In the old days, back when Ask Jeeves had all the answers and Yahoo was the search engine of choice, SEO was a one-dimensional tool that involved plugging in keywords virtually anywhere. It didn’t have to flow seamlessly or even be coherent. You probably remember the days when the items that showed up in your search weren’t the least bit related to what you were looking for.

Google has changed all that. In the past decade, our searches have grown exponentially accurate—and that’s largely due to quality-written, SEO-friendly content. Suddenly, the question you need answered, the service you’re seeking, and the product you’re trying to track down is on the very first page (think about it—how often do you move to page 2?).

Here’s why you have the magic of great content to thank for that:

What is Considered Quality Content?

You can link-build, optimize, and publish ads all you want, but the best way to rank high organically is to create rich, unique content.

Before we jump too ahead, let’s outline the broad characteristics that make good content good:

  1. Polished and void of grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors)
  2. Informs and incites
  3. Straightforward and in line with the page title
  4. Gives readers what they want (high conversion rate)

Your goal, no matter what, is to deliver value. It’s one thing to integrate keywords throughout your home, service pages, and meta descriptions; that’s all well and good, but once your page has been found, your goal is to get people clicking around to contact you or buy your goods/services.

This is where conversion boosting comes in. There are a number of factors that contribute to high conversation rates, like an appealing and functional web design and a strategic email campaign, but in terms of on-page content, here’s what you want to achieve:

  • Stating your brand’s identity and philosophy
  • Short, concise, and engaging sentences
  • Clear call-to-actions (CTAs) throughout the page
  • Encouraging free trials

How Does Google Diagnose Quality?

As of July 2017, Google dominates nearly 90% of the search market, while Bing and Yahoo! keep dwindling, hanging lifelessly by a thread.

While Google wants to ensure quality content for its frequent users, it also basis its search results on:

  • the frequency with which you publish content (the greater the frequency, the better the rankings)
  • the quantity of quality content
  • the keywords and search terms that you use in the title tags and headlines
  • the amount of people sharing your content on social media
  • your click-through rate

These are all factors that go hand-in-hand with creating quality content—and Google is hungry for it. Why? Because we, its loyal users, will simply move onto the next best search engine if we are not getting the results we seek from this one. Ever wonder how Google maintains its competitive edge? Those geniuses are constantly changing and creating algorithms in order to improve their quality-content radar.

Now that you’ve grasped why Google craves quality content and have a general idea of how it recognizes it, let’s delve into the facts around how Google defines quality content:

  • Create lengthy blog posts/articles and web pages chock full of useful information and attractive images
  • Provide information relevant to people’s searches; match your content with your page titles
  • Publish only professional writing—not amateur-level; provide insight and demonstrate you are an expert in your field.
  • Be resourceful and link to other high-quality content; cite reputed publications, trendy websites, etc.
  • Publish fresh, unique content frequently; Google checks often whether you have published something new (but over-publishing looks a little “spammy”, so be reasonable).
  • Use multimedia (images and videos)

There’s more where that came from. If you want to maintain a high ranking on Google, get in touch with our experts 1-866-755-2583 or get a free website analysis to see where your business stands.