Gone are the days when the primary consideration in creating content was placing keywords that we assumed the search engine crawlers would recognize as significant. This content creation strategy worked for a time. However, focusing only on keywords means that users end up with content that is challenging to read or sometimes useless.
Fortunately, Google is constantly working to provide the best user experience for searches. They have made user-friendliness a primary consideration. Recently, reliable, helpful, and people-first content has become the most critical ranking factor for content creation. Content whose foundation was stuffing keywords now has little chance of ranking. To create content that has a better chance at ranking on Google, we are sharing the following guidelines on how to create high-quality content that tanks:
Best SEO Practices Avoid Search Engine-First Content:
To start with, let us clarify that creating content also means using the keywords properly. This means stopping the outdated practice of keyword stuffing and instead creating content primarily to rank in relevant search engines. However, content writers should still practice the following SEO best practices:
- Use keyword research to identify relevant keywords. These keywords and terms should be integrated into your content naturally.
- Optimize your website’s technical aspects, such as page titles, meta descriptions, and header tags.
- As for header tags, it should be in the form of a question when appropriate.
- Build high-quality backlinks.
- Promote your content through various means, such as press releases, social media, or links from higher-authority websites.
- Monitor your website’s performance using analytics tools.
As for avoiding search engine-first content, ensure that your content avoids creating excessive content on various topics, using AI to generate content, or simply summarizing existing material:
- Prioritize quality over quantity and avoid writing about trending topics solely for search traffic.
- Ensure your readers find value in your content and satisfy their needs, rather than stuffing your content with keywords or entering fields of expertise without being experienced in them.
- Avoid misleading promises and manipulating page dates to appear fresh despite having unchanged content.
Content Quality
Consider the originality, completeness, and insightfulness when evaluating the quality of your content:
- Ensure that plagiarism is avoided and that substantial value is provided beyond what is obvious.
- Ensure that your main heading or page title should represent your content accurately and without exaggeration.
- Assess whether your content is credible and can be shared by traditional media (think major publications, such as Forbes or Time Magazine).
- Evaluate your content’s quality, clarity, production value, and scalability.
User Experience
Remember, creating content is all about people being interested enough to spend a few minutes reading it. To evaluate page experience, consider the following factors to maximize the usability, audience focus, and value of your content:
- Ensure your content is readable, easy to navigate, and accessible on mobile devices.
- As mentioned in the earlier section, prioritize the needs of your audience over search engine optimization.
- Assess whether the content demonstrates expertise and aligns with the overall purpose of your site.
- Evaluate whether your content helps readers achieve their goals and leaves them satisfied.
Keep Practicing E-E-A-T
Another important aspect of your content is its demonstration of E-E-A-T. Much has been written about this topic because of how crucial this matter is in creating content that offers tremendous value to readers:
- E-E-A-T means experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Your content quality should be based on these four points.
- Ensure your content is reliable and doesn’t make false claims.
- Consider whether your content demonstrates expertise or knowledge in the topic and whether a recognized authority or expert produces it.
Who, How, and Why
As a content writer, this is the most personal item on this list because of how information is gathered, who writes the content, and why the content was created in the first place:
- Consider the author’s identity and credibility.
- Assess the process used to create the content, such as research, interviews, or personal experience.
- Evaluate the purpose behind creating the content, ensuring it is primarily intended to help people rather than for search engine ranking purposes.
Takeaways
Creating high-quality content that ranks isn’t as straightforward as as it once was today, it is all about producing content that is helpful to readers, really shines, and is something that Google will consider ranking well in search quotes. By following the suggestions and best practices discussed in this article, you can ensure that your content is informative and engaging as well.
For content that ranks and shines in the competitive digital landscape, our experienced professionals can help you:
- Optimize your website
- Create high-quality and original content
- Build high-quality backlinks
- Monitor and analyze your website’s performance
- For small local businesses, have a solid local SEO strategy that will grow your business.