The HCU Effect In Google Updates

It’s fairly commonplace for Google Updates to prompt SEOs to raise concerns about the Helpful Content Update (HCU). A careful consideration of known facts reveals that it may be possible to determine whether a site is truly impacted by HCU-related signals.

Black Box Systems

Black box systems are something that all SEOs should consider understanding because it helps prevent misunderstandings about the consequences of a Google Update, both the core and spam updates.

A black box is a system where someone observing from the outside knows what goes in (the input) and can see what comes out  (the output). What the observer cannot do is infer what is happening inside the box based on the input or the output of the black box.

There are literally thousands of processes going on inside Google’s black box algorithm which makes it impossible to isolate the impact of a single factor. Identifying the ranking effect of the HCU is even more impossible because Google removed it as a standalone system and integrated into the core algorithm.

On a side note, the black-box nature of Google’s ranking algorithms is why SEO ranking factor research based on millions of search results (the output) is unreliable. Those studies make good clickbait and will continue to be created as long as SEOs remain unaware of the principle of the black box.

Helpful Content Update (HCU)

The helpful content system (commonly referred to as the HCU) was integrated into Google’s core algorithm in March 2024 and the system no longer exists.  It now exists as a component of the ranking algorithm among other ranking-related algorithms.

What that means is that it’s not a standalone system that impacts sites a couple times a year. It’s now integrated into the ranking systems that run all the time.

Previously, when Google updated the Helpful Content System, a site’s rankings drop could reasonably be attributed to the system. That’s no longer the case, as it’s now a part of the ranking algorithm that runs continuously.

When Google announces an update they no longer mention if the former HCU was updated because it’s not a system anymore, it’s just a bunch of signals in the ranking algorithm that runs all the time.

This is how Google explained it:

“Announced in 2022 as the “Helpful Content Update”, this was a system designed to better ensure people see original, helpful content written by people, for people, in search results, rather than content made primarily to gain search engine traffic. In March 2024, it evolved and became part of our core ranking systems, as our systems use a variety of signals and systems to present helpful results to users.”

Here’s the exception to that rule:

If Google’s update announcement mentions they are improving the signals for identifying “people-first” content then it’s fairly reasonable to assume that some component of the former HCU was updated.

What Needs To Be Understood About The HCU

It needs to be understood that there is literally no way to claim with 100% certainty that the HCU is the reason why any given site lost rankings during a core algorithm update. There is no way to isolate the effects of the HCU signals from the hundreds or thousands of other signals.

Except for when Google’s update announcement specifically mentions one of the components, but even then it’s important to identify the effects on the site instead of shrugging and declaring it’s the HCU. That’s an excuse, not a diagnosis.

How To Diagnose Effects Of HCU

Google recommends reading their documentation about all the signals for helpful “people-first” content in order to understand the effects of HCU related issues. People-first means content that is not search-engine first.

The documentation says:

“Google’s automated ranking systems are designed to present helpful, reliable information that’s primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results. This page is designed to help creators evaluate if they’re producing such content.”

Google’s documentation on people-first content recommends the following topics for debugging ranking issues:

1. Content and quality
2. Expertise
3. Page experience
4. People-first content
5. Search engine-first content

Google’s documentation goes on to say that after identifying relevant web pages, other signals are applied to check if the content exhibit “aspects” of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EEAT).

“After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritize those that seem most helpful. To do this, they identify a mix of factors that can help determine which content demonstrates aspects of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, or what we call E-E-A-T.

Of these aspects, trust is most important. The others contribute to trust, but content doesn’t necessarily have to demonstrate all of them. For example, some content might be helpful based on the experience it demonstrates, while other content might be helpful because of the expertise it shares.”

Takeaway

The takeaway from Google’s documentation about people-first content is that there are multiple components to what HCU is. People-first content is super important, especially because it’s the standard SEO practice to create search-engine first content by starting with top ranked keywords, organizing site architecture around keywords, and generally optimizing for keywords and not for people.  For more on that topic read: A Candid Assessment Of AI Search & SEO

Google’s People-First Documentation

Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content

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