Quality of Content
Today, content optimization should be driven by a user-first approach while still maintaining a solid SEO foundation. Here’s how to achieve the right mix and improve the quality of the content for people and search engines.
Google’s helpful content update has finished spreading, and although it didn’t have the impact many hoped for, it has undoubtedly drawn our attention to improving our content.
Google's Helpful Content Update
Google has become more focused on delivering content written by people, we must be able to optimize our content for both consumers and search engines. Here are my suggested techniques for enhancing your content for better search results and gratified readers.
- Check the ease of reading.
My biggest tip for optimizing online content is to assess its readability. When we consume information online, we process it differently than when we read it in print.
Because we can digest short, simple sentences more quickly, we can process information more efficiently when we consume it online.
The U.S. Department of Education says the average reading level is between 12 and 14 years old. In the U.K., we are encouraged to write in a way a 9-year-old can comprehend. It is unclear how to implement this, and it is frequently forgotten. The Office for National Statistics recommends that we write in a way accessible to all users.
Search engines prefer readable content because they utilize NLP (natural language processing) to process language based on linguistic rules to comprehend the relationships between words. A lack of these relationships being too complex may lead to the intended message being lost.
The NLP tool from Google identifies “sales funnel” and “target audience” as the most important entities in this passage. This is easier to follow and more relevant to the subject at hand than the previous example. However, we will focus on eCommerce PPC management in this post.
- No-frills. Precise and concise language is what is needed.
Try to keep your language as precise and concise as possible, eliminating unnecessary or complicated words.
Attempt to keep your content simple while maintaining pace and rhythm to keep readers interested. This will assist search engines in processing it and keeping readers interested.
- Synonyms and close equivalents are essential.
Repeating your content’s exact words or phrases is not a great idea. This laborious content is challenging to read, and an informed audience may find it untrustworthy. By upgrading frequent words to their synonyms, you can make your content more exciting and engaging to read. This will allow search engines to obtain more contextual information and avoid the desire to overuse keywords that might hurt search performance.
Using synonyms helps strengthen the topics you write about by providing numerous references. It can also give you broader rankings and strengthen your writing topics.
Include Relevant Research & Entities
- Include relevant research and entities.
Content often has related entities, and both search engines and people can recognize those connections.
For example, people have learned over time that Buckingham Palace is a residence of the royal family in London, England.
There are various entity relationships, including those with London (location), Queen Elizabeth II (person), and other relevant events.
While some associations are well-defined and obvious, others are more subtle. Consequently, researching entity associations and considering the associations you make within your content is essential.
Making the right connections to build a bigger picture and give context to your topic is essential. For example, Buckingham Palace would be missing from your content without mentioning the Royal Family. Entity relationships, on the other hand, help clarify meaning. When you’re writing content about Anne Hathaway, the historical figure William Shakespeare, Stratford Upon Avon, and other related entities provide context. The association of entities such as actors, movies, Academy Awards, and New York City in a piece of written content about the modern-day movie star Anne Hathaway is likely.
Including relevant entities in the content improves the overall piece by giving search engines more comprehensive reference points for corroborating what you’re talking about. It also gives your readers an indication that you’ve done extensive research on the topic and that you’re providing them with valuable information.
- Be coherent.
It’s best if your content adheres to a clear, systematic structure. This makes it simple for readers and search engines to comprehend. Other competing articles have a chaotic assortment of tips. Even though they’re helpful, their structure isn’t as logical and straightforward to follow.
- Use headings.
The correct heading structure is essential for people and search engines alike. Busy readers can scan text quicker or jump to the areas they want if headings are clear and descriptive. The structure of headings is also crucial for accessibility. Assistive technology uses headings, so good headings allow users to navigate effectively and understand the content as intended.
Headings play a big part in helping search engines determine what a page is about. By using clear H1, H2, and sub-headings, search engines can better understand what a page is about, what each paragraph covers, what the main points are, and how they relate to each other.
Recently, Mordy Oberstein reported on a study that showed how improving ambiguous headings helped to index more of his content. The importance of clear and informative headings is illustrated here.
Be Sure to Use Correct Formatting
- You should use formatting correctly.
The way you format content can help you express its meaning. A numbered list, for instance, might be a step-by-step procedure or a rating system. Bullet points typically indicate a list of items of equal importance. Items are emphasized and stand out when they are bold or italic. You are reading this article, and I promised you 25-pointers. Consequently, I have labeled these 1-25 to reinforce the theme of this article.
