Originally Posted on BruceClay – by Bruce Clay
Google has been tight-lipped about its ranking factors since the beginning, but we can guess which factors make the top of the list. And, if I were to guess, content would be the No. 1 ranking factor in Google’s algorithm.
That is because search engine results wouldn’t exist without content to rank. Of course, Google provides all sorts of other indicators that content is of the utmost importance.
But not just any content — quality content. Google wants to ensure that its users get the best results.
Knowing that content is a major ranking factor, it’s important to periodically review your content and ensure that it’s as good as possible so that you can compete in the search results. In this article, I’ll share nine strategies on how to upgrade your content.
- Do a content audit
- Perform keyword research
- Do some competitor research
- Implement E-E-A-T
- Make sure your content is evergreen
- Do some on-page and technical optimization
- Address duplicate content
- Try SEO siloing
- Look at a Whole-SERP SEO Strategy
- FAQ: How do I ensure my content demonstrates E-E-A-T for better SEO results?
1. Do a Content Audit
If you already have a lot of content on your website, begin with a content audit. This will give you a starting point and clear direction on which webpages to upgrade.
First start with a trusted SEO tool to get a big-picture view of all your web pages (you can use our SEOToolSet to do this but there are others).
Once you have a master list of URLs, you’ll divide the webpages into three buckets:
- The first bucket includes webpages that get the most rankings and traffic, such as those ranked up to position 10 in the search results.
- The second bucket is webpages that have the potential to get better rankings and traffic, for example, those starting at position 11.
- The third bucket is webpages that perform poorly and aren’t in either of those categories.
Then, focus on strengthening the content in the first two categories.
Read more:
2. Perform Keyword Research
Once you understand the webpages that you are going to optimize, look at the desired keywords for each page.
Find out what keywords have been assigned and compare that to what search queries bring in traffic.
Again, you can use our SEOToolSet to find out what keywords are bringing in traffic. You can also tap into Google Search Console to find out which search queries are generating impressions and clicks to your website in Google’s search results.
Examine the keywords — do they still resonate with the content of the webpage and your audience intent? Does the page need to be optimized with different keywords now?
Read more:
3. Do Some Competitor Research
With a keyword list for the webpages and content you are updating, it’s time to dive into some competitive research.
Without understanding who your competition is in the search results for each keyword (aka those ranking on page one) you will not have a clear picture of how to optimize your content.
You can analyze your competition in a couple of different ways: 1) The manual “old fashioned” way, where you plug in a keyword into the search results and start digging or 2) The automated way using tools to discover which webpages rank for your keyword.
The tools will give you much more data quicker on the top-ranked pages and their websites. For example, if you used our SEOToolSet, you could find out things like:
- The on-page ranking factors
- The off-page ranking factors
- How often they use your targeted keyword and where
- Readability metrics of the webpages
- Recommendations on how to optimize your webpages based on the competition
- The health of your competitor’s website
Check out these free versions of tools in our SEOToolSet to get you started:
Competitor research helps you be the least imperfect compared to your competition. And, once you understand how the competition is optimizing, you can do as good or better.
Read more:
4. Implement E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Google invented this concept and it’s outlined in its Search Quality Rater Guidelines.
That document was first used internally to train search quality raters. These people evaluate the quality of the search results, so Google can use that data as a feedback loop for its algorithm.
Eventually, the internal document was leaked, and in 2015, Google made the full version available to the public. It has been revised several times since then, and anyone can view it.
The Search Quality Rater Guideline is a sort of manual for website publishers to understand how Google human quality raters view quality content. So it’s worth understanding it and how it can apply to your website.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that it applies to the algorithm; it doesn’t. It can, however, be used as a loose guideline for building higher-quality webpages.
Building on the steps you’ve taken thus far, use the concepts in the Search Quality Rater Guidelines to examine your top webpages (and your website as a whole) to ensure they demonstrate E-E-A-T.
