Yes high quality content does equal high search engine rankings. But defining high quality content can be a bit tricky. Some people think it’s a tool. Some think it’s download-able ebooks. Some a podcast. Some a video. Some think it’s just a well crafted article full of text.
The Answer? All of the above. Content for the web as it is described by experts is pretty much anything that can be viewed by an end user online. But it’s not so much the “thing” that is important here but the quality of the “thing” if you catch my drift.
Why Does Content Have to Be Truly Valuable?
Well before we even get into the SEO benefits of valuable high quality content, let’s first talk about the moral obligation you and I have as web publishers. There is so much spam on the web today that you can hardly go anywhere without running into it. Creating high quality content that people are actually searching for helps make the web a better place for end users. A place where they can actually find what they are looking for!
The SEO benefits of this are tremendous. Not only does high quality content tend to rank well with Google, but also tends to rank well for a long period of time giving you long term traffic from Google for specific keywords and phrases.
10 Principles of High Quality Content for SEO
The following are notes I took from reading Scribe SEO’s free eBook titled ‘How to Create Compelling Content that Ranks Well in Search Engines.’ I took my notes and combined them with my own experiences to share with you 10 very important principles that have worked for myself and many other Bloggers.
Principle #1 = Natural Links
If your content isn’t good enough to attract good, natural links, it doesn’t matter how “optimized” that content is. Ask yourself the simple honest question of “what creates value for your users?” as we have heard Matt Cutts at Google repeatedly tell us.
When I write a new piece of content, I try to honestly ask myself “if this were the only article I were to write this month would I be happy with my efforts?”
Doing this has worked wonders. After a few initial Tweets and Social Bookmarks my articles end up getting a ton of links back. Let the community link your content for you rather than you having to go out and spam the web.
Principle #2 = The New Web Content Writer
Nowadays the Web Content Writer must have 3 very important skills. Without these skills he/she doesn’t stand a chance in the competitive organic world online:
1. The ability to write content that attracts readers
2. The ability to optimize that content for Search Engines
3. The ability to write content that converts readers into buyers.
Principle #3 = The Last Mile
Focus on the quality and engagement power of your article first. Then go back through and make any minor SEO changes (keywords, links etc.) but only if they support the article. Never make a change for SEO at the expense of the quality of your content.
This is what is called the “Last Mile” concept. Many web publishers spend a ton of time on an article and fail to complete the “last mile” of common SEO practices to help Google understand in more detail what that article is actually about. Some work on the SEO but not content. If you want to succed, do both!
Remember, you can’t optimize something that’s dead.
Principle #4 = Targeted Traffic
It’s not about traffic and rankings. It’s about TARGETED traffic and rankings. Why? Because targeted traffic and rankings pays the bills. On this blog I am constantly tempted to write content about “top 10 celebs using WordPress” or something catchy that will go super viral and get me a ton of traffic overnight.
What’s wrong with this? It’s not the traffic or the readership that I am after. It’s not what i’m about. Spend time going after the right traffic that will convert into customers.
Principle #5 = Social Media
Google won’t consider you relevant for specific keywords and phrases until others do. This is where Social Media plays a critical role in your SEO efforts. Ask yourself what content you can put together that will be so valuable to people that it will spread within a social network like Stumbleupon, Digg etc.
Know that once you accomplish this, you have essentially accomplished the task of getting ranked in Google. Google does look at this social data and it does influence the algorithm.
Principle #6 = Cornerstone Content
Brian Clark of CopyBlogger has repeatedly used the concept “Cornerstone Content” in order to portray the importance of having a solid inventory of content on your website that tells Google and the rest of the world what you (or your company) are all about.
Work on this cornerstone content regularly. Perfect it. And more importantly make lots of it. But in doing so ensure that it is of high quality.
Principle #7 = Response Oriented Content
Content that is response oriented is content that typically has tremendous ability to build links. The trick is trying to create content that gets people to respond. It’s not that easy. But by constantly asking yourself the question “what’s in it for the reader?” you can eventually create some content that will get big responses by big groups of people.
Principle #8 = Different Page Title and Article/Post Title
Often times as bloggers we quickly publish content but forget to do a few important details to help drive more readers to our content. One of those tasks is something I have failed to do for years now and am just beginning to do again. That is creating a separate Page Title for each blog post that I write.
Why do this? Primarily because you want your Page Title to be a little more optimized for a search engine by placing the prominent key phrase at the beginning of the title. With your actual post/article title you can be more free and not worry about SEO but worry more about what is intriguing and catchy.
Principle #9 = People and SEO
Most arguments between SEO experts center around the concept of what is good for people vs. what is good for search engines. A powerful lesson that experienced SEO’s have learned over the years is that what is good for people is also good for Google.
Just focus on creating content that you know people will benefit greatly from. Google will do the rest for you!
Principle #10 = Language of your Audience
Speaking the language of your audience. Guess what? Keyword research and implementation are still important. You have to attract the readers who are going to need your content in the future. And doing the right keyword research and implementation will help that. Keep it natural and compelling. Remember this rule and make it your creed:
“put the content first and foremost before the optimization”
But how do you honestly find the time to do this? Some people have the time to optimize each piece of content. Some (like me) do not. And some just don’t know how to.
This is Where ScribeSEO Comes In!
Scribe is a search engine optimization software service that analyzes the content of web pages, blog posts, online press releases, or any other web content … all at the click of a button. Scribe reports back and tells you how to tweak your content to get better search engine rankings and more traffic, all while maintaining quality reader-focused copy. There is a WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla plugin in order to integrate with your CMS.
With Scribe you’ll:
Optimize content faster
Eliminate guesswork about keywords
Employ SEO best practices
Preserve maximum readability
Increase targeted traffic!
You can learn more about ScribeSEO here. You can also download the free report from Brian Clark called How to Create Compelling Content That Ranks Well in Search Engines. Also read my Free SEO Report called the SEO BlackBook.
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