The correct arrangement will help readers consume your content the way you want. It will also help process and scan it much faster. In addition, search engines benefit from these formats, as they recognize them and their specific meanings. For example, some formats may indicate a category, such as an address. Tables suggest certain connections, and charts display average and range statistics.
The formatting here supports the message. It creates a more helpful resource for people and search engines by arranging elements properly.
- To improve navigation, add content sections and jump links.
Readers can easily transition between sections of long-form content if you include content sections with jump links. This improves user experience and makes content more digestible. From an SEO perspective, these internal links help clarify the focus of specific passages, which may boost the ranking of long-form articles.
Prabhakar Raghavan provided insight into how AI is helping Google become a more helpful company in 2020 in an article titled How AI is powering a more helpful Google.
“A very specific search query can be the most difficult to get right since the information that answers your question could potentially be buried deep in a web page that has a lot of content. We have recently made a breakthrough in ranking and can now better assess the relevance of specific passages. By recognizing phrases within the overall page, we can locate the needle-in-a-haystack info you want.”
It’s good to provide content sections to search engines to identify helpful passages and compare them with all relevant queries.
9. More words aren’t always better. Choose quality over quantity.
Instead of focusing on hitting a word count when writing or optimizing content, aim to cover what is helpful to readers. Most people can spot content that is written to hit a word count. Search engines can, too. The content becomes empty and loses its meaning as a result.
They will find it genuinely helpful when you keep your focus on providing enough details to satisfy your target audience without using too many words and repeating information.
Google says: “Is there a certain word count you’re aiming for because you’ve heard or read that Google prefers that? (No, we don’t).”
- Do your search term research properly.
Research should always be the foundation for excellent content. We may have a warped viewpoint as content producers, so we should always base our content on research. Search query data is a rich resource for discovering what individuals want. Although it should be used cautiously, it should not be disregarded.
Understanding how people search for the subjects we write about to optimize our content is necessary. Readers will realize that your content is more relevant to what they sought to find you, and search engines will present your content in the proper context.
- Determine an appropriate scope.
It’s important to consider where your content begins and ends when optimizing it. You need to ask yourself if it’s best combined with other resources or divided into bite-sized pieces? When optimizing content, it’s best for people and search engines if you consider its scope. You may be penalized by search engines for thin content if you publish something too short because your readers might think it’s lacking in detail.
An extremely long piece of content might be easier to digest if broken down into interlinked parts or sections. Breaking it down into focused sections might perform better in search because it is more defined and easy to digest.
Straightforward Answers
- Provide straightforward answers to inquiries.
Provide a direct answer to any queries your content may raise, rather than waffling or hemming and hawing. Think of the answer you’d like to see! When composing your response, use the standard units or classifications.
People usually turn to search engines when they want quick answers to their questions. They want something definitive and unambiguous, not a debate.
Read Next: In Light Of Global Disruption, How Should SEO Be Approached?
- Images can help to improve understanding.
People are naturally visual learners, so consider increasing your number of relevant images to optimize your content. Great visuals can boost your search performance and improve your SERP ranking. You can improve your search performance by boosting your click-through rate, appearing in image searches, and boosting your position on the SERP.
- Is a picture helpful in clarifying a difficult concept?
- Does it make a key point more clear and memorable?
- Improve the experience by adding videos.
According to Statista, 3.5 billion people will consume online video content in 2019, up from 3 billion in 2020. If videos are well suited to supplementing or enhancing your content, they may be worth exploring as part of your optimization strategy. Many people choose to watch rather than read, so video content enhances their experience.
You won’t gain real search benefits if you don’t produce original video content. Even if your budget is tight, embedding useful video material from other providers is still a decent idea. The goal is to create a superior content resource, which may lead to secondary benefits like more traffic and backlinks.
- Evaluate internal links.
When optimizing a piece of content, you must think about internal links. Is your content linking to other helpful internal resources? Are other internal pages linking to it? Internal linking improves readers’ experience by allowing them to gain more knowledge about a topic of interest. It is also crucial for search engines, which assist with content discovery and topical connections.
As early as this year, John Mueller of Google explained:
“On a site, internal linking is critical for SEO. It’s one of the essential things you can do to guide Google and visitors to the pages you believe are important. You can determine what you believe is important in any way you want. Money may be earned, competitors may be best on certain matters, or you might be at a disadvantage. You can use internal links to emphasize those areas and parts of your website.”
