How do seasoned SEO professionals and business leaders tackle the challenges posed by constant algorithm updates?
What strategies are they employing to maintain and improve their search visibility in the face of change?
For this post, we tapped into the collective wisdom of industry experts from the BoostMyDomain community to help us navigate the challenges that come with SEO updates and their solutions.
We asked them to share their experiences with a recent SEO update that required a shift in their team’s approach, and to reveal the solutions they implemented to address the change effectively.
Their insights offer practical advice and actionable strategies for anyone seeking to navigate the complexities of the modern SEO landscape.
Read on!
Prioritizing User-Focused Content for SEO Success
A recent SEO challenge we faced was Google’s Helpful Content Update, which prioritized original, user-focused content over keyword-heavy or generic material.
Our previous approach relied heavily on optimizing for search intent but lacked depth in addressing user-specific needs.
To adapt, we conducted an audit of our blog and product pages, identifying content that needed more detailed answers to user queries. We revised articles to include actionable insights, FAQs, and expert perspectives.
Additionally, we used tools like Surfer SEO to ensure content was structured and relevant to target audiences.
As a result, our search rankings improved by 13%, and engagement metrics like time on page also increased. The lesson: prioritize value and relevance to meet evolving SEO standards.
Shifting to Social-First Content Strategy
A recent SEO challenge for my team came with Google’s Helpful Content Update, which was publicized as targeting content that is unoriginal, overly optimized, or fails to provide real value to users.
While I don’t think the HCU update actually ended up being about content quality, it did still cause us to shift our approach from long-tail keyword-focused content that answers user queries to content that works for social as well as search.
We basically overhauled our whole content strategy by starting out with ideas that would do well on social first.
We shifted to a video-first strategy most of the time because not only is it easier to rank on YouTube, but that also lets us target consumers on places other than Google organic.
Shawna Newman
Marketing Director & Agency Owner, Growth Cupid
Revising Content to Meet Google's Standards
The helpful content update obliterated us, and frankly, we deserved it. We were on the verge of layoffs when we were able to reverse the trend by doing two things:
1. With each individual blog post, we took the existing content and put it in Google’s NLP API Demo tool. Sounds complicated but it couldn’t be more simple.
If you go to https://cloud.google.com/natural-language you can copy and paste a snippet of text to trial how their algorithm analyzes text.
When you look at the “Category” scores of your text, it’s like looking under the hood of Google’s algorithm.
We’d revise our content and if it didn’t score higher for the categories we wanted, we’d keep rewriting until it did.
2. We’d revise 10-20 posts a day. Not 2-5, not 5-10, but 10-20.
This was important because we noticed Googlebot in our server logs more and more.
My theory is that it saw that we were substantially changing our website and it made the algorithm interested in coming back for more.
Had we done this project over a small amount of time and in smaller bites, I’m absolutely convinced we wouldn’t have come back as strong.
The results were clear. The changes resulted in approximately a 130% period-over-period increase in organic traffic.
Showcasing Expertise to Meet Google's Update
The Helpful Content Update posed a significant challenge to our existing SEO approach, as it prioritized content that demonstrated expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T).
While our family business’s content was informative, it lacked the personal touch that the update emphasized. To address this, we shifted our strategy to focus on giving our owner more visibility across our videos, content, and website.
We showcased his expertise through educational videos, personal insights in blog posts, and an enhanced “About Us” section that highlighted his experience and credibility.
This approach not only aligned with the update’s requirements but also strengthened our connection with our audience, building trust and improving our overall search rankings.
Jeff Michael
Ecommerce Business Owner, Moriarty’s Custom Jewelry
Adding Depth to Content for SEO Improvement
The “helpful content” update by Google posed a significant challenge to our existing SEO framework.
In my case, this update brought to light that pages overly optimized for keywords but lacking depth were underperforming.
Within two weeks of the update, we saw a 15% drop in traffic across our vehicle category pages.
It was clear the search engine was favoring content offering genuine value to users. This shift meant that generic descriptions were no longer sufficient; pages needed to address specific user concerns more thoroughly.
So, we integrated a dynamic FAQs section informed by real customer inquiries. In my experience, FAQs can significantly boost usability while aligning perfectly with the intent-focused requirements of recent updates.
Within four weeks of implementation, this change increased organic search clicks to these sections by 18%. This deeper engagement led to a 9% rise in booking inquiries, clearly showcasing the value of aligning SEO efforts with user expectations.
James McNally
Managing Director, SDVH [Self Drive Vehicle Hire]
Maintaining a Relevant Backlink Database
Recent Google algorithm updates like the HCU and core updates mean a lot of sites that previously made for a good backlink opportunity no longer fit the bill.
Many sites have been blasted out of the search results, losing all their traffic. You don’t want to waste time acquiring a link from these sites as it does nothing for your SEO, because if a site doesn’t rank in Google itself then it’s not passing you any value.
We’ve had to update our entire prospecting database to refresh traffic and ranking metrics. This ensures we’re only approaching sites that are ranking well in Google and receiving quality traffic right now.
Michael Costin
Founder, Local Digital
Prioritizing Content and Brand Authority
The September Helpful Content Update posed a challenge to scaling link building for new clients for us at Ditto Digital.
There is a hypothesis, one that I am fully signed up to, that the Helpful Content Updates (HCUs), which have been part of Google’s core ranking system since March 2024, are focused on something very different from Google’s official messaging and from most SEOs’ tactical understanding.
