Are you wondering why your content is not getting much visitors these days? The recent Google helpful content update roll out brings some major changes for content creators and SEO Experts. Gone are the days when anyone would create content based on keywords and Google would rank it. Now, Google SEO recommendations are more about deploying the right on page SEO strategy AND creating helpful, authoritative content. No matter what type of niche you select, incorporating helpful and expertise-based content creation is essential. In this article, we discuss some of the top SEO On Page Optimization Techniques for your website.
Top Google SEO Recommendations for Content Creators:
If you want to blow life to your declining website content, here are some top Google recommendations to include in your standard SEO practices:
Add Your Primary Keyword At the Beginning of Your Content
It is quite obvious that the best Google SEO recommendations include using keywords in your content. Most writers do consider using as many primary keywords as possible in the content. However, you may struggle to decide where exactly you shall use the keywords. Google likes to rank content in which the primary keyword is placed at the beginning of your content.
Although it is recommended to spread out your keywords, adding primary keyword right in the beginning of your content should be your priority.
Now, adding primary keyword at the beginning is not limited to using it in the introduction. In fact, you shall add primary keyword at the beginning of meta tags, meta title, meta description and even in headings.
For ecommerce store owners, optimizing the product images alt tags using primary keyword is also recommended.
Here is a checklist of all those pages and places where you need to add primary keywords at the beginning of the content:
- Meta Data, including meta titles, tags and descriptions
- Landing Pages
- Headings
- eCommerce Descriptions
- Image alt text
- Category pages
Incorporating new Google Sites SEO guide recommendations in your content can be a bit tricky. However, with some practice, following the best Google SEO tips becomes easier with time. If you are planning to create content on any topic, the goal is to ensure that content is unique and free from duplication.
Avoid Content Duplication
Google recommends that you avoid writing duplicate or near duplicate content. Now, it does not mean that duplicate content is copy pasted content. Keep in mind that your content’s structure, flow, choice of words and presentation of information shall be unique from your competitors. There shall be no similarity.
Self Assess Your Content for Quality
Google’s recent content update sets some new Google SEO rules for content creators.
Ranking on top of SERPs requires careful insight and rigorous reviews. As a content creator, you can be the best judge of your quality. Or you can ask an editor to review your content for quality standards. Google’s SEO recommendations share the following content quality benchmarks for creators:
- Original information based on factual data, true reporting and detailed analysis
- Comprehensive and detailed information on the given topic
- Insightful topic analysis and interesting tidbits to make content more engaging
- Additional value and originality to bridge gaps in existing information sources
- Consistency in headlines. Make sure that you do not write clickbait type headings
- Ease of Sharing and bookmarking content to share with others when needed
- Content authority to be shared as reference in printed information sources
- Extent of substantial value in information as compared to competitor pages
Ask Expertise Based Questions
Expertise questions
- Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page?
- If someone researched the site producing the content, would they come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely-recognized as an authority on its topic?
- Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?
- Does the content have any easily-verified factual errors?
Visual Presentation
When it comes to content creation, the visual presentation matters just as much as the written information. Here are a few things Google SEO Recommendations for optimizing your content presentation:
- There should be no grammar, spelling or styling issues
- The content should have a proper structure and consistent information flow
- Avoid mass producing similar content with lots of repetition
- Ensure that the content does not contain too many display ads that interfere with important information
- Check whether the content display on mobile device is appropriate for viewers
Write for Your Readers, not for Search Engine
Another important thing to consider when writing content is to focus on your readers instead of search engine’s requirements. Naturally, this helps you value based content with high chances of ranking well on SERPs. Creating people first content is all about addressing people’s concerns and questions about a certain topic. Moreover, if you are writing content about a certain phenomenon, make sure that you share detailed steps in your content guides. Similarly, your ecommerce store’s product pages and landing pages shall touch all the benefits and ways in which your offering can help your buyers.
Here are some things you need to consider to write reader-focused content:
- Write attractive content for search engine visitors
- Focus on creating content for a specific niche rather than targetting multiple niches
- Bring more value to your content instead of summarizing what others have to say
- Make sure that your content meets your reader’s primary reading goals i.e helping them solve a problem, showing them various ways of improving quality of life, helping them understand a process and answering their concerns
- Incorporate expert advice and authoritative data sources to add more authenticity to your content
- Incorporate content writing automation to enhance content scaling while you focus on adding value
See how WriteMe.Ai helps you automate content creation for improved content scaling:
Improve Your Site’s Loading Speed
Did you know that slow loading websites increase bounce rate by upto 90%? Such a high statistic indicates that it is crucial to optimize your website’s loading speed. Similarly, your website’s UX plays an important role in enhancing the stickiness of reader on your website content. Google has explicitly recommended that content creators and SEO specialists work with website developers to improve the website loading speed. Moreover, you need to consider making your website pages are mobile-friendly. [1]
Here is how you can improve your website’s loading speed:
- Install Lightweight website themes to improve website speed
- Compress the images and visual elements on your website
- Use Lazy Loading technique to boost your website’s loading speed
- Get a CDN to enhance image viewing experience for your users
- Install page speed analyzer tools or plugins to closely monitor your website
It is recommended that your website loads in the fraction of a second. The bounce rate goes up with every additional second that delays your website’s loading speed.
Conclusion
The Google SEO Recommendations serve as a compass for content creators to optimize their efforts for SERPs. Since Google is actively keeping a close eye on content creation efforts, it is high time to revise the quality standards.
References:
[1] Consumer Insights – ThinkWithGoogle
