Long gone are the days when quantity beat quality in terms of SEO, and cramming keywords left and right doesn't make Google happy anymore — in fact, it makes it mad. Nowadays, high-quality content is the only thing that makes Google's core algorithm happy, and having high-quality, relevant content helps boost your search engine rankings.
Generating quality content will increase traffic, decrease bounce rates, and increase conversions. But who decides how good your stuff is? The simple response is your target audience. However, because each visitor is unique and has a distinct search intent, creating the correct content becomes more difficult. But your readers do have one thing in common: they know what they're looking for.
This article will discuss what is meant by good quality when it comes to content, why quality content matters, and how to approach content creation and emerge with great content.
What Makes Quality Content?
Unfortunately, there aren't any clearly established metrics that could quantify the quality of a certain type of content. However, some objective traits could increase your content quality.
Credibility
Credibility is the number one way to increase the quality of your content, regardless of the type. When it comes to SEO and content marketing, keeping the content relevant is imperative — Google loves relevancy. Tone and subject matter are also good hallmarks of credibility. The former adds authenticity to your content, which easily translates to credibility in the sea of rinse-and-repeat content.
Excellence
Excellence generates attention, which subsequently leads to conversions, and backing up your content marketing strategy with excellent, original content will boost your business. Not only will Google Search favor your content, but it will also increase organic traffic, decrease your bounce rate, and increase conversion rates.
Design your web pages with simplicity and value in mind, rather than keyword stuffing and flashing visuals. Next, deliver engaging content with impeccable grammar, but don’t hesitate to use your brand voice, and to write in a way that mirrors natural speech.
Engagement
Engagement is the primary means of providing context to your content and is one of its most significant components. It's what makes your content valuable and shareable. Here are some of the easiest ways to generate engagement:
- Blog Content — Comment sections on your blog are the easiest way to create engagement.
- Social Media — Just dropping a link to new content published or posted on your website doesn't work. You need to put in the work to get it in front of as many people as possible. Creating content just for your social channels and cross-posting blog posts to social media will help you create an engaging content ecosystem for your audience that encourages them to like, comment, read, and share.
Why Quality Content Matters
Your website and company can stand out from the hordes of rivals vying for attention in your industry thanks to good, relatable, and thoroughly researched content. Both clients and search engines prefer to see high-quality material, and each additional page of quality content doubles as a new landing page, or channel, for customers to discover you.
By generating and maintaining high-quality content for your website, you're establishing your authority and, by extension, credibility and trustworthiness in your field. The bottom line is that people tend to trust and gravitate toward individuals and organizations that they perceive to be dependable, trustworthy, and knowledgeable.
Tips for Creating Quality Content Every Time
While it's generally true that the world of SEO is forever evolving, the hallmarks of good content remain the same. Here are some tips for creating quality content every time:
Inform, Educate, or Entertain
Quality content attracts the target audience by being entertaining or educating — combining the two can be even more effective. Your KPIs are the best indicators of your content's quality; in other words, an increase in conversions, reach, and other similar metrics can all be attributed to good content and digital marketing.
Write for Real People
Regardless of whether you're running a blog or an e-commerce business, you want your readers to share your interests, so consider what you want them to read. Consider their interests or what issues led them to your content.
Relevance is key, and so is trustworthiness, and you can keep your content relevant by conducting keyword research. This assists you in deciding what to write about and which words to utilize. More visitors and lower bounce rates show Google that your website is a viable search result.
Originality Pays Off
High-quality content is helpful, founded on real-world facts or personal experience, and original; it cannot be found elsewhere online. When people have a need for something, and you make it simple for them to fulfill that need, they will come to you.
Invite Engagement
Engaging content is quality content, and it's industry-leading, data-driven, instructive, and entertaining; when audiences love something, they will engage.
Make Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is content that isn’t directly related to current events or time sensitive subjects. In other words, it can be just as relevant to someone today as it will be two years from now. Creating this type of content helps you drive traffic and conversions over long periods of time, making it particularly beneficial to your business.
Keep Search Intent In Mind
When writing the content for a particular page, it's crucial to take search intent into account. Because of this, it’s best that you align your objectives with the various search intent that users might have.
Is increasing the number of newsletter subscribers one of your objectives? Then you should include that subscription button on the sites where visitors arrive with the intention of learning more.
Summary
Although having well-written, digestible content won't always propel you to the top of Google search results right away; it will undoubtedly benefit your SEO in the long run. Therefore, it's worthwhile to think about your long term goals before you start releasing post after post without any clear metrics in mind.
Write for your audience, make your material legible, align your goals with search intent, be reliable, and improve your site structure: these all play a role in quality content. Your visitor count and conversions will all go up as a result of employing these techniques.
If you want to learn more about SEO and digital marketing, visit our Kinetiks Consulting Blog, and learn more about content, keywords, and various other SEO-related topics.