To state that SEO is important is the understatement of the century. 57% of marketers report SEO generating more leads than any other channel.
Considering that 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, we simply must consider search engines when we’re marketing our brands and businesses. But what happens when your content isn’t showing up in the SERPs?
It’s a well-known adage that “Content is king.” There’s more to it than that, however. Consider the rising popularity of Netflix despite their dwindling catalog.
There’s clearly more to digital marketing than stuffing in a bunch of keywords and hoping people will click your links.
If you’re having trouble getting actual leads and traffic, we’re here to help. We’re going to look into some reasons your content might not be converting and why you should consider hiring an SEO specialist.
When Good Content Isn’t Good Enough
Google’s job is to bring relevant, useful content to their users. The same is true for other search engines as well. Considering that Google accounts for more than 90% of all web searches, however, we’ll be limiting our discussion to Alphabet Inc.
One of the first difficulties when it comes to appealing to Google is that their definition of relevant content is always changing. It’s simply not enough to produce an avalanche of random content. You must consider the current algorithms when you’re planning your content strategy.
Despite the fact that it’s not enough to simply produce random content, that doesn’t mean you should forsake SEO and content marketing. The more pages your website has, the more Google has to crawl. You’ll show up in more searches, which increases the likelihood of generating traffic and new leads.
What Makes Good Content
The definition of quality content changes with each passing year. Google strives to reflect the ways that people use the Internet in new and innovative ways.
Some of the things that Google looks for to determine quality content include uniqueness, practicality, relevance, and entertainment.
Uniqueness
Plagiarism is the kiss of death for SEO rankings. This is likely due to the wild days of early SEO when content creators would simply stuff as many relevant keywords as possible onto their websites and hope for something to stick.
Not only is this highly unethical, but it also makes the Internet nearly unusable. Google strives to bring actual value to its users’ lives. Having multiple copies of the same content show up means that users will have to wade through an avalanche of duplicate content to find what they’re looking for.
Relevance
Google also makes sure that content is relevant to the user. It scans web assets in search of keywords that are going to be useful for the intended audience.
That means you must keep your buyer personas in mind when creating content for SEO. Understand your intended audience and bring real value to their lives. Google will reward you for it.
Practicality
Your content also needs to be actually useful. Simply having a list of keywords for a niche isn’t going to help anybody (except for maybe SEO content writers.)
Instead, try and solve a problem your buyer personas might be struggling with. Or bring some interesting tidbit of information which is also…
Entertaining
The Internet is not a library. Or, if it is, it’s the wildest, craziest, most fun library that’s ever existed.
Considering how intertwined the Internet is with our daily lives at this point, content needs to have at least some element of entertainment. Even if you’re delivering heavy, serious subject matter, it needs to be relatable and useful for your audience.
Now that we understand what Google looks for to establish quality content, let’s look at some of the factors that influence SEO ranking.
Assessing SEO Ranking
Google uses a wide variety of factors to vet websites and digital assets. These are indications that content is actually useful and actionable and should be shown to more people.
Links And Shares
Backlinks and social shares are some of the first indications Google looks for to determine if content is useful or not. If it’s being linked to and shared often, it’s a good bet that the content is authoritative and relevant for Internet searches.
Backlinks are the bread-and-butter of the digital economy. They tell Google that a piece of content is informative and useful. It’s the digital equivalent of a footnote citation in an academic paper.
The higher the ranking of the website that’s linking to your content, the more weight it has for your SEO ranking. That’s why link building is such an important aspect of modern SEO.
Link building is its own art form, however. Getting quality backlinks is one of the best reasons to hire an SEO specialist. It’s their job to know how to get those backlinks.
Generally speaking, this kind of authoritative backlink can’t be bought with money. SEO content writing services tend to have connections with high authority websites.
Otherwise, you’ll need to solicit individual Internet authors. Writers tend to be very, very busy and don’t have time to respond to most inquiries. Securing your own backlinks is like taking a shot in the dark. Hiring SEO content writers is like flipping on the lights and taking careful aim.
You’re going to have a lot more luck with the lights on.
Consider Technicalities
Google looks at the back-end of a website as well as the content to determine what’s useful. There is a tried-and-true way that people tend to use the Internet. Google looks at a website’s code and checks to see if the content matches that format.
You need to make sure that your metadata is all filled out and up to date. Submitting a site map for your website also makes it easier for Google to crawl your web page.
Finally, Google looks for things like bulleted lists, headings, and subheadings. People tend to skim web pages rather than reading every word. Lists and headers help guide your readers through your content to find what they’re looking for.
SEO is changing faster than ever before. As more and more of the Earth’s population signs online, Google is finding new ways to make content useful for the average Internet user.
Looking For An SEO Specialist?
At Bear Fox, we don’t believe in boilerplate marketing. Your business is unique. So are your customers.
Hiring an SEO specialist bridges the gap between the technical and the personal. We’ll go to every length to understand your unique brand, as well as your audience. Then we’ll create a custom content marketing campaign responding to their unique needs.
If you’re ready to skyrocket through the SERPs, contact us today!