Read:
- Complete Guide to the Fundamentals of Google’s E-E-A-T
- E-E-A-T and SEO: You Can’t Have One Without the Other
5. Make Sure Your Content Is Evergreen
It’s not uncommon for old webpages to rank well and bring in a lot of traffic. But most webpages need updating over time. It does not create a good user experience when someone lands on an outdated webpage.
This is where “evergreening” comes in. Evergreening ensures that content stands the test of time.
Practically, that means reviewing and editing the content to ensure it contains the most up-to-date information. Maybe the advice is outdated, or the stats and research to support your points can be updated.
This is an important step in upgrading the webpages you are working on. And, in reality, it should be performed on a schedule throughout the year.
6. Do Some On-Page and Technical Optimization
In this step, you will take the intel you’ve gathered from your competitor research and start applying it to your webpages.
What on-page optimization factors are helping your competition? What technical factors are helping them?
Make sure you’re doing it, too. You can additionally one-up your competitors by using an SEO checklist to see what else might be missing when it comes to optimizing your content and web pages.
Read:
7. Address Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can work against your SEO goals.
When you have two pages that are too similar, Google will choose the one it believes is relevant for a search and filter the other one out — and it may not be the page you want.
So, you want to make sure that the webpages you are upgrading are not duplicated on your website. “Duplication” could be as simple as having the same meta information.
But you might have duplicate content on your site for many other reasons. And here are some of the ways duplicate content is generated:
- Two site versions
- Separate mobile site
- Trailing slashes on URLs
- CMS problems
- Boilerplate content
- Parameterized pages
- Product descriptions
- Content syndication
It goes without saying to avoid other types of duplicate content, too — like the spammy kind. This is when the content on your webpage is too similar to the content on another person’s website.
Read:
- Is Duplicate Content Bad for Search Engine Rankings?
- Understanding Duplicate Content and How to Avoid It
- How to Get Rid of Duplicate Content in WordPress
8. Try SEO Siloing
Where your content is placed on your website can impact your webpage’s rankings. SEO siloing is an SEO technique that structures your website’s content by grouping related webpages together.
How you organize a webpage on your website (whether it’s how you link to it or what directory you put it in) can impact:
- How search engines crawl and understand that webpage
- The relevancy of that webpage for a search
You might still wonder how organizing a webpage can improve rankings. Here’s one explanation: One way that search engines determine the most relevant webpages for a search is by sifting through and analyzing the webpages in their index and finding the best fit.
Taking it a step further, search engines like Google may analyze the overall website structure of the web pages it is considering. This helps the search engine determine if a website has enough supporting content for the search term used.
Here, the search engine assesses whether the website is an authority on the topic and, therefore, the best fit for the query.
So, when you are upgrading your content, the big picture of how that content fits into an organized website cannot be overlooked.
Read:
9. Look at a Whole-SERP SEO Strategy
And last but not least, another “big picture” strategy when upgrading your content is not so much about fixing old pages as it is about creating more targeted new content. This is the “whole-SERP” strategy.
A whole-SERP SEO strategy analyzes the features that appear most in your target keywords’ search results and then creates new content based on your findings. Features can be anything from videos to images to featured snippets and much, much more.
The goal is to create and optimize the content that Google believes is most relevant for a search. For some searches, that might be videos in addition to blue links.
So, in that example, you’d want to ensure you’re also creating videos for those searches. This gives you another opportunity to take advantage of all the search engines’ real estate.
Read:
Content is a major SEO ranking factor. It’s important to get it right. Follow the steps outlined in this article and your content will be optimized to compete better in the search results.
Our SEO experts can help you upgrade your content for better performance and results — higher search ranking, more online visibility and organic traffic, and increased revenue. Schedule a free SEO consultation with us today.
FAQ: How do I ensure my content demonstrates E-E-A-T for better SEO results?
Demonstrating Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) is one of the best ways to improve your SEO results. Because Google prioritizes high-quality content that is helpful and valuable to users, it is important to understand how implementing E-E-A-T can affect your rankings.
