Copywriters rejoice! Google has finally finished its latest algorithm update, called “Google Helpful Content”. It took about two weeks for it to roll out, making it the most recent attempt by Google to help promote website content that will prioritize relevance and “helpfulness”.
If you’re a copywriter who has been putting up relevant, fun, and engaging content from the start, then you shouldn’t be too worried. In fact, you should be smiling from ear to ear right now. But if you’re one of those content “spinners” who take existing articles and run them through AI tools and then claim them as your unique piece, then you should be very worried.
That’s not to say that AI writing tools are taboo, it’s actually the opposite. You SHOULD be using AI copywriting tools to make your content SEO friendly.
For this article, we’ll be going through how Google’s helpful content update (GHC) has raised the bar for AI copywriters and how you can use AI to make the most out of this new algorithm.
But before we get into that, let’s first take a closer look at Google’s Helpful Content update.
Google Helpful Content Update – How Exactly Does It Affect Your Website?
It targets content that has been written primarily for ranking higher in search engines rather than to provide helpful content for people.
Search engine-optimized material, often known as “search engine first content,” is a subject that has gained a lot of visibility on social media. People are calling out websites that do not assist them or fulfill their searches but still perform well in search engines since those websites were built for that specific reason.
This recent algorithm update seeks to elevate websites with helpful content while demoting those that prioritize rankings.
Think of it as walking through a busy marketplace. You want to buy some cabbages but every vendor you come across is selling rotten or stale cabbage. Along comes Google’s helpful content update. GHC blocks your view of all these unscrupulous vendors and points you to a vendor selling the best cabbages you’ve ever seen. That’s essentially what this update boils down to.
What are the impacts?
Despite Google hyping up this update to be a huge one, there’s no clear indication of whether or not it made any impact on search rankings. This vagueness can be attributed to Google giving us only a couple of days before launching the Helpful Content update. As such, we haven’t had sufficient time to prepare metrics to measure its effects.
That being said, it is within reason to assume that any major changes to your search engine rankings were caused by the GHC update.
Is my AI Content in Danger?
What effect this Google update will have on AI content is currently the talking point of AI copywriters. Are there any new penalties for detected auto-generated content?
To address this issue right from the get-go, the answer is NO!
We want to clarify that the Helpful Content update does not target AI content specifically, but rather low-quality content that fails to enlighten and satisfy readers in general. Therefore, whether the content is produced by people or artificial intelligence is irrelevant. If it is of poor quality and does not benefit users, GHC will demote it.
But that’s no excuse to take AI-generated content and post it as it is. In the first place, AI copywriting tools were created to help writers produce better content. Any content produced by a copywriting tool should be read and edited by the writer. This is to make sure the text speaks to your target audience and contains information that readers will find beneficial. Additionally, you’ll want to remove the robotic undertone of the paragraphs sometimes produced by the AI.
You may continue using AI to produce high-quality content without having to worry about the latest Google update as long as you use AI text generators correctly. We’ll go into this further later on.
What is the Future of SEO with Google’s Helpful Content Update?
It is nearly impossible to give a solid answer to this question. The GHC update is still new and its intended purpose, while already taking root, is yet to have any widespread reactions.
However, we can speculate about this matter and make plans accordingly. Some of the steps we can take include:
- Remove obsolete and unhelpful content on your website
- Make sure content for affiliate marketing purposes is unique and genuine
- Put out content with images or information unique to your site only
- Pick a niche and stay in it
You might notice that these suggestions are what we’ve been doing ever since Google started cracking down on ranking-centric SEO strategies. And you would be absolutely right in thinking that way.
We can get away with treating GHC as an extension or continuation of the multiple previous updates. After all, they all have pretty much the same goal. So, we just need to keep going and wait out the results of the update. With enough time, we’ll eventually see just how far-reaching GHC is and its implications on current SEO practices.
Using Google Helpful Content to Improve Your Ranking
Let’s now get into the juicy part of this article. How can we use the GHC update to increase our rankings and site performance? Here are a few suggestions:
Create and develop content with a focus on user experience
Google is probably going to emphasize user metrics more when determining the value of a piece of content. These could include things like bounce rate, time spent on the page/site, and organic click-through rate.
These elements might be used by Google as a measuring stick to determine whether consumers are finding what they’re looking for when they click on a search result. So, you may want to begin looking into it if you haven’t optimized your content plans with an emphasis on user metrics.
Find a good balance between content and keywords
Google is really making the effort to put a lot of emphasis on user experience and high-quality content. Most likely, this means that keywords will become less significant as more updates come along.
But that doesn’t mean you should completely disregard keywords or that they won’t have a big effect on your SEO. What it does mean is that you should focus more on delivering helpful and informative content than cramming your posts with keywords.
Keywords should simply serve as the neon street signs that get customers to notice your shop. People will be in for a surprise if they enter your shop and find more neon signs. So instead, settle for one eye-catching sign outside your shop, while filling the inside to the brim with high-quality content.
Work on your Topic Cluster
A topic cluster is a collection of connected articles/posts that focus on the same basic idea. The supporting pieces are typically shorter blog posts or even just social media posts, whereas the primary piece is typically a well-researched article or thorough blog post.
If you haven’t already done so, you should start building up your topic clusters. If you have a sizable amount, Google may consider you an expert on the niche or topic. This could open up an opportunity to rank higher by being included in long-tail keyword queries.
