In the past, experts would advise bloggers and those with websites to make sure their webpages were filled with keywords. “Keyword stuffing” would be adding an excess amount of keywords so that Google would show your website more often to those looking for content related to those keywords. If your website SEO strategy includes “keyword stuffing” you are going to want to continue reading.

Google is making updates to their algorithm to identify and demote websites that are not providing quality ORIGINAL content. Google is calling this the “ helpful content” update, because of their focus on original, high quality content that their users are looking for. 

So what does this update mean for your small business and your website?

You want to make sure that Google does not flag your website as unhelpful. This means any “keyword stuffing” you may have on webpages has got to go. This does not mean get rid of all keywords. Keywords that aren’t really necessary in the content but you added so Google’s algorithm would find it – you’ll want to pull those. Google has explained that if they find even one webpage that is filled with “keyword stuffing”, they will flag the entire website.

But how do I know if my content has “keyword stuffing” in it?

When updating or uploading new content you want to make sure that you are sharing unique content that is useful for someone looking for specific information. Your content should clearly answer a question, be useful, and unique. Blog posts should be conversational and not filled with language you wouldn’t necessarily use (this comes back to not using keywords just because they are keywords). Google will also be flagging content that promises an answer to something that has no answer. 

For example: if someone goes to your website because you said you know the release date of a movie, but there is no release date for said movie yet, then your website will be flagged. 

If you are looking for a deeper dive into Google’s Helpful Content update you can watch the video below, or head over to The Seasoned Marketer YouTube channel where we have over 150 videos to help small businesses go from CONFUSED to CONFIDENT in their marketing! 

Did you find this content useful? Feel free to share your thoughts with me, I can be reached at vivian@theseasonedmarketer.com or just leave me a comment below!