When it comes to SEO and content one of the most misunderstood basic principles of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is that ‘content is King’. Content is King so long as it is relevant, engaging, timely and interesting but sadly so many SEO practitioners, company bloggers and content marketers are lazy, and lazy content gets you nowhere.
There’s no point creating content that ranks well if it doesn’t help and inform your visitors, interest and engage them, or persuade them to buy from you and as recent posts on Google’s Hummingbird have explored it is only a matter of time before the lazy content that currently ranks well, drops out of the search index.
I am not a robot!
Anyone who has left their details on a website enquiry form will likely be aware of the gatekeeper that attempts to block out bots.
Most will also be aware how annoying these gatekeepers can be when they go wrong and we invariably mutter to ourselves that we are “not a damn robot”.
Yet, when it comes to seo and content writing webmasters, content marketers and Search Engine Optimisation practioners are writing content for seo, a lot of the time they can switch off from who the intended recipient and reader of their content is. They forget they are trying to engage with a human and instead concetrate their focus on Google. This is ineffective and will only see such a content for seo strategy increase a website’s bounce rate as the focus shifts from writing for humans to writing for rankings.
Good content is engaging, and yes it might contain relevant keywords but the moment you try and stuff the keywords into a blog post, company news post or article to impress upon Google, chances are you make the reader (the human) feel like a robot, at which point they will switch off and go somewhere else for more interesting content.
Seduce the reader
Granted this is easier with some subject matters than others but a good content writer will rise to the challenge and take the enthusiasm from the client if the subject matter isn’t their own. If you are writing about your own business and you have no passion for it perhaps its time to delegate that task to someone who can be passionate, as your readers (i.e. current and future customers) will thank you for it.
Google doesn’t get seduced but it recognizes if your readers are!
What makes good content then? Following from the last point in that Google doesn’t get seduced but it recognizes if your readers are, the greatest single metric available to you whether you are a webmaster or a web-padawan is your audience, your readers, and therefore your customers, the most powerful and important group in this whole ‘seduction’.
Are your readers engaging with your content and are you getting enquires? How long are people spending on your website, and your post pages? Are the trends positive or negative? If you are not getting enquiries and have a high bounce rate the chances are that your seo and content writing strategy isn’t working.
With the Achilles Heel of WordPress being forum and content spam many webmasters don’t employ the tools (e.g. I am not a robot) to weed out the bots and they simply turn off comments so it can be difficult to gauge reader engagement at times. However, If you have a high bounce rate on some pages don’t despair as you might want to look in Google analytics and look closely at Time On (Bounce) Page.
Reviewing this metric will indicate if the content was at least read before the site was exited and give you a good starting place to see if your readers (and therefore your customers) liked the content.
Once you have evaluated where you are, you can then plan for where you want to be and put a plan in place to get there!
Edible is a Liverpool based Content Marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) business working with a broad base of clients from sectors such as business to business and business to consumer retail and services, hospitality, manufacturing, research and also financial and professional services.
If you need some guidance on seo and content writing, help with engaging customers and converting leads, or SEO Liverpool, or further afield simply get in touch for a non obligation evaluation of your website and its potential.
