How Writing Better Content Brings Attention & Higher Search Rankings

Content Over Everything

The way we search online has really changed over the past decade. Especially in the past 5 years. Google has completely taken over search to the point where you can’t mention their competitors without smirking a little.

This has led to an evolution in SEO strategies, one example is the prominence of Google’s answer boxes. It used to be you were competing with other online businesses now you’re competing with Google themselves. The way you get noticed in search rankings has changed. Now content drives everything. If you are producing content that is relevant for your niche then it’s going to push you further towards that number one result spot.

Supporting your content are things like social media marketing as well as paid social ads. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing online, you’re fighting for eyeballs against everybody else. You can be a small mom and pop business or a mega pop star releasing a new album, you have the same need for content. When I say content I don’t just mean words on a page, it’s video, audio, text, and images.

Along with the content itself, you need to be placing your content into the proper distribution channel. Back in ancient times, there were only three TV networks here in the states. Now with social, you have oodles of different platforms and your audience isn’t spread across them all equally most likely.

The standard 30 second television spot has lost its power. These days if you are watching cable TV as soon as a commercial pops up what do you do? You pull out your phone! How dare these advertisers distract us from the content we crave!

Everyone with something to offer the online world should be creating some form of content. If you have a brand, a company, or want to influence the world in some way you should be blogging, vlogging or podcasting. Maybe even all three.

However, before you go and start creating this content you should listen to your audience and see what content is already affecting them. That’s your starting point. If they love audio podcasts, then that’s probably the form you should choose as your primary means to reach them.

There really is no magic answer in terms of what the right amount of content to publish is. It depends on what your consumer demand looks like. But I believe producing quality content beats out producing a large quantity of low-quality content every time. It’s better to put out one piece of content a month that’s going to get people talking then 30 pieces that will be ignored.

It’s also really important to remember to become consistent with your publishing schedule. People are creatures of habit, and even if we don’t realize it we come to expect certain things on a routine basis. If you are posting your content weekly on a Thursday afternoon and one week you forget, your audience is going to be looking for that “hit” of content and wondering where you went. If you can maintain consistency your audience is going to love you for it.
 

Action Steps

1. Research your audience online, find the social media platforms that like to hang out on.
2. Look at what style and form of content is effective with that audience.
3. Create your content to fit those parameters, but keep the quality as high as possible, don’t go for quantity.
4. Be consistent in how often you post and your posting cycle.

 

Result You Will Achieve

Content that will drive your SEO rankings by adapting to your audiences preferences and remaining consistent.
 

 
This article is based on an EHQ interview with the mentor.