What's Going on With Google's Helpful Content Update? Plus 2 Weird Niche Sites...

<p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits Podcast, where your hosts Spencer Haws and Jared Bauman, from 201 Collective, bring you all the latest news and insight in SEO, digital marketing, website building, and entrepreneurship.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>This week the hosts focus entirely on one major event in the space: Google’s Helpful Content Update. As this major update has had wide-ranging effects on the niche site community, Spencer and Jared break it down for us and share some words of encouragement.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>The <a href= "https://www.seroundtable.com/google-september-2023-helpful-content-update-current-impact-36074.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">update</a>, which came out a week ago, has really shaken up the community. All across X, website owners are sharing graphics and reports that reflect the very negative impact of the update. </p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>Spencer and Jared highlight the change in Google’s wording, where the focus has shifted from content “written by people” to “written for people” and articles that needed to be “written by an expert” now need to be “written or reviewed by an expert.”</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>They share the stats behind some of their own websites, which experienced both gains and losses and talk about the chances that Google may include a rollback before the update is fully complete.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>They also talk about the sites that benefited from the update, such as Quora, Reddit, and other forums; they share their thoughts on EEAT and UGC; and they discuss the impact on Mediavine sites in particular. </p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>In the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer gives an update on his two new Niche Pursuits challenges, one where people (135 at the moment) w