If you can deliver good quality content that impresses your target audience and answers their search query, you send a strong signal to Google that your content is relevant to the user. If you can offer value as a resource, it will draw in relevant blogs and websites that will want to link to you because of what you offer. Creating engaging, relevant, content that is well written is still a key element of bringing visitors to your site.
Google AI
With the rise of artificial intelligence, no longer will using your keyword, in the title and article suffice. Google’s AI machines are becoming very adept at understanding keyword meanings and the relationships between words and analyse a variety of relatable keywords to further strengthen the credibility of your article. Google is figuring out the meaning behind keywords, rephrasing them, and producing better search results in response. You need to be using a broader range of synonyms and LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords, which highlights the relevancy of your article to Google
Long-tail keywords
It can be very difficult for small sites and blogs to rank on page one for highly competitive terms and keywords, but by using long-tailed keywords, you can target more specific variations of the main keyword, for example
‘personal training London’
‘personal training sessions in Croydon, London’
Although the search volume is lower, so is the competition, and as the keyword is more relevant to the user, so there is more chance to convert. There is also the added bonus of optimising your content for voice-activated search which is growing in popularity.
Structure
Easy flow of content that draws your readers in is just as vital as making content that stands out. Your article needs to be properly structured, with the correct headers and have your ideas flow around your targeted keywords so that content reads smoothly rather cramming than the content full of keywords.
Lists or bullet points are an excellent way to concisely answer questions or display information. Your ideas can be delivered effectively when you create a list, which can also make the information provided easier to understand for the reader. These lists can also be optimised for Google’s featured snippets, asking and answering a query within your article.
User Experience
Video content is another rich media element you can add to your article. According to networking giant Cisco, video content will average around 80% of all online traffic by 2021. By utilising video, you can engage your reader with more in-depth analysis, a signpost to another product or part of your business and also increase your dwell time!
Google’s Rankbrain, dwell time and bounce rate, are all user experience signals that analyse the relevancy of your article to a user’s search query. The aim is to know what your customers are looking for and write your content based around those search queries, with the focus on user intent, not search engines.
When focusing on new trends and writing new articles you should never forget about basic on-page SEO. Having technical issues such as low page load speed, duplicate content or missing header tags are basics that are sometimes overlooked and will greatly hamper all your hard work writing amazing content.
