More big news related to Google changes: this week, the company announced a large update to its core algorithm. The announcement was made through the company’s Twitter account, where the official list of all updates was published. According to Google, these changes can take up to two weeks to complete.

How can the main algorithm update influence the updating of Helpful Content?

Recently, during an interaction with an SEO consultant, Glenn Gabe, Danny Sullivan tweeted about the changes taking place in Google’s algorithms and made it clear that Google’s Helpful Content update is very small in terms of SEO, but that this is a part of ongoing efforts as the company will continue to adjust and refine these changes. It’s worth noting that only 20% of SEO professionals said they’ve noticed any helpful content ranking changes.

It’s actually funny—every time Google sneezes, people panic and webmasters rush to forums comparing drops in ranking, but a lot of times the reality doesn’t match all the noise. I poked around a handful of popular SEO Slack groups, and most folks seemed less concerned about this round than the hoopla would suggest. If you’re someone nervously refreshing your analytics, maybe now’s a good moment to stop doomscrolling, reassess, and remind yourself that not every blip in traffic is the result of an algorithmic tidal wave.

There’s always a temptation to overhaul everything at the first sign of weirdness, but honestly, patience usually pays off. I remember seeing a client scramble after a 2023 update—only to have all their numbers bounce back a few weeks later without them touching a thing. Sometimes, the best “strategy” is just to stick to what’s working and not chase after every update like it’s the end of the world.

Finally, Danny Sullivan leaves some advice for SEOs who feel impacted by any changes in the coming days.

“If there are no updates announced, but you notice a change in traffic, it makes sense to review all of our guidelines and advice. And if you think “hmm, maybe some of this content I have isn’t meeting what’s recommended about helpful content”, that’s a sign of what to work on.”

As a precaution, Google has provided a list of questions to consider if you believe your site has been affected by a major update.

Anyway, I wouldn’t take this change in algorithms as something overly impactful on your digital strategy. If you make good content consciously and in line with Google’s guidelines, these updates shouldn’t be that noticeable to you. 

But yes, it is possible that the search results will fluctuate in the coming weeks, but keep calm and wait for the updates to complete before analyzing and taking any action.