Writing for the Web: Why High Quality Content Matters
Content is becoming increasingly important in Google’s search algorithms. Have you ever heard the expression, “Content is King”? High quality content does not solely involve it being unique, so read on if you’d like to learn about the interaction between content, SEO, User Experience, & Google.
CONTENT IS DEAD
Most people will believe in the sentiment that if a website simply has “good quality and unique” content, they will have great Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a stellar position on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), and a quality Click Through Rate (CTR). A belief that surely Google will reward you for having some pretty good content, and that those consumers out there will appreciate the effort that you have gone to, thus limiting your bounce rate.
This belief, whilst not inherently wrong, does not make for good SEO, CTR, or bounce rates in this modern world.
That is not to say that content is dead, and backlinking or page titles are the be-all and end-all of SEO. In fact, content is what truly impacts SEO and, more specifically, the bounce rate– and when you have a bounce rate that is low, the chance of those clicks becoming sales rises. This is the Curious Case of Contentious Content.
WHY CONTENT IS NOT DEAD
So what has this got to do with “good and unique” content? You’ve drowned the website in keywords, and it is informative – but for some reason, it doesn’t seem to be working out as well as you’d hoped. Why is this?
Well, there are a few reasons. Firstly, Google and other search engines, in their eternal attempt to create the perfect search, are constantly tweaking their search algorithms, making them more streamlined and changing the focus of searches from keyword-drenched websites to user experience. Secondly, there are changing expectations of users out there – we as consumers are becoming much more selective and sensitive to content that doesn’t meet our expectations. An example of this is how picky we are at choosing which sites we click on in a SERP – what may have scraped by even two years ago will be completely ignored today, an indication of why CTR can be a reflection on content.
Finally, the market has become much more competitive – everyone is upping their game, and increasing the SEO “pool” so to speak, meaning the old “unique content” approach just isn’t going to cut it – it is experience that really does it.
But possibly the biggest, and most crucial reason of all (which has already been hinted at) is user-experience.
WHAT ABOUT THE USER EXPERIENCE?
User experience is a fickle thing. The website has to: be quick to load, easy to navigate, mobile friendly, and look amazing. This, of course, is no easy feat.
But perhaps most crucial of all, the content must answer a question or address a need of that user, whether that be to improving SEO or CTR for websites, or what a decent marinara sauce looks like. The content must match the user intent otherwise, at best, you will lose the interest of the consumer – at worst, search engines may deem you as a “black hat” operator and penalize you.
So how does one create the kind of content that will make users out there rave about you on social media, or at least have them stick around long enough to buy the product or service that you are providing?
Simple really: make your website engaging, and informative. Become an expert in whatever your website specializes in, whether you’re interested in CTR and SEO, or those tasty marinara sauces. Make sure that the website has some sort of interactive experience, whether it be videos or even snazzy, relevant, and easily accessible images. Check your writing quality – is it jargon filled and written for academics, or is it full of misspelled words and grammatical errors, or could it be more efficient with its use of keywords?
Predikkta can create wonders with optimizing SEO and CTR, we can conduct surveys that find the perfect Adwords campaign for your website, or we can optimize your page title and meta description to make it superb for organic searches. But if you have content that doesn’t meet the consumer’s needs, or the landing page isn’t what the consumer expected, then your bounce rate will be high, and sales will decrease.
With higher quality content – the kind of content that is entertaining and is the best user experience – your website will thrive. Bounce rates will drop, and, with a little help from Predikkta and our CTR and SEO techniques, you will find yourself experiencing increases in customers like never before.
ABOUT THIS ARTICLE Content is becoming increasingly important in Google’s search algorithms. Learn about the Interaction between SEO, Content, User Experience, & Google.
June 3rd, 2015 - Posted by
Aidan Johnson
*Predikkta has sourced several external independent global tools to analyze websites.These tools do not reflect on occasion the internal website analytics, but are recognised global tools and provide accurate comparative results for measurement against competitors.
**The views in this article are those of the author