Keep Things Updated
- Update the external links.
Enriching and optimizing your content may initially seem strange by adding external links. When you approach this tactic thoughtfully, you’ll see multiple benefits. Why should you send your readers to another website? There are, in fact, several benefits to doing so.
When you source claims, figures, or quotes with an external authoritative resource, your audience will find your content more credible and valuable. However, you must regularly check to ensure you are still directing your audience to the most relevant source.
When you cite clear, relevant information, you show expertise in your field, which searches engines value. Expert or authority sites that also cover the subject matter of your content are connected by context.
- Give examples
Would you like to know if any areas might be made more apparent by showing how something operates rather than describing it in words? Throughout this post, I’ve provided a variety of examples to assist you in comprehending my reasoning. They reinforce my points by showing you how the advice is implemented, making it more straightforward for you to utilize your content. Using real-life situations to enhance your content is a fantastic tactic. Demonstrating how your concept is put into practice adds credibility and makes it more beneficial and engaging.
- Ask the professionals.
When you have created content or thought pieces that answer a qualitative inquiry, you may increase their E-A-T signals by asking some experts in the field. Combining expert quotes that are adequately attributed will enhance E-A-T signals for search engines by demonstrating that you have qualified subject matter experts on your team. Readers will receive a more comprehensive argument as well as industry recognition.
Having experts involved could even help you build permanent backlinks or generate social activity.
- Look for a fresh perspective.
When approaching a given topic, ensure that you approach it differently. If you are rewriting something that has been covered many times before, you are unlikely to provide anything meaningful or insightful. Google’s content guidelines state that you should avoid ‘summarizing what others have to say without adding much value.’
As mentioned previously, you may approach old content to optimize from a different perspective or gain additional insight into the subject. As mentioned previously, you may do original research, test something out, or seek additional commentary from an expert.
- Include data
Consider whether you’ve got data to back up your content when reviewing it. Providing hard facts builds trust and demonstrates to readers that you’ve extensively researched your subject. It might also provide external linking opportunities if you include relevant data from authority sites in your niche.
Others writing on the same topic will likely receive citations from your resource to support their arguments in the future if you include your unique data.
Fresh Is Better
- Keep it fresh.
No matter how often you optimize your content, keeping it up to date is crucial. You should regularly review your assets to prevent people from accessing outmoded content that might offer deprecated advice. According to Botify’s research, freshness is an important ranking factor, as search engines appreciate well-maintained and updated content. Although this is a complicated issue, it has been confirmed.
I noticed through analysis that traffic to one of my eCommerce sites was dropping on a critical page, and the copy said “prices start from,” but the minimum price had changed. After fixing the price, performance returned to its previous level.
- It is essential to keep it relevant.
When writing content not directly related to your specialization, be sure that the subject matter is particularly pertinent. Individuals may find it confusing or unhelpful or may not trust it if it is unrelated to the primary subject matter. Search engines strive for a better user experience, reflecting this. I have inspected numerous content audits on various websites over the last few months.
It is usually possible to determine a lot about a site’s content by assessing it as a whole. Still, one of the most common findings is that relevant material outperforms irrelevant content. This is because content created by subject matter experts is usually of higher quality. However, the connections among pages are also meaningful.
- Take your time
According to a large-scale study by Orbit Media, the time it takes to write a blog post has increased by 67% since 2014, which has implications for search and users. It takes time to think about those implications.
It’s lovely to see how much quality, detail, and expertise have increased. If you want to develop and strengthen your content, allow yourself enough time.
- Examine the results
Old content might require extra time to optimize and improve standards.
It’s essential to keep track of how people interact with your content if you’re trying to optimize it. Data can tell you how well certain content performs in search and how people engage with the content.
- Make sure you double-check everything.
It’s important to double-check everything before you publish. You may have missed something the first time and published inaccurate material. Inaccuracies will damage your reputation with readers. They may also harm your search rankings. I consider it valuable to have a proofing process in my group because it’s much easier to spot other individuals’ mistakes and review content from a practical standpoint if you haven’t written it yourself.
Keep a Balance Between Humanity & SEO
The perfect balance between optimizing content for search engines and users has never been more crucial. Neither should be disregarded when optimizing content. A user-focused approach with a solid foundation in SEO is ideal.
Achieving the proper balance between search engines and readers is crucial for drawing visitors to your content. Having both in mind, you can achieve excellent results.
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