Remember the simpler SEO of the past? Take advantage of today's tools and resources to tell engines about your content.
We all reminisce of the time when SEO was much simpler. From its traditional content-driven goal, SEO has gradually evolved into an integrated content-SEO structure where content is no longer a separate aspect in the process.
Whereas a different set of people handled the content and another took care of the optimization process through the use of properly placed keywords here and there, today the two separate tasks have become essentially one.
Eventually, content reigned supreme over the SEO process. "Over-optimized" content and questionable tactics used in link-building, lost out in the battle for respect and credibility among users. People realized that great content should be recognized and accorded "valuable shares and trustworthy inbound links".
Content SEO Technicalities Today, content optimization has grown more technical. Having merged the SEO and content silos to produce high-quality, search-friendly content, we need to look at how both users and machines access content.
Whether people use a smartphone, a tablet, and or a PC desktop, a good user experience has become an effective yardstick in search engine optimization, together with semantic markup that allows search engines to understand the meaning of your content more readily.
It is true that search results can be deemed better now than several years back and the search experience is much more advanced; however, the content-SEO convergence has become much more technical.
What Is High-Quality Content? Setting aside varying opinions on the meaning of the term "quality content", we come up with this general definition: original, purposeful, and correctly-optimized information or media that people and search engines are driven to read, view, and share.
Qualitative content is fresh and informative. It is useful, interesting, and engaging. It incorporates valuable keywords naturally based on SEO best practices. It is an article you start by scanning but end up reading to the end - the kind of blog post you bookmark and return to over and over again. If it is designed for a particular persona, then you really have a winner.
Why Create Quality Content? Engaging content improves online visibility. When web pages are properly optimized, search engine bots are able to find and read them more easily, improving your chances of having them rank your pages. The higher up you are in the results pages, the more organic traffic you will attract, and the more leads you will generate. More leads result into more sales and business.
Then, there is the indirect advantage of having a quality-content/SEO strategy in place. Increased traffic, a lower bounce rate, and a higher click-through rate indicate to Google that readers like your material, which they see as a vote of confidence and trust. In fact, these could be useful ranking factors. The search engine also considers page views, return visits, time on site, and other metrics.
User engagement is vital, no matter how you view it. You cannot generate leads through search unless you provide search engines what they need. You will never convert traffic (regardless of how you funnel it) if you are not publishing material that really appeals to prospects and gets them visiting, sharing, and purchasing, which inevitably also affects search engine optimization.
Proper Link-Building Effective link-building is another essential reason to make high-quality content the groundwork of your digital strategy. Businesses, marketers, and bloggers search for solid, interesting information that reinforces the foundation of their own materials. Those links not only push targeted web traffic, but also move on link juice (authority) that can improve rankings. Moreover, there are the links that are built when people share your posts, images, and videos on social media. Each time your quality content is shared, links are made that point to your website pages and transmit their popularity to search engines. Generally, the more backlinks you have, the more dependable you become. Social signals are a factor in Google's algorithm.
Even the outbound links in your social media profiles count. A well-written profile that compels readers to visit your website can only enhance your SEO strategy. However, nobody will click the links if your profile content is drab and uninteresting. Furthermore, Google and other search engines may overlook pages that are not sufficiently descriptive and/or optimized.
Keep on top with quality content & SEO Understanding the mechanics of search and the goals of the search engines provides the leading edge in SEO. Yesterday's SEO was simplistic; whereas today, it has so many resources, tactics and tools it can utilize to help users keep on top of their game.
Remember, the constant in SEO is the experience - and that experience arises from the quality of content a brand creates and how it delivers that content.
We all reminisce of the time when SEO was much simpler. From its traditional content-driven goal, SEO has gradually evolved into an integrated content-SEO structure where content is no longer a separate aspect in the process.
Whereas a different set of people handled the content and another took care of the optimization process through the use of properly placed keywords here and there, today the two separate tasks have become essentially one.
Eventually, content reigned supreme over the SEO process. "Over-optimized" content and questionable tactics used in link-building, lost out in the battle for respect and credibility among users. People realized that great content should be recognized and accorded "valuable shares and trustworthy inbound links".
Content SEO Technicalities
Today, content optimization has grown more technical. Having merged the SEO and content silos to produce high-quality, search-friendly content, we need to look at how both users and machines access content.
Whether people use a smartphone, a tablet, and or a PC desktop, a good user experience has become an effective yardstick in search engine optimization, together with semantic markup that allows search engines to understand the meaning of your content more readily.
It is true that search results can be deemed better now than several years back and the search experience is much more advanced; however, the content-SEO convergence has become much more technical.
What Is High-Quality Content?
Setting aside varying opinions on the meaning of the term "quality content", we come up with this general definition: original, purposeful, and correctly-optimized information or media that people and search engines are driven to read, view, and share.
Qualitative content is fresh and informative. It is useful, interesting, and engaging. It incorporates valuable keywords naturally based on SEO best practices. It is an article you start by scanning but end up reading to the end - the kind of blog post you bookmark and return to over and over again. If it is designed for a particular persona, then you really have a winner.
Why Create Quality Content?
Engaging content improves online visibility. When web pages are properly optimized, search engine bots are able to find and read them more easily, improving your chances of having them rank your pages. The higher up you are in the results pages, the more organic traffic you will attract, and the more leads you will generate. More leads result into more sales and business.
Then, there is the indirect advantage of having a quality-content/SEO strategy in place. Increased traffic, a lower bounce rate, and a higher click-through rate indicate to Google that readers like your material, which they see as a vote of confidence and trust. In fact, these could be useful ranking factors. The search engine also considers page views, return visits, time on site, and other metrics.
User engagement is vital, no matter how you view it. You cannot generate leads through search unless you provide search engines what they need. You will never convert traffic (regardless of how you funnel it) if you are not publishing material that really appeals to prospects and gets them visiting, sharing, and purchasing, which inevitably also affects search engine optimization.
Proper Link-Building
Effective link-building is another essential reason to make high-quality content the groundwork of your digital strategy. Businesses, marketers, and bloggers search for solid, interesting information that reinforces the foundation of their own materials. Those links not only push targeted web traffic, but also move on link juice (authority) that can improve rankings.
Moreover, there are the links that are built when people share your posts, images, and videos on social media. Each time your quality content is shared, links are made that point to your website pages and transmit their popularity to search engines. Generally, the more backlinks you have, the more dependable you become. Social signals are a factor in Google's algorithm.
Even the outbound links in your social media profiles count. A well-written profile that compels readers to visit your website can only enhance your SEO strategy. However, nobody will click the links if your profile content is drab and uninteresting. Furthermore, Google and other search engines may overlook pages that are not sufficiently descriptive and/or optimized.
Keep on top with quality content & SEO
Understanding the mechanics of search and the goals of the search engines provides the leading edge in SEO. Yesterday's SEO was simplistic; whereas today, it has so many resources, tactics and tools it can utilize to help users keep on top of their game.
Remember, the constant in SEO is the experience - and that experience arises from the quality of content a brand creates and how it delivers that content.