When it comes to SEO strategies and creating a successful business, you may have heard the term “high-quality content” being bandied around. This is no coincidence. High-quality content is the most important aspect of any SEO strategy as this is what will set you and your competitors apart.
It is no longer acceptable to just cram your website full of keywords and expect traffic as search engines have evolved to rate websites on their credibility, trustworthiness and intrigue, rather than their keyword matches.
In this article we will be breaking down what makes high-quality content into four bitesize pieces, and more importantly, discussing why you need high-quality content in order to improve your business.
However, in order to address this question, we must first consider content in its entirety.
What is content?
Content refers to all copy and imagery that appears on your website, whether this be your company logo, a product description or your home page. Anything that your consumers see or read needs to be carefully considered and executed for search engine optimisation.
Now that we have covered exactly what content is, it is time to consider what makes your content high-quality, and what sets it apart from your competitors.
What is high-quality content?
There are a few things that you need to consider when creating high-quality content, not only for your consumers, but also for the search engines that are continuously crawling the internet and rating websites.
Luckily, they have something in common, and that is that they are both constantly searching for trustworthy and relevant information that is easily accessible and relatable.
1. Trustworthiness and credibility
When creating high-quality content, one of the most important things to consider is your trustworthiness. This is often translated into your credibility as a person or brand, and creating credibility begins with you as the writer.
It is important that your audience views you as a reliable source of honest, useful and relevant information, but there is more to it than just reeling off your expertise and knowledge on a given subject. Your consumers do not want to be bombarded with complicated jargon and technical terminology, in fact, there is a careful balance required between being an expert and being human.
Carefully consider your tone of voice in order to resonate with your audience and build a solid foundation. By taking the time to explain yourself you are demonstrating your personability which solidifies trust, and using your own voice when writing your content adds authenticity.
It is important to come across as an expert but not as condescending. Think of yourself as an educator imparting wisdom as opposed to forcing it upon someone.
Content is more than just words; you must also consider the imagery on your site. Stay away from using stock photos and instead use personal images as they show that you’re a genuine source offering a unique perspective.
There are other important factors you need to think about that increase your credibility, such as taking careful consideration over things like grammar and spelling. This may seem unimportant, but with every word you write you are showcasing your care and dedication to getting things right. Google bots also use spelling and grammar to determine your ranking, so you need to be careful.
Another way to increase your trustworthiness is to ensure that you are including quality trusted links to expert sources. This proves that you have researched your topic, and backing up your content with evidence will show your audience that you are a reliable source of information with an educated perspective.
2. Relevance and research
In order to produce high-quality content, you need to make sure that the information you are giving is relevant to your audience, or you risk collating a high bounce rate. If you don’t offer people what they’re looking for, they’ll quickly exit your website.
The best way to avoid this is by researching which keywords your audience is looking for and tailoring their experience on your website to match their intent and goals.
However, you cannot simply flood your website with keywords. The best way to increase traffic is to incorporate the keywords naturally into your content. As we said before, search engines are much too smart to fall for shortcuts and laziness. They too look for information that;
- Is useful and informative
- Provides value
- Is credible and accurate
- Is high-quality
- Is engaging and focused
As well as;
- Spelling and grammar errors
- Broken links
- Page load speed
- Reading level
- Distracting ads
These are all things you need to consider when creating content. Some of Google’s criteria for writing quality content is outlined in the Google Search Essentials (formerly known as Google Webmaster Guidelines) as well as on the Webmaster Central Blog.
It can be useful to familiarise yourself with their requirements. They don’t give away all their secrets of course, but they do give an idea of what they’re looking for.
By keeping on top of research you can ensure that you are able to continuously update your website to fit in with your consumer’s needs.
Keeping your information up to date is important to encourage your consumers to keep revisiting your website. Think of their future decisions and needs and stay ahead of the game.
3. Engagement
You may not associate engagement with high-quality content, but it is actually a very useful tool for research, and for finding out what you should be including within your website content.
The best way to find out exactly what your audience wants to know is to ask them.
By starting up conversations you are creating a unique insight into the consumer’s mind, giving yourself access to highly valuable information.
There are a number of ways you can utilise social media to share and promote your business, kick-start conversations with consumers and jump on the latest trends. All you have to do is decide which works best for your business.
Blogs, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok etc., all possess unique ways of sharing information, but more importantly, they each allow consumers to comment, ask questions and share with other users. A wider outreach increases the traffic coming to your website, and allows you to research the needs of a larger demographic.
Why not explore these channels to see if there are more appropriate ways to increase your outreach, or chat to us about marketing and brand identity.
4. Target Audience
Now that you understand what is required to create high-quality content, it is time to consider how you will apply this to your own websites.
You should always strive to answer the questions that your audience is asking, and ensure that the information is accessible to them. Think about their level of expertise and their demographic, as well as which tools they use to communicate, then tailor the experience to match.
For example; a younger demographic is much more likely to stumble upon a TikTok ad than an older demographic, but may be less likely to search through internet forums.
Consider the content delivery as well as forms of distribution. Engagement should be applied to the relevant avenues, be that email, social media, forums or blogs. There is no point promoting your business to the wrong people.
Why do I need high-quality content?
It is as simple as this;
High-quality content equates to higher website traffic, which in turn equates to greater audience engagement and reach.
Google is always trying to improve user experience by rating and filtering websites depending on their quality. Those that it deems higher quality are more heavily promoted, resulting in more traffic.
Google quality content means;
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.
- Each page must serve a purpose that is apparent at first sight.
- The content must be well-researched, well-written and unique/original.
People like companies that they believe to be reliable and trustworthy. This means that consumers and search engines alike are searching for websites that produce the best, most accurate and accessible information. This is where high-quality content shines through.
When implementing any SEO strategy, you need to consider how your online presence translates within your business. Writing for your reader is imperative. For every word you publish, Google is rating your content and ranking your website accordingly. The higher the rating, the higher the traffic.
Overview
- When writing high-quality content you need to consider your trustworthiness and credibility to ensure that consumers find your website to be an honest and reliable source.
- Ensure that you conduct research in order to keep your information relevant and up to date. Use your keyword research as a foundation for your content.
- Stay engaged with your consumers as they will tell you what they want from your business.
- Consider your target audience when creating content to ensure that you are attracting the appropriate demographic for your business.
- High-quality content equates to higher website traffic, which in turn equates to greater awareness and a wider audience.
Things to keep in mind…
EEAT is a term used by Google within their Quality Rater Guidelines and is a popular topic within SEO:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authority
- Trustworthiness
This acronym was specifically intended to help Google’s quality raters perform their function – rating website quality to support search performance. Keep this in mind when creating your own content, as writing with EEAT in mind will ensure your website embodies the qualities that readers and search engines prefer.
