Bad Content Isn't Good For Your SEO
Jenny Marsden • March 31, 2018
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It's not just any old content that works.
Anyone who has spent any time working on improving their website ranking will know the phrase "Content is King". That is true - Google does have it perched firmly on the throne right next to "Solid SEO" on the left and "Link Master" on the right, however bad content won't necessarily help your SEO.
Google is smart. They've been doing this a long time and have had exposure to every trick in the book that has been used for the sole purpose of increasing your websites exposure.
They are so smart in fact that they often know what your visitors are looking for even before you do. That seems somewhat scary at first, however when you really think about it, embracing this concept and putting yourself in the shoes of your visitor will enable you to create content that keeps Google blissfully happy.
They are not the big bad SEO monster - they are in business just like you. Their business is showing their clients the best possible results for their searches. That means that they will never put one of your posts at the top of that search, UNLESS - it, along with the rest of your website meets the clients expectations.
Content must do these 4 things:
- it must deliver value to the visitor
- it should exceed their expectations (of at face value at least meet those expectations)
- it should provide them with a positive experience &
- it should load quickly
Content that is blatantly self serving won't help you achieve that.
Content that is stuffed with what you consider to be keywords - again, won't help you achieve that
Content that is posted at an over zealous rate won't help you do that - UNLESS its crisp, quality content.
A huge quantity of content, if its hastily written and has no value won't do you any good, so its entirely possible that you've spent your weekends writing, writing, writing for no benefit.
The Key, (ignoring the pun) Is Consistency
Take the following steps into account when you are assembling your content.
- Ask yourself: What is the visitor going to get out of this? How is this going to help them? If they are ever going to come back - they need a reason. Give them one.
- Accompany your text with images. We are visual creatures - we love pretty pictures and don't forget, having well named images with good captions and ALT tags can work on their own driving traffic to your website. My husband, who isn't great with anything that isn't email from a computer perspective, uses Googles Image search maybe 10-15 times a day. He runs a business with 10 employees and doesn't have time to waste. He puts in his search, goes to "Images" and starts by clicking on the image that is closest to what he's after. He can't be the only one that does that!!!!
- Optimize your images. Don't upload full size images. I CAN'T SAY THIS ENOUGH! Optimize your images for web. See this post on how to easily do this.
- Consider people that aren't like yourself. Here you are writing blog posts and updating your website but does you visitor have the same skillset? Just because you know what you are offering or selling doesn't mean they know. Don't forget terms that are more generic in nature. Don't be scared to be less specific. If you have your essential key words and specific search terms in you text, there is nothing to be lost by being slightly more generic in other paragraphs. As long as it all makes sense, diversity can't hurt.
- Be aware of your competition but don't be obsessed. I have a client who followed her opposition's blog and pretty much rewrote every single one. She didn't think she could come up with something on her own, so she pretty much just copied their idea every month and wrote it out herself. I was mortified - primarily because it (to me) is blatant plagiarism, but also because she knows her business. She knows what's worked and what hasn't and by ignoring that and copying what they were doing, she was setting herself up to repeat every single mistake they made . She's no longer a client.
- Ask yourself: How does this apply to my businesses personality? It is affirming everything I/We stand for? If you run an engine rebuild business and want to branch off into Wednesday night classes - written text is probably not what you should lead with. Sure you need it on your page, but a video at the top would be much better suited to your market. Showing not telling is where you sit - don't miss that. Even if you don't think you can do a good enough video - I bet you can. Get your phone out, film it, go to Fiverr and find someone who can put it into a better output for you. And that brings me to my next item...
- Your time is valuable. VERY valuable. Content writing may be a GIANT waste of your time. If you are aforementioned engine builder I bet you aren't going to take an afternoon off, sit down and crochet a doily for your grandma's birthday are you? Nope - even if you can crochet (lil bit jealous cause I can't) that is not a valuable use of your time. PAY SOMEONE!
- Finally - PLAN. PLAN. PLAN. Like everything else, if you try and write one random blog post every month, but the time you sit down, login, type it, find images, resize them, rewrite it, do the SEO for the blog post and post it. There's an hour gone. Now I bet you can knock out the next one in half that time. So write two, or even better write 3. Three is my magic number. I never leave my PC until I've scheduled at least 3. Then I get beer - oh what am I saying? I mean coffee!
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About Jenny
I started my IT career in Database Administration and .Net coding. While I LOVED that work, I realised very quickly that I also wanted a life. To be a top end coder or DB Admin, you have to comit your downtime to constantly learning and evolving and while that is also something I love, I wanted it to be my work and not my life. So I morphed my love of design with my knowledge of all things SEO and moved into building small business websites.
Why small business websites? I'm a small business myself and I know how hard it can be so I wanted to give my clients a great service, with an approachable point of contact where no question was a "stupid question".
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