In August 2022, Google released news stating that they are planning on making some changes to what kinds of content show up on their search engine. In order to make sure internet users are finding the most relevant pages and best possible information, they are now focusing on helping people-first content show up earlier in search results.
Learning more about this update and how these changes will impact your business, can help make your marketing efforts more successful.
1. Think About the Reader
Some articles may seem as if a machine or artificial intelligence wrote them. In fact, this may be the case, which could explain why they are not completely original or easy to understand. Crafting content that communicates your main point in an understandable way is important to helping people find and read your article given this new update.
People clicking on your article expect it to be relevant to their interests and answer any questions they have. Anyone who only uses keywords to drive search engine traffic will likely not construct useful or well-written pages that are valuable to the reader. Putting in extra effort to focus on the reader’s needs can help your content stand out among a sea of other competitors.
2. Note All Important Details
When people are searching for content about a certain subject, they are likely trying to find a page that provides many relevant details about specific information. The new Google content update accounts for pages that may not have complete information, such as paragraphs that are hard to read or understand, which can prevent them from being a good search result.
The value to the person searching is essential since the relevant information keeps them clicking on pages and continuing to read things on your site. Make sure to include new or interesting advice and knowledge. This can help your articles remain more people-focused and more likely to appear in search results.
3. Put the Audience First
Keeping in mind the questions your audience may typically have while writing your content can help guide you. A page that people find useful or contains information that isn’t just a repeat of someone else’s content will stand out. Quality pieces of content will answer the questions the reader has and will not force them to go to another website just to get these necessary facts.
Trying to make your content an arbitrary or exact word count will not change where you appear in the order of search results, since there is no preferred word count for the Google search engine.
4. Focus on Quality When Writing for Niches
Grabbing the attention of someone casually searching online may seem hard or even almost impossible at first. You could attempt to remedy this by writing about extremely niche topics so that you are competing with fewer overall search results. The new algorithm seeks to prevent writing poor content about a niche subject just to gain search engine traction.
While it is normal to have some keywords, understanding the right balance between them and the other important information in the article will help you navigate this new update. Making sure to write content that is still people-focused and comprehensive is important to getting your niche content read.
Get Help From the Experts
Quality content attracts the right audience to your website, encourages them to interact with your brand, and moves them toward taking your desired call to action. Your content marketing strategy is a key part of improving your website’s performance and growing your business.
Contact the experts at Sprout Media Lab for help building an effective marketing campaign that gets real results. Call us at (800) 617-6975 today for a FREE consultation.
