The rise of helpful content: A new pillar in SEO

The changing world of search engine optimization

The world of search engine optimization (SEO) never stands still. What worked for years is now no longer the norm. Google has significantly tightened its algorithms in recent months to provide more value to users through what they call "helpful content." This means that content designed specifically to manipulate search engines - traditional SEO content - is losing ground. Instead, websites that actually put effort into providing valuable, informative and user-friendly content are getting priority in search results. The shift to helpful content marks a new era within SEO, where quality and user experience are key.

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The limitations of traditional SEO content

Traditional SEO content focused mainly on optimizing texts around specific keywords. The goal was to rank higher in Google as quickly as possible, often without paying too much attention to the actual quality of the content. This often resulted in superficial articles, repeating the same information over and over again, with the sole purpose of attracting as much search traffic as possible. This approach, while effective in the past, has serious limitations. Indeed, much SEO content is interchangeable: search for a popular topic and you will often find several websites with almost identical content. For the user, this does not add value, which is exactly what Google wants to change.

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What is helpful content?

Helpful content, on the other hand, is content that truly adds value to the user. It is not just about answering a search question, but providing in-depth, relevant and unique information. This type of content requires more time and effort to create, but offers the user a much better experience. Google looks at several aspects here, including the expertise of the author, the reliability of the source and the added value compared to other websites. This is often summarized under the acronym EEAT: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Content that meets these criteria is rewarded by Google with better positions in search results.

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Strategies for businesses: the transition to helpful content

For businesses, this shift means rethinking their content strategy. Producing superficial, quickly written text is no longer enough to be successful in search engines. Instead, companies need to invest in in-depth, valuable content that really helps the user. This can be done, for example, by partnering with experts in specific fields so that the information shared is high quality and based on real experience. Companies should also look beyond text: videos, infographics and interactive tools can contribute to the overall user experience. TMC Media can guide organizations through this transition to helpful content and help develop a strategy focused on sustained online visibility and customer satisfaction.

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Looking ahead to the next part

In the next article, we dive deeper into how companies can effectively integrate EEAT's principles into their content strategy and what specific content forms provide additional value for both search engines and users.

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