How Google’s Useful Content Update Impacted SEO News in 12 Different Countries

This post is sponsored by Trisolute News Dashboard. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the sponsor themselves.

Wondering why some of your post visibility seems to have taken a sudden dip this year?

Could this be part of a larger trend?

On August 25, 2022, Google started rolling out updates that could be interesting for news publishers and their visibility. On September 12, they rolled out another core update.

This core update is named “Helpful Content Update(s)”.

Today, we will show you how news publishers around the world are influenced by them.

What Is The Helpful Content Update?

Google’s Useful Content Update is an algorithm update that focuses on:

Google frequently updates its algorithm in order to better match content to searchers, and sometimes, publishers’ visibility is heavily impacted.

Which Google Categories Has The Helpful Content Update Impacted?

In this article, we will show which publishers around the world are affected by the Useful Content Update.

We examined each Google category to see if we would find anything unusual at the time the update was executed and selected one or two countries per category where the changes were obvious.

All data presented in this article was obtained from the Trisolute News Dashboard.

How We Discovered The Impact Of The Helpful Content Update

We want to make sure to see the most visible publishers for the newest, most up-to-date keywords based on Google News and Trends to get the most effective results for the publisher landscape.

All rankings are based on real-time 15-minute crawl intervals, so we use the following filter settings in KPI Dashboard → Mobile News Box:

With these filter settings, we take a look at different countries from around the world individually.

Top Stories

Mexico

Here, we can see that two publishers, El Financiero and Infobae, have obviously been affected by the update:

While El Financiero showed an increase in visibility after the August update, Infobae decreased in visibility afterward.

After the September update, El Financiero then showed a noticeable drop as well.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

Two vertical dashed lines mark two updates each.

Publishers seem to have been affected a bit more by the August update than by the September update, both positive and negative.

Country-Specific News

Switzerland

20 Minutes and Blick both increased in visibility after the August update.

Then, in week 36 (September 5 – September 11), 20 Minutes had its peak in visibility, while Blick had started to decline.

From week 36 to week 37, the week when the second update took place, both publishers showed an extreme drop.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

While publishers seemed to have benefitted from the August update in this category, the September update led to a drop in their visibility.

World News

Colombia

For Columbia, there was an increase in visibility after the August update, especially for El Tiempo and Semana, while the visibility of El Espectador almost stagnated.

However, visibility decreased for all three publishers before the September update and remained at an almost constant level after that.

Only El Espectador was able to regain visibility after the second update.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

Both updates have caused a lot of disruption in visibility for publishers.

Business News

Peru

Here, we can see that between the two updates, CNN saw a loss in visibility, but it evened out again towards the September update.

RPP was also able to build visibility at first, but lost it until and after the September update.

For El Comercio, there was a short-term upswing after the August update, but it flattened out again.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

The first update seems to have had a stronger and more negative effect on publishers in Peru than the second.

Science & Technology News

France

In Science & Technology category, publishers in France have largely been able to maintain or even build their visibility after the August update.

However, both Jeuxvideo and Gamekult lost visibility after the September update – only Le Monde increased its visibility after both updates.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

For most French publishers, the two Google updates in Science & The technology category results in a loss of visibility.

Entertainment News

Australia

In the Australian Entertainment category, News.com.au’s visibility increased leading up to the August update, only then to show an extreme drop that lasted until the week of the September update.

This leads to the visibility curve flattening again.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

The first update in August seemed to have a negative impact on Australian publishers in the Entertainment category, while the second update in September had a more positive impact.

United Kingdom

For publishers in the UK, the two updates showed a significant impact on visibility, as can be seen below for the Daily Mail and the Mirror.

Both publishers showed an increase in their visibility up to Week 34.

Then, when the August update happened, both of their visibilities dropped significantly.

For the Daily Mail, the graph dropped continuously, even through the September update, but for the Mirror, this second update made them drop further in terms of visibility.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

Here, the first update in August had a significant effect on publishers’ visibility; the second only has a moderate effect.

Sports News

Canada

In the Canadian Sports category, TSN held visibility during the August update, but lost it slightly in the week before and during the September update. However, they got it back after the update.

CBC’s visibility, on the other hand, went the other way: Before the August update, their visibility increased significantly, then dropped out slightly during the September update and in the following weeks.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

The August update had a greater impact on publisher visibility in the Sports category, for some immediately at the time of the update, and for others in the following weeks.

Health News

Austria

In the Health category, the Austrian publishers Der Standard and ORF were able to significantly increase visibility after the August update and also bring this increase through the September update with slight fluctuations.

In contrast, both Kurier and Vienna.at lost visibility after the August update, but it could also make up for this after the September update.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

For publishers in Austria, the August update seems to have had the biggest impact on their visibility in the Health category, with it being negative for some publishers and positive for others.

