Important How is the Useful Content Algorithm Update Impacting Local Businesses?

[Colan Nielsen]

Google has officially released the Helpful Content Update. We are going to track and share observations about how it's impacting the local algorithm and local businesses here.

Please share your observation below.

 

[seaniaaa]

That's just it, the Places Scout shows that they didn't plummet in organic rankings. Places Scout shows that they lost map pack rankings. They saw the drop the same day that countless other SAB's lost map pack rankings. I wouldn't see this much red unless they were suspended, which they are not. They have their LSA showing and they are number 1 below the map pack. This is not an HCU causality.

Ah, Ben's OP didn't have the business information in it so I wasn't aware you had access to the exact business that was impacted.

 

[keyserholiday]

Here is a business that saw some keywords drop organically but didn't lose any local pack rankings.

 

[seaniaaa]

The quiet is unnerving. Has anyone seen any forums or article comment sections where people are sounding off about impacts?

 

[seaniaaa]

It's entirely possible we (as in the users of this forum) are not going to be affected all that much. I think most competent SEOs are perfectly capable of not making actual overoptimized drivel.

That's the hope! We're cautiously optimistic that we're going to be okay, we're even hoping we'll get a boost in some locations. But the uncertainty is killing me slowly lol.

 

[JS Girard]

Besides, this is (I believe) by and large an organic-only update, and those typically don't have much of a direct impact of Google Maps and three-pack results, do they?

 

[JoyHawkins]

 

[Nikki Stine]

it's almost like they're worried about the accuracy of the update and they're hoping for feedback early on to see if they're on the right track before they ramp up to full deployment.

Is the feedback form a 'normal' thing for algorithm updates?

 

[seaniaaa]

Is the feedback form a 'normal' thing for algorithm updates?

I don't believe so, but I also haven't been around for an amount of time that I'd consider long enough to qualify as an authority on it.

 

[Nikki Stine]

I don't believe so, but I also haven't been around for an amount of time that I'd consider long enough to qualify as an authority on it.

Which is the same reason why I'm asking. I haven't see it before... but thought I'd ask the experts here.

 

[PaulSteinbrueck]

Today, I noticed one of our blog articles completely disappeared from Google search results - 25 Stories From 25 Years - Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO It's a post that lists and links to all the posts in a series. I'm thinking maybe it's been penalized or devalued by the Helpful Content Update because of this question Google posed in their announcement about the update, "Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?"

Anyone else notice pages/articles like this experiencing lower rankings or completely removed from search results?

Thoughts on how likely this is due to the Helpful Content Update?

 

[keyserholiday]

Today, I noticed one of our blog articles completely disappeared from Google search results - 25 Stories From 25 Years - Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO It's a post that lists and links to all the posts in a series. I'm thinking maybe it's been penalized or devalued by the Helpful Content Update because of this question Google posed in their announcement about the update, "Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?"

Anyone else notice pages/articles like this experiencing lower rankings or completely removed from search results?

Thoughts on how likely this is due to the Helpful Content Update?

This is not the HCU. This is Google not liking the page and removing it from the index. The HCU impacts the entire website and not one individual page.

 

[PaulSteinbrueck]

Thank you for the feedback. You all were right, GSC indicates the page is no longer indexed. I requested it be indexed.

I too have read that HCU is a sitewide signal and inferred from that it should not affect individual pages, but who knows, right? If anyone else notices pages being de-indexed, I would love to hear about it, whether you think its related to HCU or not.

 

[Jurant Dika]

Google has officially released the Helpful Content Update. We are going to track and share observations about how it's impacting the local algorithm and local businesses here.

Please share your observation below.

@Colan Nielsen
I'm seeing today a bump of +20 suspensions within 1-2 hour on listings that are old, obviously legit, stone and brick pizzerias. If you look closer, you can see that those suspended listings have the same pattern - deleted images by google with a "!" on a triangle sign replacing them (example).
Email notification, as usual says "....listing flagged for suspicious activity....please read the guidelines representing your business on Google ".
Ofcourse will follow up with Google on reinstatement and reverifications, but do you have any thoughts if the newly released HCU is maybe associated with the recent GBP posts content policy update and now with this newest wave of suspensions? Maybe a rollout to enforce the changes/updates?

 

[keyserholiday]

Google has announced that the HCU is finished being rolled out as of today.

 

[JoyHawkins]

@KieranThomas was it all organic shifts or did you see it impact local pack rankings as well?

 

[KieranThomas]

@KieranThomas was it all organic shifts or did you see it impact local pack rankings as well?

Hi Joy,
I'm just back from 2 weeks annual leave so haven't had a chance to check the local data in detail yet, but at a very quick glance, it looks like it's just organic.

 

[Jezcor]

@KieranThomas was it all organic shifts or did you see it impact local pack rankings as well?

In our case it was Local Pack.

 

[keyserholiday]

I haven't noticed any ranking changes in the local pack, but I don't have any SABs, all of my clients are brick and mortars. Last week we saw a few keywords have massive ranking drops, one keyword dropped 31 on desktop and 26 on mobile. The same location saw a different keyword jump 15 spots on desktop. I am used to keywords going up and down each week, but it's usually a few positions and not as jarring as this.

 

[seaniaaa]

Odds on the surprise Sept. core update dovetailing with the helpful content update and boosting it's impact?

 

[keyserholiday]

Had a client plummet in organic, they said they had copied content on the website and all pages were KW stuffed. They are a maid service company.

They were not the victim of the HCU. They are the victim of the Kansas Bug or whatever glitch Google is having with SABs.