When Google rolls out an algorithm update, it often feels like an invisible shift in the digital tectonic plates. You can’t see it, but you feel it when your web traffic dips or your phone stops ringing. For large enterprises with seasoned SEO teams, these changes are annoying but usually manageable. For small business owners, they can be devastating. In this post, I want to unpack a specific algorithm update—Google’s Helpful Content Update—and focus on how it's impacted small business SEO, especially for service-based companies working locally or regionally.
This isn't just an analytical dive. I'm coming at this from a place of lived experience. I'm Zach, and I've worked with dozens of small businesses—some with one-person teams, some with five—across Tennessee and beyond. Some of them woke up after the update in August 2022 and saw a 40% drop in organic traffic. Others saw boosts. But the ones who did well weren’t just lucky. They were intentional.
Let's start by breaking down what this update was trying to accomplish. Google’s Helpful Content Update rolled out in August 2022 and aimed to improve how content is ranked. The primary goal was to reward genuinely helpful content—stuff written with the reader in mind, not just search engines.
That sounds great in theory. But in practice, what does “helpful” mean?
Here are a few core principles Google outlined:
If you're a small business owner, you're probably thinking, "I don't even write content—I'm a plumber, or a gym, or a therapist. I just need people to find me!" Which is exactly why this update hit some businesses so hard. If your site was relying on mass-produced, generic blog posts outsourced to content farms, you've probably seen a dip.
One client I work with is a chiropractic office on the east side of Nashville. Pre-update, they were publishing 12 blog posts a month through a marketing agency. Sounds impressive, right? But the articles were things like “Healthy Living Tips for Autumn” or “5 Foods That Help With Back Pain.” Relevant-ish, but not specific. And most importantly, literally hundreds of other articles just like them existed online.
After the update, their organic traffic dropped by 38% in just one month.
We audited the content and realized that none of it was truly helpful for their specific audience. We rewrote their top-performing blogs to include patient stories, local references, and their actual techniques. One piece we rewrote, titled "How We Use Active Release Therapy for Runners Training in Shelby Park," brought in 60% more traffic than any of the previous posts. It ranked because it was specific. It answered one real question from their target audience.
Another layer to this update is Google's emphasis on E-E-A-T—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This isn't new, but the Helpful Content Update reinforced its importance.
I’ve seen firsthand how this works. One client in Brentwood—a family-owned HVAC company—saw a 50% bump in local keywords after we created a “Behind the Scenes” video blog about how they handle emergency calls during heat waves. They told a story. They showed their process. They built trust. Google noticed.
One major casualty of the Helpful Content Update was low-quality content at scale. I call it “content bloat.” Like eating 2,000 calories of snack food—it fills you up but doesn't nourish you.
I worked with a Franklin-based contracting business that had 150 blog posts across their WordPress site. Out of those, only eight were getting any pageviews in Google Analytics. We archived over 100 of them. Yes, removed them entirely. After that, their average rank across money pages moved from positions 9-11 to 4-6. Less clutter. More clarity.
Ironically, one of the best things you can do post-update is cut content. Prune the weak so the strong can thrive. It’s part horticulture, part triage.
Another trick that’s lost relevance is spinning out hundreds of “near me” pages. You’ve seen this on older sites: "Plumber in Franklin TN," "Plumber in Brentwood TN," "Plumber in Nolensville TN"—each with 95% duplicate content.
This tactic used to help. Now it hurts. Google recognizes boilerplate content, and the Helpful Content Update sharpened its ability to sniff it out.
I helped redesign a site for a custom cabinetry business that originally had 27 nearly identical city pages. We replaced them with five “Project Spotlight” case studies, each in a different neighborhood and featuring original photos, client quotes, and design specifics. Their local visibility increased within 8 weeks—especially on the map pack.
With the explosion of AI-powered writing tools, I’ve had several clients ask: “Can I just have ChatGPT write my blogs now?”
The short answer is: you can, but you shouldn’t rely on it blindly—especially after the Helpful Content Update. Google isn’t anti-AI, but the content still needs to be unique, accurate, authoritative, and above all, helpful.
The problem is, most AI-generated content is average by design. It's meant to be broadly acceptable to as many queries as possible. But if you're a small business, your competitive edge is specificity and personality. The AI doesn’t know how your practice feels. It doesn’t know what the waiting room smells like or how your approach with nervous clients is different from your competitors.
But the voice? The story? That should be yours.
Many small business owners want SEO to be a slot machine. You invest in a few quick strategies, maybe write a couple blogs, and then leads should come pouring in. The helpful content update reinforced the fact that true SEO takes time, care, and strategic focus—more like gardening than gambling.
I often sit with clients who’ve been burned. They spent $1,500 a month with a “SEO specialist” for a year with little to show for it. Sometimes they’re skeptical when I suggest investing in content. But here’s the truth: SEO isn’t just about ranking anymore. It’s about becoming the best answer to someone’s question.
It’s not about tricking search engines anymore. It’s about aligning with human need. That means content should be clear, empathetic, and rooted in your real-world expertise. And in that sense, the update didn’t pull the rug out. It just leveled the playing field for people who know how to play small and specific really, really well.
In the end, the Helpful Content Update didn’t change Google's core philosophy. It reaffirmed it. For years, Google has told us they want users to feel satisfied after visiting a webpage. Now they just have algorithmic teeth behind that vision.
If you're a small business, this is your moment. You don’t need thousands of backlinks and 200 blog posts a year. You need to own your story, share real expertise, and center the people you serve. The businesses I’ve seen succeed post-update are the ones that write and design with human beings in mind—even more than search engines.
And as a web designer who's part strategist, part therapist—I’ve realized that guiding clients through this shift is more than just technical. It’s interpretive. It's naming your strengths, reshaping how you show up online, and believing that your experience is valuable enough to write about.
Google’s just catching up to what a lot of real humans have always known: that your story is your best SEO strategy.
Copyright © Zach Sean Web Design
