Google's John Mueller has reiterated that websites affected by the old September helpful content update or even new core updates can recover and grow. However, recovery is not a simple tweak on the website, but requires significant effort and time.
Mueller emphasized that recovery does not imply returning to the previous state, as the world, user expectations, and the web continue to evolve. He also clarified that making a website more helpful does not necessarily mean adding more content.
Despite expectations that sites hit by the September helpful content update would recover with the March 2024 core update, this did not happen. Mueller explained that some changes take a long time to build up, applicable to all kinds of systems and updates in Google and any other larger computer system.
The core update is about how Google's systems assess content overall, considering its helpfulness, reliability, and relevance to users' queries. This does not map back to a single change that can be made on a website. It may require deep analysis to understand how to make a website relevant in a modern world, and significant work to implement those changes.
Mueller's statements were made in response to discussions on LinkedIn and X. He concluded by encouraging site owners to keep working on their sites for potential long-term recovery.
