you're building the type of experiences that will benefit users first.
Helpful Content Update: SEO Checklist
| Google's Content Quality and Helpfulness Questions | Question Type | Status |
| Is the content primarily made for humans rather than to attract people from search engines? | Helpfulness and People Satisfaction | |
| Has the content been primarily written by a human rather than using extensive automation? | Helpfulness and People Satisfaction | |
| Is the content topic aligned to your site primary purpose or focus? (audience that would find the content useful if they came directly to you) | Helpfulness and People Satisfaction | |
| Does your content actually answer the question that it promised to answer? | Helpfulness and People Satisfaction | |
| After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they've learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal? | Helpfulness and People Satisfaction | |
| Does the content provide original information, reporting, research or analysis? | Quality | |
| Does the content provide a substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the topic? | Quality | |
| Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious? | Quality | |
| If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources and instead provide substantial additional value and originality? | Quality | |
| Does the headline and/or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content? | Quality | |
| Does the headline and/or page title avoid being exaggerating or shocking in nature? | Quality | |
| Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend? | Quality | |
| Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book? | Quality | |
| Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page? | Expertise | |
| If you researched the site producing the content, would you come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely-recognized as an authority on its topic? | Expertise | |
| Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well? | Expertise | |
| Is the content free from easily-verified factual errors? | Expertise | |
| Would you feel comfortable trusting this content for issues relating to your money or your life? | Expertise | |
| Is the content free from spelling or stylistic issues? | Presentation and production | |
| Was the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced? | Presentation and production | |
| Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care? | Presentation and production | |
| Does the content have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content? | Presentation and production | |
| Does content display well for mobile devices when viewed on them? | Presentation and production | |
| Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results? | Context | |
| Does the content seem to be serving the genuine interests of visitors to the site or does it seem to exist solely by someone attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines? | Context |
Contact Jordan Digital Marketing to work with a team of SEO experts that stays ahead of the curve!
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