Content remains king. A blog website still remains one of the main sources of traffic, second only to social media. However, high traffic numbers apply only to quality blogs with high-quality content.
A high-quality blog and content are content created for people first and foremost. In the pursuit of website optimization, SEO specialists often forget this simple truth. But Google reminds us and does so through new algorithms.
Google has been using a new algorithm for determining useful content since August 2022.
The new algorithm is constantly being improved and is designed to accomplish the same task: providing a positive user experience by filtering out useful content from less useful content.
Google's blog does not provide a specific list of criteria for useful or high-quality content. However, it offers a list of questions that can help you determine whether your content is oriented toward people or not. Based on these questions, the following criteria can help you make your content high-quality:
Website orientation towards its target audience. The content should be useful to your target audience.
Expertise, experience. The content should be created by someone who has knowledge and experience in a specific topic.
Would you prefer to receive health advice from a practicing doctor or from some young blogger?
Focus. The content of the website should be centered around a specific theme, focusing on solving a chosen problem.
For example, our blog is oriented towards the creation and management of blog websites, including websites on CMS Joomla, and everything related to it. Here, we cover topics ranging from the technical aspects of website management to recommendations for quality content or writing engaging headlines.
It would be strange to see a cheesecake recipe here or an article about the benefits of strength training. Even if it were a high-quality article discussing a unique methodology.
Comprehensive information. The content should be as informative as possible, aiming to fully answer the questions related to its theme.
A visitor to your blog may open 2-3 similar competitor websites. And the visitor will surely do so if they do not find enough information on your page. By providing comprehensive information, you have a better chance of retaining your audience.
The dominance of useful materials over non-useful ones. If the content of your website lacks focus and orientation toward your target audience, it will be very difficult for you to provide relevant information within the framework of a single website.
Thus, if your website contains many irrelevant, useless materials, the new algorithm will assign a low rating to the site (even if there is high-quality, useful content on the site). On the other hand, if your website has a majority of quality materials created for people, the algorithm will give it a high rating, even if there is some amount of useless material present.
What can you do with the useless materials on your website? - Improve or remove them.
Your content should be appealing to the visitor. Of course, everyone has their own preferences, but on the other hand, it is unlikely that you need to please everyone. We remember that first and foremost, it is necessary to focus on your target audience. Relevant and high-quality content will definitely appeal to your audience. Relevance is easier to achieve when a website has a specific theme.
In addition to the aforementioned criteria, adhere to the following tips to increase the level of sympathy from your audience toward your content:
- Avoid overloaded, long sentences that are difficult to read. The same goes for paragraphs.
- Use simple language that is understandable to the majority. Do not overuse technical terms (unless it's about scientific experiments...). Clear text helps to perceive information more easily, which readers undoubtedly like.
- The design, not just the content, affects the likability of your readers. Take care of the visual presentation and user-friendliness. Follow typographic rules. Sufficient spacing between paragraphs, font choice, font size not less than 16 px - all of this matters. Thematic images, and well-designed graphics that complement the text, can also appeal to readers.
- The pages of your website should be optimized for different devices to display information correctly on screens with different resolutions.
- Take care of visually impaired individuals and add special font size control tools.
- To gain even more appeal and establish a connection with the audience, add a comment system.
These are the criteria for evaluating the quality of content by Google's new algorithm. However, this is not an exhaustive list of all quality criteria. What else should be considered when creating materials:
- The article deserves trust.
- Absence of plagiarism.
- Accurate presentation of facts.
- Unique information that has not been previously published (discoveries, research, etc.) is welcome.
- Presence of original, unconventional perspectives or profound judgments by the article's author.
- Substantial and informative content relative to competitor websites.
- Comprehensive provision of information, avoiding one-sided presentation, and considering different viewpoints.
- The article is well-covered in detail.
- Absence of errors (spelling, grammar, stylistics).
- The material is well-prepared, edited, and published in its final form, without mistakes or inaccuracies.
- The article is so useful and well-prepared that it inspires a desire to share it.
- High-quality content deserving publication in print media.
- The website's authority as a source of specific topics.
- The thoroughness of each website page.
- Presence of a unified order, a general guide for different blog authors.
- The website's name invokes associations of reliability regarding the site as a source of information on specific topics.
- Absence of excessive advertising that distracts from the main content.
- Absence of prohibited materials, violations of rights, or other reasons to complain about the article's authors.
If we summarize, high-quality content means the same thing - content created for people, useful content. Your readers, that's who you should think about when creating materials. When you truly care about your audience, it miraculously affects SEO and sets you apart from competitors.
Audience targeting is a universal principle in business and a fail-safe strategy. This applies not only to blogging. Good content tailored to the target audience is worth the effort.
Speak to your audience in their language, using keywords in the headline, snippet (meta description), link, and, of course, in the text of the page.
And don't forget to share your materials with friends, on social media, or on specialized forums.
High-quality content is what helps attract and retain an audience, build trust, and convert that trust into subscriptions or sales. Whether you're a business owner or a blogger, you must understand that the quality of the content is crucial for winning the hearts and minds of your audience.