United States

In the US Health category, progress seems to be the same between NPR and The New York Times, because initially, both lost visibility after the August update.

However, NPR continued to lose visibility until the September update and after that, its visibility increased again.

For The New York Times, on the other hand, things got a bit turbulent: First, they regained their visibility between the two updates, only to lose it significantly in the week of the September update, and regained it in the week after the update. .

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

The August update seemed to have a negative impact on publisher visibility in the Health category, while the second update in September had a positive impact.

COVID-19 News

Brazil

In the category of COVID-19 in Brazil, the three publishers Globo, Abril, and UOL showed little or no change in their visibility during the August update week.

In week 36 though, which marks the week directly before the September update, both Abril and Globo dropped in their visibility, while UOL rose.

For Globo, this drop continues throughout the September update as UOL continues to rise; only April can hold itself back and flatten the curve.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

Brazil’s top publishers seem to have been significantly more impacted by the September update than by the August update.

Germany

In the German category of COVID-19, DER SPIEGEL was particularly visible in the week leading up to the August update and then slowly disappeared again throughout it.

Through the September update, the trend for DER SPIEGEL continued to rise again.

The picture is different for Die Zeit: Here, the publisher lost visibility in the week before the August update and regained it throughout. It can also maintain this visibility with a slight reduction in the time between updates.

However, they then lost visibility dramatically through the September update.

Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022

Here, both updates seem to have an impact on visibility simultaneously.

Key Findings For How Google’s Helpful Content Update Affected Publishers

For top publishers in most countries, the first Useful Content Update in August seemed to have a more significant impact on their visibility than the second in September. It cannot be clearly said that the visibility of publishers is only negatively affected by the updates, as some clearly benefit from them.

Here are some other interesting takeaways we noticed:

Want to learn more about your visibility on Google News? Schedule a free demo.

Featured image: Image by Trisolute News Dashboard. Used with permission.

Is it safe to not update?

In short, no, you shouldn’t use a phone that doesn’t receive updates. The main reason is that the lack of security updates leaves your phone vulnerable to malicious actors. Cybercriminals come up with new ways to bypass security measures in software to get hold of confidential data.

Is the update really necessary? Old and outdated software is vulnerable to hackers and cybercriminals as updates keep you safe from exploitable holes into your organization. Having trusted security is essential because the release of software update notes often exposes exploitable entry points to the public.

Is it safe to use the phone without update? Security experts advise not only to use smartphones but any smart device with software that does not support it. This is for good reason, as doing so has profound security implications. The important reason is that using an outdated phone leaves your data vulnerable to hackers.

What happens if you don’t update your system? By choosing not to install software updates, you run the risk of using outdated software that cannot benefit from the latest and greatest improvements or changes.

Is it OK to not update Windows?

Potential consequences of not installing security updates are corrupted software, data loss, or identity theft. Every year, malware causes millions of dollars in damage around the world.

.

What is thin content Google?

So what is thin content? Thin content is content that has little or no value to users. Google considers doorway pages, low quality affiliate pages, or simply pages with very little or no content as thin content pages.

How do I fix thin content in SEO? Here’s a list of the best things you can do to fix thin content and improve your website’s SEO:

• Identify relevant keywords to refocus the post.
• Satisfy the search intent of the term.
• Cover the topic completely as needed.
• Add relevant stats or links to supporting content.
• Remove unnecessary ads and CTAs.

What is Google’s thin content class? Thin content is content on a page that has little or no value to the visitor. This means automatically generated content, unhelpful affiliate content, content that has been stolen from another site, or content on the doorway page. Basically, the content is just not useful.

What is considered a thin content word count? A word count of 300 words is generally considered “thin content”. That’s about as many words as you’ve read up to this point.

What affects Quality Score Google?

To do this, pay attention to three factors that affect Quality Score – expected click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and landing page experience.

What are the 4 main components of a Quality Score? Quality score is determined by 3 main components: expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. These three components receive an above average, average, or below average status to determine the overall quality score of the ad.

What are the 3 main factors that determine Quality Score in Google search? There are many factors that affect Quality Score. But the big three are relevance, user experience and expected click-through rate.

What affects Google Ads Quality Score?

Quality Score is calculated based on the combined performance of 3 components: expected clickthrough rate (CTR): The likelihood that your ad will be clicked when shown. Ad Relevance: How closely your ad matches the intent of the user’s search.

.

How do I improve my Google Quality Score?

Knowing how to improve your Quality Score is as simple as choosing and ranking keywords related to your landing page, writing ads related to your landing page and keywords, and making sure your landing page helps your potential customers.

What is a good Quality Score on Google? Each keyword in your Google Ads account is assigned a Quality Score. A Quality Score of 8â10 is considered very good. If you are creating a new campaign and group, know that you must reach a threshold of impressions and clicks to have a Quality Score.

Is it safe to update Google?

In general, yes it is safe to update Chrome.

.