Getting "smashed" by Google's Helpful Content Update (HCU) is a difficult situation, but there is a clear path forward focused on creating genuinely valuable content for your users.

The HCU is designed to reward content written for people, not for search engines, and it applies a site-wide classifier to sites with a relatively high amount of unhelpful content. Recovery often takes time—sometimes months—even after significant improvements.

Here is a breakdown of what you should do, starting with a crucial audit:

Phase 1: Diagnosis and Audit (Focus on "People-First" Content)
The core of your recovery is to be brutally honest when evaluating your content against Google's "people-first" criteria.

Verify the Impact:

Check Google Search Console and Analytics. Look for a significant, site-wide traffic drop that aligns with the HCU rollout dates (Google has pushed out several HCU and core updates).

Identify the pages that were hit the hardest by comparing traffic before and after the update.

Conduct a Comprehensive Content Audit:

Identify and Triage Unhelpful Content: Review all content, especially the pages that saw a drop, and categorize them:

Keep & Massively Improve: Pages that cover a valuable topic but lack original insight, E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), or depth. Prioritize fixing these.

Merge & Improve: Similar, thin articles that could be combined into one definitive, comprehensive guide. Use 301 redirects for the merged pages.

NoIndex or Delete: Content that serves no real purpose, is off-topic for your site's main focus, is purely generated for search engines (like low-value AI content without human oversight), or is unrecoverable. Deleting is a strong signal that you've removed the unhelpful content.

Evaluate Against Google's "People-First" Questions:

Audience Focus: Do you have an existing audience who would find this content useful if they came directly to you?

Demonstrate E-E-A-T: Does the content clearly show first-hand experience and a depth of knowledge? Is the author a verifiable expert on the topic?

Originality & Value: Are you just summarizing what others have said, or are you adding unique insight, original research, or a unique perspective?

Satisfaction: After reading, will the user feel like they've learned enough to achieve their goal, or will they need to search again?

Phase 2: Fixing and Improving
Based on your audit, implement these changes across your site:

Enhance E-E-A-T:

Author Credibility: Ensure every piece of content has a clear, credible author bio that establishes their expertise on the topic. Link to author pages with their credentials.

First-Hand Experience: Inject real-world examples, personal anecdotes, original images, case studies, or data that only someone with actual experience could provide.

Deepen Content Value:

Go Beyond the Basics: Ensure your articles offer a comprehensive, complete description of the topic. Fill in the informational gaps left by your competitors.

Fix Search Intent: Make sure the content directly answers the question or need the user had when they searched. Avoid clickbait or titles that don't match the content.


Address Technical and User Experience (UX) Issues:

Reduce Intrusive Elements: Aggressive ads, pop-ups, and interstitials can create a poor user experience, which the HCU considers. Optimize your ad placement.

Improve Readability: Use clear headings, short paragraphs, lists, and tables to make the content easy to scan and consume.

Site Focus: Does your website have a primary purpose? Google prefers sites that are focused on one main area rather than producing a vast quantity of content across unrelated topics just to chase trending keywords.

Phase 3: The Long Game (Patience is Key)
Consistent Effort: Continue to produce and improve content with a strict "people-first" mindset. The HCU classifier is site-wide and doesn't lift immediately. It requires sustained effort to show Google that the overall quality of your website has fundamentally changed.

Monitor Progress: Use Google Search Console to track the performance of the pages you've fixed. Look for incremental improvements after each new Google update.

Diversify Traffic: While you work on recovery, focus on other traffic sources like email marketing, social media, and direct visitors to build a more algorithm-resistant foundation for your business.

The takeaway is this: Stop writing primarily for the Google algorithm. Focus every effort on delivering the most helpful, experienced-based, trustworthy, and original content on the web for your specific audience.