Google has a habit of naming its algorithm updates after things people love: Penguins, Caffeine, Hummingbirds, and Pandas. (Maybe not Pigeons – sorry Pigeons.) Each major algorithm update that Google rolls out is designed to tackle a specific problem that previously resulted in lower quality or less relevant websites ranking highly for given keywords. Penguin addressed spammy backlinks. Pigeon narrowed in on local results for location-based queries. The Google Panda algorithm update zeroes in on content, and in particular, low-quality content that was written for search engines rather than users.
So the answer to Panda is simple – write high-quality content that adds to the website experience for the user! Not that easy, huh? Unfortunately, many challenges present themselves to the erstwhile SEO or in-house professional tasked with boosting a brand’s content profile online. Not least, what to write about, and how to go about ensuring that produced content is at a good enough standard. Well, Wpromote is here to help! We’ve created this gorgeous infographic to guide you through the content-writing process: taking you step-by-step through the questions you should be asking yourself at every stage.
Google is getting smarter. Much smarter. Gone are the days when SEO was as simple as adding your keyword to your website as many times a humanly possible and amassing a ton of rubbish links. Now we all know that black hat tactics make things harder when trying to rank in the search engines, but let’s be honest, it’s actually a good thing.
The whole point of the Google algorithm is to find the most relevant and useful search results to any given query, and there are three main components to that. Firstly, there’s the technical side. Essentially, that’s making sure that the search bots that come to crawl your site can read and index it as quickly and easily as possible. The second is content: giving those bots something to read that tells them what your site is relevant for. Thirdly, there are backlinks – the popularity contest of the internet! Those help Google assess how relevant you are within your industry and how authoritative your site is compared to others.
As Google makes its algorithm more and more complicated, it can be easy to forget that the purpose of that algorithm is actually just that simple.
It is true that writing quality content for your website is a much longer process than producing multiple low-quality posts, but the benefits can be significant. Strong content attracts authoritative, organic backlinks (pleasing the Penguin too!) and improves user engagement metrics on-site. Also, let’s not forget, content is for much more than rankings. It is a fantastic opportunity to engage with your client base, provide helpful information, talk to customers at every stage of the purchase or lead-generation funnel, promote loyalty, share good news, and establish yourself as an authority in your field.
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