Listicles don't suck.

I know you hate them. They feel cheap. Formulaic. Overdone. But you need to accept the fact that the mighty listicle isn't going anywhere. People love them and search engines love them.

If you're hoping that Google's Helpful Content Update is going to devalue listicles, you're going to be disappointed.

Listicles thrive because they are structured and numbered

Google LOVES structure.

How often do you click on a search result and see an unstructured mess? Rarely. The search engine favors websites that are organized. Content that is organized. Ideas that are organized.

Psychologically, we're drawn to numbers and lists. So is Google.

People love swiping left and listicles are your literary left swipes

Listicles appear in many forms.

Some are lists of examples. Others are a list of steps. Listicles can share stories. Social media has primed our short attention span for this type of content.

Unless the topic is extremely complex, creators are going to drift towards the simplification of ideas.

Listicles are skimmable

Nobody on the internet has time for the internet.

If we're truly expecting content to be more 'helpful,' why wouldn't listicles get precedence? Think about the last time you went to a recipe on a website. You probably audibly groaned as you scrolled past the novel that came before the recipe.

We don't need skyscraper content. The whole point of hyperlinks is to compartmentalize content.

Listicles are the ultimate skimmable content. If you need to go more in-depth, link to another page. Nobody says you need to include all of your content on one page.

Learn to love the listicle. It's not going anywhere.

There will always be a place for long-form content that's not chopped up into lists.

But if you're hoping that Google will stop ranking listicles for a huge chunk of searches? It won't happen after this update.

Maybe, just maybe we won't see EVERY result for the same search as a listicle, but I'll believe it when I see it.