When it comes to SEO, quality content always wins. It attracts more shares and drives organic traffic to your site. In the crowded internet space, several aspects make content attractive to search engines. Readable content that is grammatically correct and is ridden with facts, including relevant and most recent data, tends to stand out.
The content also needs to be comprehensive such that readers don’t have to find other information sources after reading it. Actionability is another important feature of SEO friendly content – people want to find solutions to their problems or gain new knowledge. The more actionable takeaways you have in your content, the more appealing it will be to your audience.
So, how can writers create this kind of content? Here are 5 attributes that good content writers at Joel House Search Media exhibit:
They value quality over quantity
When it comes to search rankings, backlink acquisition, and social shares, long-form content performs better than short-form content. However, this does not mean that a writer has to fill an article with fluff to make it long. Good content writers know that every word in an article should provide value to readers. As such, their focus is content quality, not quantity.
The key to writing quality long-form content is to cover a topic comprehensively. By doing so, writers are able to provide valuable knowledge that empowers readers to address their problems. Providing examples that demonstrate as a proof of what works in the content makes it more meaningful to readers. This encourages readership and sharing of articles and ultimately improves important performance metrics such as newsletter subscriptions and conversions.
The use of recent data from reliable sources
Including statistics that are relevant and from credible sources increases the quality of content a writer develops. Good writers use facts, backed by figures to convince their readers. By doing so, they demonstrate that they have conducted comprehensive research on the topic and therefore understand what they are talking about.
Including recent data in articles or blog posts helps to build customer trust and even makes the posts link-worthy. Of importance to note is that good content writers always acknowledge their data sources by embedding the link sources to relevant anchor words. It takes deliberate effort to find credible data sources that are not more than two years old. As such, writers who are able to cite original sources in their work are highly regarded.
They give content a human touch
Why SEO and keyword research are important, the first priority of a good content writer is to offer their visitors the best reading experience. In content marketing, great experience is determined by how readable a written piece is. A lot of content our there is stuffed with keywords – annoying not just search engine crawlers, but also readers. Good content writers understand that keyword stuffing does not help with SEO in any way.
The best way to improve content readability is to give it a human touch. You can do this by incorporating your voice, or that of your brand in an article. Write with a live tone – use a conversational tone and even add a touch of humour to make your piece interesting to read. Also, write in a language that is simple, avoid using jargon.
They create original content
Creating original, grammatically correct content is the other thing that good writers do. It is a fact that out there, a lot of content is of low quality because it has been repeated with little or no analysis or comprehension. Copying existing content harms SEO and destroys the credibility of a business or website. Since readers find no value in such content, it is easy to lose readers to other sites that produce quality content that is deliberately designed to help them find the solutions they need. Good writers do not plagiarize content. Instead, they curate and repurpose content thoughtfully to make it meaningful and valuable to readers.
They are transparent and authentic
While content marketing plays an important role in informing, educating and entertaining your target audience, content writers can also use content to achieve specific marketing goals and increase business revenue. This means that as they write, good content writers can recommend products and services to readers in a subtle way. These recommendations often take the form of guest articles, sponsored reviews, affiliate marketing and much more.
Even in doing this, good content writers remain authentic and ethical in their practice. This means they ensure their readers do not feel duped or cheated after following their recommendations. Such writers understand that this can break the trust they seek to build with their audience.
One of the ways that good content writers remain transparent and authentic in their work is making reader disclosures. For instance, if a writer is including affiliate links in an article or blog, it is considered ethical to make this disclosure and state their affiliation expressly. In the same way, guest or sponsored posts that are featured on your blog or website need to be labeled appropriately so that it becomes apparent to readers that the piece they are about to read is a guest post or has been sponsored.
This ethical practice enhances the credibility of both writers and the content they produce in the eyes of their audience. Ultimately, this has a positive impact on the business in terms of brand awareness and revenue generation.
