SEO professionals know that in order to rank well on Google, it’s key to play by Google’s terms and understand its rules. And with a complicated set of guidelines, the potential for new additional penalities, ever-changing algorithms, and a shift towards user-first content, it can be a challenge to keep up. Luckily, many of Google’s new guidelines are put in place to make sure your content is user-first. By following those recommended best practices and policies, you create exactly what Google wants – user-first content.
So, how do you create content with your readers and, subsequently, Google in mind? How do you avoid traffic-reducing, bottom-line-crushing manual action penalties?
To keep your content fresh and high-performing, you first need to know which bad content practices to ditch and which best practices to adopt so you can stay in Google’s good books.
1. Ditch Thin Content. Create High-Quality Content Only.
Google devalues the use of thin content, scraped content, and keyword stuffing, which may cause a drop in your content’s ranking on SERPs. On the flip side, making sure your content provides rich, meaningful, and actionable information can help improve your ranking. In short, it’s key that your content has value that’s both clear to the reader and meets Google’s standards.
One way to do this is to EAT your content. EAT stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. EAT is made up of the qualities that Google looks for in content creators to ensure that their content is up to par.
Essentially, the best way to ensure you’re meeting Google’s standards is to create and leverage content that is:
- Helpful to the target audience.
- Created by an expert.
- Comes from a reputable source.
- Updated regularly.
The best way to do this is to have a sound content marketing strategy, that’s founded on data.
2. Understand Your Expertise. Be Truthful, Accurate & Thorough in YMYL Content.
Not all content is ranked equally.
When determining search quality, Google puts extra emphasis on the legitimacy of pages where untrustworthy content can have serious consequences.
Google refers to these kinds of pages as Your Money Your Life (YMYL) content, on which poor-quality content could have dangerous implications for the reader.
What Topics Are Included in YMYL Content?
YMYL content includes topics like:
- News.
- Government.
- Legal information.
- Financial information.
- Online shopping.
- Health resources, and more.
3. Conduct & Act on Frequent Competitor Analysis.
In order to outrank the competition, it’s crucial that you keep an eye on what they’re up to.
The better you understand your competitor’s content marketing and SEO strategies, the more likely you’re able to create content that competes successfully.
You should conduct frequent content audits in order to compare strategies and best-performing keywords, and determine what steps you can take to improve.
4. Consider User Intent & Tailor Content to User Needs.
Earlier, we noted that user experience and Google’s guidelines go hand-in-hand.
As you scope out the competition and perform research on new keywords to target, be sure you’re paying attention to user intent.
By matching user intent, or the needs of the user during their search, you’re able to create a great user experience for the user, and that’s what Google wants search engine marketers, content creators, and SEO professionals to do.
How Do I Consider User Intent in Seach Engine Marketing?
Good user intent alignment equates to a good user experience, which is a win in Google’s eyes.
In 2022, the goal of effective search engine marketing (SEM) is to meet the user intent in as few clicks as possible.
By optimizing your content with search intent in mind, you can improve your SEO and create a seamless user experience.