Google: Content Written By Tapping Into Popular Searches Is Likely Not People-First Content

Aug 1, 2023 - 7:41 am 4 by

Robot Writer Google Logo

Danny Sullivan, Google's Search Liaison, commented about a popular tactic content marketers use before writing content - using trending keyword tools to find topics that are trending or popular now. Sullivan wrote "Content with the primary purpose of tapping into popular searches is probably not really people-first and wouldn't be recommended for long-term success."

Danny was responding to a question asked by Irakli Zviadadze on Twitter, where he said you could "curate Reddit answers and create an article based on what you find."

He was questioned if this would work and responded, "But looking at Google's stance on AI (paraphrasing but "quality content is what matters, however it's made"), I think if the post is well structured, UX-friendly, and provides a lot of value for the reader - it should be good to go. Curated posts have been around for a while now ("top 10 x according to... etc"), but we'll just have to see how things change."

Here are those tweets with the example:

Here is how Danny Sullivan responded:

You can read into this, I did my best with the headline of this post but it was really hard to get into a headline. So feel free to offer alternatives...

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Ads

Google Ads Tests Strongest & Strong Match Labels On Sponsored Results

Jun 23, 2026 - 6:05 pm
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: June 23, 2026

Jun 23, 2026 - 10:00 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Clarifies AI Max For Search Campaigns Reporting

Jun 23, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Search Console AI Performance Report Rolling Out To More

Jun 23, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google Updates

Google Creates Subscription Linking For News Publishers

Jun 23, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads On Travel Promotion Ads & Booking Links Work For Search Campaigns For Travel

Jun 23, 2026 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Google: We Don't Archive Our Own Search Result Pages