The theory is that the helpful content system may be linked to an unusual ratio between a site’s search volume for navigational terms and its link signals. If your site has many links (possibly over-optimised for SEO) but little navigational interest, it likely doesn’t deserve to rank as high as it seems.
Our approach in response is to avoid placing too much emphasis on link building for clients with low brand authority (BA), particularly in the early stages of their strategy.
Instead, we scale creating high-quality, top-of-funnel (TOFU) content, content designed to increase brand awareness and build trust with the target audience. We favour the classic cluster model featuring hub and spoke articles.
One tool we find very helpful is Alsoasked.com. It is an invaluable source of ‘paint point’ and ‘how to’ questions that form long tial searches. Google assigns almost all queries into 1 of 8 “rq_semantic_query_class” (rq = Refined Query).
These classes are:
SHORT_FACT e.g: “how much does abiraterone cost in the uk”
OTHER e.g. “what do chefs say about air fryers”
COMPARISON e.g “curtain wall system vs window wall system”
CONSEQUENCE e.g. “what happens to asparagus if you let it grow”
REASON e.g. “why was abilify taken off the market”
DEFINITION e.g. “what is a birthday costume”
INSTRUCTION e.g. “what’s the best way to cook an artichoke”
BOOL e.g. “can i become a agile coach with no experience”
We find this data is a helpful way to structure our user query content. And this type of content helps lay the foundation for establishing brand authority by providing value and showcasing expertise in the client’s niche.
In addition to content creation, we leverage other marketing channels to further enhance brand authority and visibility (PPC, Social and Email in the mostpart).
However, when it comes to SEO specifically, we believe that content is the most effective and reliable way to achieve sustainable growth and improved search rankings.
Michelle Symonds
Founder & CEO, Ditto Digital
Creating "Best Of" Lists, Comparison Content, and Email Lists
The shifts in search have created upset for both business and content website owners.
Take AI Overviews, for example. These are, more often than not, informational queries that are answered directly in Google Search. In some cases, I’ve seen negative impacts to traffic because user’s questions seem to be answered and they no longer visit the articles.
In particular, one client’s revenue to his own product mentioned in this article has declined significantly because the product isn’t mentioned as a solution to the problem.
For this particular issue, we’re working to add informational content like FAQs directly to the product page to see if we can recover the revenue loss and get the product mentioned in AI Overviews.
From what I have observed, Google also seems to be prioritizing products and services in search.
For this reason, I suggest content-only sites to consider creating and selling products (digital downloads, print on demand shirts, or other relevant items) that align with their audience’s needs/wants.
For business blogs with middle- and bottom-of-funnel content, the recommendation to create a “Best Of” list of your own products can help users narrow down which product might suit them the best to encourage a purchase.
An article comparing your product/service to a competitor’s provides detailed information to help a user who is in the buying process make the decision for WHO they buy from. They’re ready to make the purchase and your article should aim to provide them enough information about why they’re the best choice.
In any case, I always recommend to my clients that they need a micro-conversion added to their goals – capture leads into your email marketing funnel from their blog articles.
Give them a reason to supply you with their email, so that you can use your articles to stay top of mind with potential customers and get more mileage out of articles.
J. Ivy Boyter
Founcer, Full Throttle SEO
Authenticity and a New Content Score Matrix
The release of Google’s helpful content update in late 2023 necessitated a quick recalibration of our SEO strategy. The system now penalized content that appeared mechanically generated, requiring more authentic, user-focused storylines.
I lead our team in redesigning our content strategy. We transitioned from keyword stuffing to actual storytelling, producing content that genuinely answered customer questions. We conducted extensive audience research, mapping out actual customer pain areas and creating content that added real value. This implies decreasing our content volume while significantly enhancing quality.
Our implementation process included three important steps: first, reviewing current content for authenticity; second, retraining our writing team to prioritize user experience; and finally, creating a new content score matrix that valued user intent over traditional SEO metrics.
The results were astounding: we witnessed a 37% boost in organic interaction and a considerable decrease in bounce rates.
Kal Dimitrov
Content & Marketing Expert, Enhancv
Updates to Match Detailed Audit Outcomes
The December 2024 core update presented challenges due to its short, volatile rollout and the simultaneous release of the spam update.
One big issue we faced was a sudden dip in rankings for some of our top-performing pages targeting broad search queries.
We suspect the algorithm gave greater weight to site reputation signals and intent alignment, impacting pages where content wasn’t as tailored to user-specific needs or where external signals (like backlinks) weren’t as strong.
To adapt, we performed an audit of the affected pages, focusing on Google’s updated site reputation and helpful content guidelines.
We improved these pages with deeper insights, like location-specific leasing data. We also launched a backlink outreach campaign targeting reputable industry blogs to improve our external signals.
Luckily, the quick adjustment yielded good results.
Over the following weeks, our most affected pages recovered about 70% of their visibility loss, with an average position gain of 1.9 compared to the post-update dip.
It definitely underscored the importance of having a reputation-focused and people-first content strategy, though, one ready to deploy during volatile updates.
Alex Ugarte
Operations manager, LondonOfficeSpace.com
On behalf of the BoostMyDomain community of readers, we thank these leaders and experts for taking the time to share valuable insights that stem from years of experience and in-depth expertise in their respective niches.
BoostMyDomain invites you to share your insights and contribute to our authoritative publication. Reach a wider audience, build your credibility, and establish yourself as a thought leader in an industry that caters to every business with an online presence!
