After the Google Helpful Content Update, it’s more important than ever to write content for people, not robots; understand how to reach the top of searches today
When creating content, it’s important to remember who your audience is and what they’re looking for. It’s easy to get caught up in trying to please the search engines, but at the end of the day, they’re just algorithms designed to rank content. Your audience is made up of real people who are looking for information, entertainment, or both. You should retain people, more than robots!
Write content that appeals to your audience and provides them with value. Don’t worry about keyword stuffing or other tricks that are meant to game the system. Good content will rise to the top on its own merits. Focusing on your audience will also help you build a strong relationship with them, which can lead to repeat traffic and conversions.
Google Helpful Content Update
Google recently announced an update to its algorithm that favors content that is helpful to users. This means that content that is well-written, informative, and useful will rank higher in search results than content that is poorly written or not very useful.
This is a great news for businesses and website owners who create quality content. If you have been creating quality content but have not been seeing the results you want in terms of traffic and ranking, this update should help your site get the recognition it deserves
To create successful blog content, remember our advice and follow these guidelines. People-first creators will first focus on creating satisfying content while employing SEO best practices to bring searchers additional value. Are you likely producing people-first content if you answered yes to these questions?
1. If you have an existing or intended audience for your business or website, the content you create will be more engaging. Would your audience find it useful if they came directly to you?
2. Do you have first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge about your topic? If so, your content should demonstrate this clearly.
3. Does the site you’re currently working on have a primary focus?
4. Are readers able to feel they achieved their goal after reading your content?
5. Does your content provide a satisfying return on time spent reading?
6. Are up to date for Google Core Updates and for Google Product Reviews Update?
7. Instead of creating content from an SEO perspective, are you creating content that people will enjoy consuming? Ones that the target market will actually find helpful?
How often should you be creating new content?
It’s important to keep your website and blog fresh with new content, but how often should you be creating new content? The answer may depend on the type of business you have. If you have a news-based website or blog, you’ll need to post new content much more frequently than a site that sells products or services. However, all businesses should aim to create new content on a regular basis, even if it’s just a few times per week or month.
Creating new content helps to keep your site relevant and engaging for visitors, and it can also help to improve your search engine ranking. If you’re not sure how often you should be creating new content, start by doing some research on your competitors. See how often they’re posting new blog articles or adding new pages to their website, and try to match their frequency. Of course, quality is more important than quantity when it comes to creating content, so don’t sacrifice quality for the sake of posting more frequently.
10 ways to come up with ideas for new content
1. Keep a running list of ideas: As you think of new topics or issues related to your industry, jot them down so you have a reserve of content ideas to draw from when you need them.
2. Set aside time each week to brainstorm: Dedicate some time each week – even if it’s just 30 minutes – to brainstorming new content ideas. This will help ensure that you always have fresh ideas on hand.
3. Get inspiration from others in your industry: See what others in your industry are writing about and use that as inspiration for your own content. Just be sure not to copy their ideas too closely!
4. Check out popular news sites and blogs: See what’s popular in the news or on other blogs and consider how you can tie that into your own content. For example, if there’s a hot topic in the news that relates to your business, you could write a blog post about it.
5. Ask your customers and clients: Your customers and clients are a great source of information – they can tell you what they want to know more about or what problems they’re facing that your content could help with.
6. Use social media listening: Social media is a great way to see what people are talking about and get inspired for new content ideas. Simply scroll through your Twitter or Facebook feed to see what people are interested in right now, or use tools like Buzzsumo.
7. Conduct keyword research: Use keyword research tools like Google Ads Keyword Planner or Also Ask to find out what people are searching for online – then create content that meets those needs.
8. Look at your Google Analytics and Search Console: See what content on your site is already popular and consider creating more content along those same lines. For example, if you have a blog post that’s been getting a lot of traffic, you could write a similar post on a related topic.
9. Ask your employees: Your employees likely have a lot of knowledge and insight about your industry – so why not tap into that resource? Ask them for ideas on new content topics or what they think would be helpful for your audience to know more about.
Content Pruning
Content pruning is the process of removing old, outdated, or unnecessary content from your website or blog. It’s a way to declutter and simplify your online presence so that people can easily find what they’re looking for.
There are a few different ways to go about content pruning. You can do it yourself manually, or you can use a plugin or tool to help automate the process. Whichever method you choose, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Be ruthless – When it comes to pruning your content, it’s important to be ruthless. Don’t keep anything just because you think it might be useful someday. If it’s not serving a purpose now, get rid of it.
2. Create redirects – If you’re deleting pages or posts that people might still be looking for, be sure to create redirects so they’ll be directed to the relevant new page or post. This will help prevent confusion and frustration for your visitors.
3. Notify Google – If you’ve made significant changes to your website (like deleting a lot of pages), be sure to notify Google so they can update their index accordingly. You can do this through Google Search Console.
4. Keep an archive – Even though you’re deleting old content, it’s a good idea to keep an archive in case you need to reference it later. This way, you won’t have to start from scratch if you ever need to bring something back.
Content pruning may seem like a daunting task, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. By taking some time to declutter your website or blog, you can make it simpler and easier for people to find what they’re looking for – which is ultimately what we all want.
Conclusion
It’s reinforce one thousand times that when you’re creating content, you’re doing it for people, not robots. Write for your audience and focus on delivering value, and the search engines will take care of the rest. Creating great content is the best way to improve your website’s ranking and attract more visitors, so don’t get too caught up in trying to please the algorithms.