Google Helpful Content Update

[edgarf76]

Whats up everybody. Just curious if anyone got hit hard by the helpful content update and the updates after. If you have, I would like to share what I have been doing and hear what you are doing.

 

[AussieDave]

I stopped spending my life worrying about Google and their alog updates.

If one's content is unique, relevant and interesting, and your supplying fresh updates, then your site shouldn't have to run the gauntlet every time G throws out another alog update.

G can't seem to sort out SE spam, even though they're supposed to be experts in their field.

I suppose with only the top 5 spots actually getting the majority of traffic, it's a lost race from the start. You get to spot #1, 2, 3, etc., etc., and some asshole either scraps your site, or pips you sideways with blackhat.

No thank you!

 

[danieldan]

I, for one, did not feel any negative effects. Traffic is increasing. However, there is still a lot of junk in the search engine that occupies good positions, hopefully they will disappear from the ranking.

And as for updates and what actions to take. I personally am not an SEO expert, so I always do the same thing, I try to make the content useful, well written for the user but also with all good SEO practices. Also, as much as possible I try to make the site fairly optimized, light images, etc. but also without overdoing it. Well, and from time to time it's nice to get/buy some links.

So exactly what one has always done for years. In fact, I have no idea how I could otherwise counteract search engine updates that downgrade a site.

AussieDave's approach to the topic is great. I've been wanting one too, the only problem is that basically almost all traffic is from Google so I'm (like probably the vast majority) dependent on that traffic. When I started I wanted to diversify my traffic to not be dependent on google however it is going poorly. The only thing I've done so far is to enable Subscriptions to build a mailing list.

Dave - you've been in the industry a long time, so I suspect you already have a large player base and lower google rankings and less traffic is enough to sustain affiliate accounts. Am I wrong and you are getting traffic to your site from outside the search engines and from there you are not as concerned about Google?

 

[Frank]

Every good site i know of got hit. HCU didn't just penalise sites but also opened up a gatelway to low quality AI and massive spam, there hasn't been any kind of update for a whle so my guess is something will come soon. Since the HCU it's given my time to build a new site which is gaining traction fast.

 

[edgarf76]

Mine got hit, I am in the process of fixing it now. The serps are terrible right now.

 

[AussieDave]

Dave - you've been in the industry a long time, so I suspect you already have a large player base and lower google rankings and less traffic is enough to sustain affiliate accounts. Am I wrong and you are getting traffic to your site from outside the search engines and from there you are not as concerned about Google?

FYI... DOCH is only a watchdog site, with zero marketing. It's not my main site.

It doesn't matter if you generate slices of bread or lots of crumbs, each of these will make a loaf of bread. I suppose longevity does help. Though, everyone has to start some place, some where

Yes I get traffic from G but also other SE's too. I've always focused on long-tails. Year after year, decade after decade, they've provided the BEST bang for my buck!

Hence why I stopped concerning myself with all the BS Google causes...

 

[Philipp Ganster]

Honestly, I think chasing every Google update is just exhausting. After the recent changes, I stopped focusing so much on what might work for rankings. Instead, I’m keeping it simple: focusing on building genuinely helpful content and letting the chips fall where they may. I’d rather spend time on content quality and a solid user experience than constantly tweaking for each algorithm shift.

If Google rewards that, great. If not, then maybe it’s time to start diversifying traffic sources beyond search engines altogether.

 

[edgarf76]

Honestly, I think chasing every Google update is just exhausting. After the recent changes, I stopped focusing so much on what might work for rankings. Instead, I’m keeping it simple: focusing on building genuinely helpful content and letting the chips fall where they may. I’d rather spend time on content quality and a solid user experience than constantly tweaking for each algorithm shift.

If Google rewards that, great. If not, then maybe it’s time to start diversifying traffic sources beyond search engines altogether.

I agree with this 100%. Also, there is a ton of traffic on Youtube.

 

[CasinoMarketingShop]

We've found that Google is now ultra-sensitive to weak, old content. We see such sites SEO ranking has been tanking for the last 12-18 months - sometimes regardless of link building investments. We've AB Tested casinos with old content vs. casinos with new content we provide, with results having around a 25X difference. That means you have to spend $25 on link building for sites with weak content vs. $1 on link building for a site/web page with decent unique content on it. Has been one of the most turbulent years in the SERPs that we've seen in 20 years of iGaming SEO. It's a lot tougher to rank weak content now, than at any other point in iGaming SEO from our experience. Also a lot of the main pages are going to the bigger brands, and its now crucial that newer sites and smaller gaming sites with smaller SEO budgets focus on high quality content. Mobile responsiveness and site speed have become critical factors in ranking on page 1. AI content does rank, but not as well as human written content. Perfectly written fresh content written by experience iGaming SEO content writers (not creative content writers who don't use SEO tools) - heavily loaded with FAQs - is the perfect antidote for this regular stream of helpful content updates, as Google's search AI battles the development of 3rd party AI SEO tools.

 

[edgarf76]

We've found that Google is now ultra-sensitive to weak, old content. We see such sites SEO ranking has been tanking for the last 12-18 months - sometimes regardless of link building investments. We've AB Tested casinos with old content vs. casinos with new content we provide, with results having around a 25X difference. That means you have to spend $25 on link building for sites with weak content vs. $1 on link building for a site/web page with decent unique content on it. Has been one of the most turbulent years in the SERPs that we've seen in 20 years of iGaming SEO. It's a lot tougher to rank weak content now, than at any other point in iGaming SEO from our experience. Also a lot of the main pages are going to the bigger brands, and its now crucial that newer sites and smaller gaming sites with smaller SEO budgets focus on high quality content. Mobile responsiveness and site speed have become critical factors in ranking on page 1. AI content does rank, but not as well as human written content. Perfectly written fresh content written by experience iGaming SEO content writers (not creative content writers who don't use SEO tools) - heavily loaded with FAQs - is the perfect antidote for this regular stream of helpful content updates, as Google's search AI battles the development of 3rd party AI SEO tools.

Not to mention, Intent is key now.