Google Updates Helpful Content Guidance, Streamlines Search Console Reports

Google updates helpful content creation guidance, emphasizing page experience, and revamps Search Console reports for improved alignment with ranking systems.

Highlights

Google added a page experience section to its helpful content creation guidance, emphasizing its importance for search success.

Search Console reports will be updated, with some tools retired and replaced by a new page experience report.

Focus on people-first content creation, prioritizing quality, expertise, and E-E-A-T principles to align with Google's ranking systems.

Google is updating its guidance on creating helpful content by adding a section within the Google console that is dedicated to your users page experience.

The update aims to help web site owners consider page experience more comprehensive during the content creation process.

What’s New?

Google’s help page on creating helpful content has been revamped with a new section on providing an excellent page experience.

This change helps to clarify the importance of page experience for those looking to have improved rankings in Google Search.

This new update streamlines Googles Consoles existing guidance. Google reminds publishers that Core Web Vitals remain crucial for page experience success, as they have in the past.

A revised help page titled “Understanding page experience in Google Search results” provides more in-depth information on the role of page experience, along with self-assessment questions and resources.

Upcoming Changes To Search Console Reports

Beginning in the coming months, the Page Experience report within Search Console will be transformed into a new page that links to general guidance about page experience and a dashboard view of the individual Core Web Vitals and HTTPS reports that will remain in Search Console.

Google states that beginning December 1, 2023, Google will retire Search Console’s “Mobile Usability” report, the Mobile-Friendly Test tools.

Google assures that mobile usability remains critical to page experience guidance, and site owners should continue to prioritize it, perticularly Googles Mobile First Indexing Strategy. And this is exactly what we here at MobiFirst have build our platforms on. We are the first web development company to create a mobile first website builder and platform..

Google's FAQ Highlights

Google addresses several frequently asked questions about the updated guidance, emphasizing the following points:

1. No single “page experience signal” is used for ranking in Google Search, as multiple signals related to overall page experience are considered.
2. Core Web Vitals remain essential for search success and great user experience.
3. Good page experience is not an eligibility requirement to appear in the “Top Stories” carousel on mobile.
4. Page experience is generally evaluated on a page-specific basis, although some site-wide assessments do exist. The helpful content system primarily focuses on content-related signals, but page experience factors contribute somewhat.

Additional Considerations

The automated ranking systems of the internet giant prioritize reliable, helpful content over search engine rankings. 

The quality and expertise demonstrated in your content is what you want to provide. 

When creating content, use a people-first approach by targeting an audience, demonstrating expertise, and ensuring the content is valuable and satisfying. 

Avoid producing content that is solely for search engine purposes. 

Familiarize yourself with the concepts of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) and utilize the quality rater guidelines to improve your content further.

Finally, consider the “Who, How, and Why.”