Everyone says that content is king. Even though this may have some truth to it, I think that this one concept has hurt the online industry more than any other.

Per WordPress, there are more than 73.9 million new blog posts created each month, and this includes 49.0 million new comments. This equates to about 2.4 million new WordPress blog posts each day. In error, most think this is all good content. However, I think that most of this new content is crap.

Google wants to provide the best search results with the least amount of clicks. Search engines are looking for the best content. Not only does content have to provide value, but it also has to meet users’ expectations. Great content is one of the 3 top things that Google is looking for when it comes to search engine results.

Great content generates links, and it helps Google understand what your content is about and how it can help online searchers. However, a lot of online marketers still do not think great content is valuable. But supplying tons of mediocre content is never the answer.

Just because you add tons of new blog posts to your site doesn’t mean you will automatically rank highly in search results. SEO has changed drastically through the years, and search engines are getting smarter. Some marketers believe that publishing more posts than their competitors gives them an edge in the search results. This is not true. Bad content never produces good results.

Try creating a small amount of good content instead of large amounts of bad content.

So, what is considered bad or good content? Bad content is usually created when the website owner’s main intent is to sell products. It doesn’t provide anything valuable for the reader.

Explaining how to identify good content is a little bit harder because there are several factors involved. Basically, good content provides value for the reader. But understand that different companies have different types of good content. What is okay for a bakery may not be okay for a car dealership. Know what your target audience wants and write to please that audience.

According to Rand Fishkin from Moz, the following 4 things describe good content:

Meets the User’s Goals

SEO isn’t the only thing that makes a website successful. Good content should educate and help website visitors. It should solve problems and help them learn about different things such a brand.

Perform good keyword research. Find out what your target audience is looking for. Write content that gives them what they want.

Provides a Good User Experience

If your website is filled with great content that is user friendly, you have implemented a good SEO strategy. If you get good organic traffic from the search engines for a particular keyword, and you can provide content that is closely related to that keyword, then this will make your website visitors very happy. This will also make Google very happy.

Provides Quick Information

People are very impatient, and they want to get quick answers when searching online. Your website shouldn’t take forever to load. If this happens often, this could upset your website visitors and negatively affect your rankings. Make sure that your website loads quickly and provides a good user experience.

Does Better Than the Competition

Pay attention to the aforementioned tips and your website should crush the competition. This includes monitoring your competitors as well. See what works for them and do it better.

You can’t have good SEO without good content. If your content is good, this will enable your website to get links quicker, and this will make your SEO strategies work even better. This also makes it easier for Google to understand what your site is about. Take time to plan and research good content for your website.

Creating good content will make your website stand apart from the competition. Use these following four tips and you will see a huge difference in your success. Understand that getting to the top of the search results takes time and practice, but you can do it.

Category Search Engine Marketing