The adage “Content is King” is frequently mentioned in marketing, as content plays a huge role in a number of different digital marketing strategies. One of the most important areas for engaging content is across a business’s website.
Search Engine Performance
The goal of all search engines is to help users fulfill their searches as efficiently and accurately as possible. Which is why search engines love high quality content; it essentially makes their job so much easier. Google, the world’s largest search engine, even provides advice for businesses looking to produce content through the acronym E-A-T.
E-A-T stands for “Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness” and these are three of the main factors that Google looks at when inspecting content. Expertise involves showcasing that the writer has a high level of knowledge or understanding within the field. It is important to note that this is not evaluated through the website or the organisation, but rather the quality of the writing, so be sure to keep this in mind. Authoritativeness examines whether others in the industry are likely to view the content as high-quality and this can be demonstrated if the content receives references, backlinks or recommendations. Finally, trustworthiness highlights reliability of the information. Misinformation is heavily penalised by Google and can have a severe impact on overall website performance, so be sure to always validate sources and cross-check any information provided.
So how does high-quality copy help with SEO Ranking?
Apart from avoiding any negative ranking effects, engaging and relevant content can help to increase page rank and visibility to potential customers. Through providing engaging content it is more likely that users will click through to a website (increasing website traffic). A search engine such as Google will see this fluctuation in user traffic and this can help to increase the ranking of your website.
Engaging content can also lead other industry members and websites to link to your content as it helps to support or explain a concept in one of their pieces of content. This is known as a “backlink”; it highlights to Google that other individuals believe your content is trustworthy and an authority on a particular topic. As highlighted earlier this is highly valued by Google, leading to a positive impact on the web pages’ SEO performance.
Business Performance
While content aids search engines in providing visibility to websites, it also has to resonate with viewers. Website content needs to draw in potential customers otherwise, as many websites will notice, uninterested users will simply leave. This in-turn can lead to a high bounce rate and can have a negative impact on page rank. Content is how businesses convince customers to undertake an action, such as buy their products/services. Which is why it is important to always write for your audience. Dot points, product/service specific pages and FAQ pages are all easy to implement options which will allow for individuals to easily understand and navigate your copy and website.
As previously mentioned, effective copy can be important in cementing authority. Not only can this authority help with building professional relationships within the industry, but it can also be hugely beneficial when selling to the end-user. People like to work with people that are well-known in the community. Providing engaging content and generating large amounts of traffic, will set any business up for success.
Tips For Writing Engaging Content
Remember to focus on E-A-T
While the term was coined by Google, these are the core values to focus on when creating engaging content. These factors will also help to positively impact search engine performance across a wide number of search engines.
Balance topics and keywords
Make sure to choose topics which are current and relevant to the reader to maximise performance. However, be sure not to “keyword stuff” otherwise search engines can view the content as utilising under-handed SEO tactics, which can negatively impact the website’s performance.
Maximising content performance
Stay relevant to consumers by making sure that all website copy is regularly checked to ensure that potential customers are viewing the most up to date content. It is also important to publish new content to keep a website fresh and maximise exposure in the market. Pruning and repurposing of old content is another great way of achieving this.
Easy to digest content
Make sure the content is easy to read with main points easily picked out. For instance, what is the aim of the page and is this being communicated to the viewer?
Utilise different mediums
Content can come in a range of different forms. Purely using text can be overwhelming for viewers, look to use other variations such as images or short videos to keep individuals engaged. It is also important to include options for individuals to share the content with the wider community, which can be done through inclusion of social share buttons.
Measure performance
With any digital marketing strategy it is important to measure how well it is performing. This is the same with content. Be sure to measure the success of new content on a website (ex. bounce rates, time on page, page views, how it is shared) and make changes to old content as necessary.
Writing engaging content is no easy task, but the benefits for a business are long lasting. To find out more about updating or writing engaging copy for your website, contact the team at Redline Digital today.