Helpful content system folded into core ranking
Google retired the standalone helpful content classifier and moved its signals into multiple core ranking systems.
What changed
Alongside the March 2024 core update Google announced that the helpful content system was no longer a discrete site-wide classifier and that assessing whether content is helpful was now handled by several signals within core ranking. Google removed the separate helpful content documentation and merged the guidance into its creating helpful content page. In practice this meant the effects could update continuously rather than requiring a periodic release, and Google stopped issuing helpful content update announcements.
Timing
Rollout began 5 March 2024. No completion date was announced. Rankings typically remain unstable for the whole rollout window, so measurements taken inside it are not a reliable read on the outcome.