To ensure your SEO efforts grow effectively and sustainably, you should focus on investing in the quality of your core product: the content built on your site. Even if your site is a sales page and the content only serves to provide information, it is still worth the investment—who knows, those might just be the "touch points" that help you win over your customers.
3 useful tips to help you develop high-quality content for your website
First, you need to build a positive brand for your site to establish credibility in all the content and messages you convey. Next, you should collaborate with industry experts or "leverage" their influence to increase the trustworthiness of your content. Finally, develop a content strategy and establish your own thought leadership style.
1. Actively develop your personal brand to create value for your content
In the late 2000s, Google increasingly focused on branding as a way to eliminate misinformation and provide more reliable results for every user. This has made branding an important ranking factor.
When a brand's information is consistent across all its platforms, revenue can increase by up to 23%. Building a brand also makes it easier to present our values and increases customer loyalty. 89% of customers are willing to be loyal to brands that share their values.
Tips for effective branding:
- Identify the social platforms your target audience uses and tailor your strategy accordingly.
- Consider forming a partnership with a complementary brand. For example, Lego and IKEA formed a partnership that benefited both parties.
- When planning your brand awareness campaign, make sure to highlight your unique advantages, messaging, and values. Focus on conveying a message rather than just advertising the products you are selling.
2. Seek help from professionals to increase your site's E-E-A-T score
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. The E-E-A-T score is one of the most important factors in determining page quality. While we don't need to be an expert or authority on every topic we write about, we should emulate those individuals so that our content achieves a higher score.
47% of buyers will read three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales representative. Connecting with subject matter experts or emulating their content increases the chances of buyers engaging with your content before moving to the next stage. You can cite interviews previously conducted by other content creators with subject matter experts in your posts, or insert engaging videos and infographics to increase persuasiveness.
Tips for improving your website's E-E-A-T score by leveraging experts:
- Find subject matter experts through professional sources such as trade publications, searches on LinkedIn and by joining relevant Facebook groups.
- Ensure that the subject matter expert you focus on is a good fit for your target audience.
- If your chosen expert doesn't have much time, be flexible in how you work with them. This could be as simple as asking them to help verify the accuracy of your content, then noting their endorsement on the page.
3. Create a content strategy and communicate your own thought leadership
Your website should be more than just an information hub; it should be a trusted authority. To achieve this, you need a strategy focused on content and thought leadership. In fact, 54% of people spend over an hour each week reading thought leadership content relevant to their business. However, 71% feel that only half of what they read is truly valuable. This means you can still gain a competitive edge with this type of content if you provide real value. While it requires more time and effort to produce, it is well worth researching and testing. When we create content that other brands look to, it strengthens our own brand's credibility and improves the quality of our backlink.
Tips for creating a better Content and Thought Leadership strategy:
- Identify trends regarding where the industry is heading over the next 5-10 years and create content that aligns with them.
- Think about common industry questions that can be answered with data. Identify viable topics and the resources needed to provide relevant data points.
- Conduct internal or external research and create content that highlights your findings. This will help establish us as an industry leader, which can lead to more backlink opportunities from other sites citing our content.
- Set up Google Alerts to stay updated on news and events affecting your industry. Be among the first to write and share your perspective on these topics to provide valuable insights.
4. Be careful with duplicate content to avoid being penalized by Google for plagiarism.
Duplicate content is one of the cardinal sins of SEO; once Google flags your site, you could face severe penalties. Furthermore, customers won't value your brand if they see you offer nothing new compared to other sites. Duplicate content refers to blocks of text that match or are similar to content elsewhere on your site or across the internet, which can also be considered plagiarism. Therefore, even when using reference materials, you should combine various reputable sources and restructure them using your own voice and narrative style.
For fixed content blocks, such as user manuals, ingredient lists, or unalterable quotes, you can prevent Google from flagging the content on your site by using the following tips:
- Use 301 redirects
- Maintain a consistent URL structure
- Use top-level domains
- Use the noindex tag on informational content
In summary, when building content, remember that quality takes time. You must provide genuine value to your readers to build their trust and loyalty, and eventually convert them into customers. Only when your content is good enough can all other SEO activities reach their full potential.
