Why spend on other forms of content besides Google My Business profile information and Facebook posts, Twitter updates? A short description of products and services can prove sufficient enough on the website. Then, what’s the need for blog posts and articles? As a content marketing company with more than a decade worth of experience, we have a simple explanation highlighting the significance of content.
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Studies have already proved consumers prefer using search engines to gather information on products and services. They choose the most relevant products, preferably from local businesses.
Search engine optimization or SEO helps ensure your business gets ranked in search results for phrases related to products or services you sell. And this is where content comes into the picture.
Let’s get the basics right and understand how content empowers website SEO factors.
- Need for content in various forms
Content is any piece of information presented in a contextually relevant manner. Web content intends to solicit an engagement or emotion. It can be in text, video, audio, or images format.
Content helps consumers in differentiating between websites. It allows businesses to earn search engine rankings and convert prospects into consumers.
Yet, online content isn’t always valuable. Some websites publish keyword-stuffed text merely for search engines.
Such content does not offer any usefulness or relevance to the audience. Your blog post or article should enlighten, entertain, inform, or teach something to the target audience.
You can write text content for SEO in the following formats:
- Website content
- Articles
- Blog posts
- Case studies
- Whitepapers
- Forum posts
You can hire in-house writers for the job or let a content marketing agency develop the best strategy for you.
- SEO value
There are several search engines. However, Google leads the list by processing roughly 6.7 billion searches each day.
From day one, Google’s algorithms focus on the way websites organize information. It’s evident; the process has changed since the search engine’s launch in 1998.
Now, Google delivers the best and most relevant results in a fraction of a second. It also focuses on website user experience.
Google can analyze the content’s relevance and usefulness to rank it accordingly.
Thus, content with a higher engagement level, credibility, value, and information level also has superb SEO value.
Steps for SEO content optimization:
- Conduct keyword research
- Develop an outline and format for your content
- Avoid using more than three sentences in a paragraph
- Ensure the content focuses on the critical areas of the chosen topic
- Use primary and secondary keywords within the first three paragraphs
- Include external and internal backlinks in the content appropriately
- Don’t forget to optimize the URL, Meta Description, and title tag
- The significance of relevance
Content creation requires time, resources, and of course, funds. Thus, no matter if it’s a video, graphic, social media post, or blog post, the material needs to be created with a purpose. It would help if you chose the goal as per your consumers’ needs.
You might wonder, why should content be aligned around the needs of consumers rather than marketing ad copies? Before investing resources, you undoubtedly wish to know the possible benefits.
Here’s a glimpse into some of the crucial ones:
- Getting high-authority backlinks for improving site’s online presence and ranking
- Reducing website visitors bounce rate by offering them precisely what they wish to read
- Increasing click-through rate
- Improving social share percentage
- Attracting relevant traffic by using long-tail keywords in the content
- Getting higher rankings in search engine results pages
- Serving user-intent
Visitors certainly won’t be happy if they visit your site for information but get greeted with a newsletter subscription form on the landing page. You might lose an audience if you try to push your products on everyone visiting the site.
Similarly, if your business is running an ad for some product, it is advisable to ensure the landing page helps the audience in buying.
You might wonder which factors help determine if the content satisfies user intent. The answer is simple, if your website or blog content does not meet user intent, the bounce rate will be high. Visitors won’t spend beyond a few seconds on your website.
- Google’s love for originality
Over the years, Google has developed a mechanism that ensures search results offer valuable content to users.
Google search also ranks websites based on freshness and originality. Your site rankings won’t last long if there’s plagiarised content. It may also face a temporary or permanent ban from featuring in search results.
If your website content is original, valuable, and accessible to the audience, Google will work in your favor.
There is a sure shot way to success when it comes to content. Ensure your blogs and articles offer information that’s not available elsewhere. Research work, stats, and opinion pieces can deliver the best ROI.
- Content’s role fulfilling Google’s math: authority + relevance
Of course, publishing relevant content for the audience can help boost conversion and search rankings. However, creating an overall relevance and authority for your website is also essential.
Besides helping websites rank in search queries, the content relevance factor also helps develop authority over the selected subject.
Both authority and relevance work differently but contribute in the form of an increase in traffic and conversion.
The best way to slowly but steadily gain authority on selected topics is by letting industry experts write blogs and articles for your brand.
- The word count
As far as word count is concerned, the ideal length is 1000 words or more. Well-written blogs based on long-tail keywords used by target audiences can yield good results. Use graphics, GIFs to retain reader interest.
Does Google offer a better ranking for longer articles? The answer is yes. However, maintaining user-friendliness and quality becomes problematic in the case of lengthy articles.
Unfortunately, several websites publish blog posts of 2,000 to 3,000 words daily to impress Google. Readers lose interest after reading a few paragraphs and leave the blog.
No one wants to read poorly written blogs or articles. So, in the long run, such content may lose steam. Don’t write content based on daily targets, just for the sake of Google.
The endpoint:
For best results and maximum ROI, it is advisable to let a digital marketing agency handle your content strategy.