Let’s look at each factor that make up E-E-A-T and how you can incorporate them into your content:
Experience: Experience builds trust with your audience because it demonstrates that your brand is well equipped to solve their needs. Include first-hand experiences, case studies and detailed reviews in your content to authenticate its depth. Use personal anecdotes and in-depth experiences into articles to make your content relatable and build trust with your readers.
Expertise: Expertise helps establish your brand as a trusted expert in your field and demonstrates to your audience that you possess the right knowledge to answer their questions. Establishing expertise involves producing well-researched content backed by credible sources, statistics, and in-depth analysis. Your content should be comprehensive, meticulously detailed, and vetted for accuracy. Establishing yourself as a subject matter expert means you can offer insights and solutions that users can’t find anywhere else. When possible, display credentials and link to other authoritative sources to further improve perceived expertise.
Authoritativeness: You can establish authoritativeness by consistently publishing high-quality content that is recognized — and cited — by others in your industry. To accomplish this, you’ll need to acquire backlinks from reputable sources, get featured in popular industry publications, and engage with thought leaders. You’ll have to stay current on the latest industry trends so that you can always provide valuable insights. Nurturing professional relationships also contributes to building authoritativeness.
Trustworthiness: If your audience doesn’t trust you, you can forget about successfully competing online. Build trust by maintaining transparency, always adhering to ethical standards, ensuring your site is secure, well-structured and easy to navigate, and maintain data privacy for users. Be sure to disclose any kind of affiliations and always present information transparently. Encouraging your users to provide user-generated content such as reviews or testimonials can also improve trust.
When developing your content, you must include keywords and their variants naturally throughout. This keeps your content relevant and is an important factor in boosting your search engine visibility. If you’re writing an article, naturally incorporate keywords into text while providing valuable information to improve your SEO results without compromising readability.
It’s a good idea to frequently audit your content to make sure it always demonstrates E-E-A-T. This helps to maintain and improve your search engine ranking. Identify content areas that need improvement and adjust your strategy as necessary.
Step-by-Step Procedure
- Research and identify key topics that are relevant to your audience and that will demonstrate your expertise.
- Compile authoritative sources like academic papers, industry reports and other credible sources/websites.
- Create detailed content outlines that cover topics comprehensively.
- Include personal experience, case studies and real-world examples into your content.
- Write your content clearly and concisely, make it engaging and always address the needs of your audience.
- Review your content to ensure it is completely accurate and backed by verifiable data.
- Highlight any credentials, qualifications, or other relevant expertise to establish credibility.
- Include high-quality internal and external links to reputable sources and related content.
- Use headers, bullet points and conversational language to optimize your content for readability and SEO.
- Regularly audit your content and refresh as needed to keep it accurate and relevant.
- Engage with the community by responding to comments and participating in discussions.
- Build authoritativeness by publishing your content on trusted platforms within your industry.
- Promote your content on social media and other relevant networks.
- Acquire backlinks from trusted websites and other authoritative sources.
- Demonstrate qualifications and expertise by including author bios in your content.
- Maintain a consistent publishing schedule to build audience loyalty and trust.
- Optimize your website to be user-friendly and secure. Always follow best practices for data privacy.
- Use structured data markup to help search engines better understand your content.
- Frequently monitor content performance. Analyze data to understand user behavior and adjust your content strategy accordingly.
- Experiment with various multimedia content like videos and podcasts to add even more value to your content.
- Encourage users to generate content like reviews to further boost credibility.
- Proofread and fact-check your content meticulously to maintain editorial standards.
- Expand your reach by collaborating with other industry experts and influencers.
Demonstrating E-E-A-T in your content is more than an SEO technique; it’s an ongoing commitment to providing value, building trust, and positioning yourself as a credible authority. Follow these steps to upgrade your content that naturally attracts a wider audience and achieves better SEO results.
The post 9 Practical Steps To Upgrade Your Web Content appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..
