Is SEO Relevant After Google’s Helpful Content Update? All You Need to Know
SEO is integral to any digital marketing strategy of brands and enterprises looking to scale their products and grow. SEO provides added visibility across all marketing channels, including search engines, official websites, social media, and other platforms.
However, many SEO experts indulge in unfair practices like shadow domains, doorway pages, and link schemes. These practices make it difficult for genuine, informative, and to-the-point content with rich information to get featured on the top search engine results.
To counter this problem, Google regularly updates its algorithm rules to improve the search experience. For example, the Helpful Content Update of August 2022 prioritized people-centric content instead of SEO-focused content.
That brings us to the question, is SEO still relevant? Can genuine, value-added content be featured on the top search results without SEO optimization?
Let’s take a look.
What Is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In some cases, it suggests Search Engine Optimizer as well. The primary function of the SEO process is to understand how search engines work, which search engines people prefer, what people are searching for, and precisely which keywords they use.
Performing SEO is customizing the website content accordingly so that search engines can detect the content people are exploring.
SEO improves the visibility of webpages, helps more organic traffic to find its way to the content they are searching for, and, most importantly, boosts potential searches into solid conversions and improves brand value.
This is why SEO is critical for digital marketing teams to craft an effective marketing campaign to increase site traffic and sales in one go.
SEO Components
SEO is not a monolith. It is a process that has multiple components that play equally important roles.
Typically, SEO comprises elements like
- Keywords– People use these words or phrases to find specific content, product, and services.
- Content– It comes in many forms, and often the content crafted with the right subject and angle reaches more people and generates more sales.
- Off-Page SEO– It involves backlink building, which leads traffic to the website.
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)– SEM suggests paid marketing campaigns. It Includes PPC campaigns, native ads, Google AdWords, social media ads, etc.
Relevance Of SEO And The Benefits For Businesses
Several advantages of SEO would prevent anyone from terming it obsolete.
Here’s how SEO is relevant:
- Increased Visibility and Improved Rankings
According to Hubspot, a quarter of internet users do not scroll down after they click on the top results. One needs increased visibility to reach higher on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
SEO offers a fast-forward button to offer the content that prospects are searching for. Consequently, it increases visibility and, in turn, improves rankings on the SERP.
- Improves Credibility
A higher rank on the SERP results in people believing in the brand and the business as it appears more legitimate and trustworthy.
- Assists Content Marketing
With the help of SEO, high-quality content ranks higher and offers significant visibility in the process.
- Aids PPC Campaigns
PPC is an acronym for Pay Per Click, a form of digital advertising. It helps businesses to rank higher among paid search results. If appropriately combined, SEO maximizes the effectiveness of PPC Campaigns.
- Better Rank in Local Search
Local searches typically end with a ‘‘near me.’’ 80% of such searches on mobile lead to conversions. Local SEO strategies can help businesses reach these potential customers.
Besides these, SEO also assists businesses, and digital marketers in reaching more audiences, increasing user experience and engagement rates by upgrading the website’s usability and helping monitor quantifiable results.
Overall, SEO guarantees a specific competitive advantage in digital marketing.
Risks Of SEO
However, SEO is not infallible. If done incorrectly, it can bring down the ranking.
Watch out for these mistakes while performing SEO.
- Not Combining various content formats alongside texts.
- Ignoring mobile traffic
- Purchasing backlinks
- Not understanding search intent.
Is SEO Relevant After Google’s Helpful Content Update?
Yes, SEO is still applicable.
However, it should be combined with people-centric content instead of relying solely on keywords and start following the best practices Google suggests.
Considering the number of advantages for websites, SEO can be the gateway to dependable exponential growth.
Therefore, it is problematic for anyone to overrule its importance in digital marketing strategies and term it irrelevant.