Rewrite your existing content to follow these practices
The above suggestions aren’t limited to new and upcoming content. You should also consider rewriting and optimizing your existing content with those practices in mind.
Doing so will make it less likely for Google to detect any unhelpful or outdated content and possibly penalize your site for it. Remember, even your best-performing articles and blog posts won’t rank if your site is deemed unhelpful.
Can AI Copywriting Tools Work With Google Helpful Content?
As I mentioned previously, AI copywriting tools were never meant to replace actual human writers. Their purpose is to simply help writers improve their content, save time and overcome obstacles such as writer’s block.
As a marketer, you should not simply copy and paste whatever paragraphs the AI comes up with. Excellent copy editing is the key to using AI writing tools to produce high-quality content.
Yes, AI writing will still work perfectly fine even with the GHC update. But only if you employ proper copy editing alongside the AI-generated copy.
Google Helpful Content Raises the Bar for AI Copywriters
AI writing tools have come a long way since they were first introduced into the SEO landscape. Modern premium AI tools have even begun to make entire paragraphs that look like they were written by a human writer.
And over the years, writers have learned how to properly utilize AI tools through copywriting. Simply put, they take the content the AI generated and edit for both human consumption and SEO.
The Google Helpful Content update will serve as a stepping stone for the evolution of AI copywriting. This new update will force copywriters to hone their skills and come up with new ways to utilize AI to better suit the new algorithm.
Let the AI come up with writing ideas for you
Consider using your AI tool to produce ideas for your next article if you’re having problems coming up with one. There are several methods you can use to accomplish this using a number of different AI tools.
Certain tools like Copysmith could give you a list of topic clusters by using keywords that you input into the system.
You would enter a keyword, and then the tool would go to work and build various clusters, showing you the keywords to target as well as the difficulty and search volume of the keywords.
Simply put, the AI helps narrow down the list of potential touch points for the topic so you can decide what and how to write. This can work wonders for writers struggling to figure out how to approach a topic.
Know which keywords to include and where
Some AI writing tools display the difficulty of a keyword’s ranking so you may select keywords with low competition and strong traffic. If you’re familiar with Ahrefs, it works like that but with the added bonus of AI assistance.
Using Frase as an example, the software can give you in-depth information regarding what keywords to use and the appropriate number of times to use them.
The AI tool also scans the competition and lets you know how many words the article should have to rank higher than the competitors. Having this information can allow you to adjust your content relative to your competitors to produce better quality copy.
Let AI handle the headline
Headlines can be a breaking point for the viability of your content to rank in search engines. This pressure can put some writers in a position where they feel like they need to create an overly unique headline.
Avoid that by utilizing AI tools to assist with creating SEO-friendly headlines.
When you have a catchy headline that appropriately summarizes the subject of your post, the content production process will go much more smoothly. A properly optimized headline will also rank higher in search results and encourage readers to click when they see it.
Not to mention, this can save you a ton of time and headaches by allowing you to bypass the research and thinking time needed to come up with a couple of possible headlines.
Update and rewrite existing content
Going back to previously written content and rewriting to conform to updated SEO standards can be a chore.
Luckily for us, AI writing tools can also help in that regard.
Some tools, such as Copysmith’s content rewriter, are specifically designed to take existing content and rewrite them. This can give the article a fresh perspective on the topic and also update its SEO viability.
This possible use of AI writing tools might just be a lifesaver for websites with numerous obsolete articles that are just begging for an overhaul.
Use AI to come up with copy that sells
AI copywriting software programs can assist you in creating product descriptions or ad copy with the purpose of selling products or services.
Instead of coming up with new copy for every marketing campaign, you can simply go to an AI copy generator and have it craft one for you.
You can quickly construct web content and email campaigns intended to convert leads into customers using a variety of templates within your preferred AI platform.
The copy produced by AI can also be utilized in ad campaigns, captions, and landing pages.
Let the AI check for plagiarism
The fact that AI writing tools include plagiarism checkers are one of their best qualities. Since it creates sentences on its own, the content it produces is original, but this gives you an added layer of comfort and security that the content is completely unique to you.
To avoid any problems, it’s recommended to run your AI-generated content through a plagiarism checker. Some AI tools even detect plagiarized segments and rewrite them for you!
Copysmith AI – Combining Creation and Collaboration
If you’ve made it this far into the article, then it would be safe for me to assume that you’re interested in using AI copywriting.
Getting an AI writing tool is an investment. AI writing assistants, or at least the good ones, often require subscription fees. The price range can be anywhere between $10 to as much as $100 per month. The quality and features of the tool can also differ depending on the price of your chosen subscription plan.
Copysmith is a unique AI content creator that combines workflow collaboration and content creation at scale for large marketing teams..
Its unique features make project transitions smoother by allowing team members to collaborate on the same piece at the same time.
Copysmith also has other features that could significantly increase your content quality:
- Content Enhancer
- Content Rewriter
- Amazon Description Grader
- Bulk Content Generation
Everything you will ever need is all in one platform once you use Copysmith.
Their pricing plan is perfect for everyone: be it freelancers or big enterprises:
Check out more of their features and see for yourself why it’s one of the best AI copywriting tools on the market.
In Summary
What we can say with certainty is that this latest update from Google is another reminder that we should always be focused on producing useful, informative material. Consider your target audience when creating content, and cater to their wants and interests.
AI writers can utilize keyword optimization and other SEO practices to improve your rankings, but this should no longer be the sole focus. Now it only serves as a framework for the masterpiece content that you should create for people to consume.