Content is king.

This was the “secret” to winning the SEO game 5 years ago. The question is, of course, is this still the case today?

Content is absolutely (if not more so) still a highly important part of your digital marketing strategy. However, the way to implement it has changed with the adoption of social media, new Google algorithms and an ever-changing demand from consumers.

What has changed with content marketing?

As little as five years ago, the only things that Google wanted to see were:

  • LOTS of pieces of content
  • Your keywords
  • Backlinks from “not too questionable” websites (no gambling, no “adults only” websites, etc.)

If this was your strategy, you’d get a bulk load of traffic from Google, and you’d probably make a killing on the way.

This mantra or “strategy” was adopted by millions of people who are still practising it, despite Google screaming from the hilltops that this is outdated and useless now. We have talked in previous posts about how Google updates their algorithms — and this is exactly what has happened recently.

What do you do now to get wicked search rankings?

The Google algorithms are extremely complicated, with more than 200 unique controls being implemented to filter and sort search results. On their own website, Google explains that when a user enters a search term, there are potentially millions of different web pages that they could show.

What criteria does Google use to judge where to list your website?

  • Highly relevant content to your topic (i.e. your product, brand, service or purpose)
  • Content that is in demand, timely, and popular
  • Quality of layout of site and content
  • Links from websites that have authority
  • Why does Google demand these attributes?

Purely because they know that if the customer has a great experience, they’ll return again and again, and further supporting Google as an authoritative and great search engine that puts their users first.

This is why they update their algorithms — to try and stop web pages that aren’t relevant and worthy anymore from reaching the summit of the results pages.

What can you do right now to create a more powerful marketing strategy?

If there has been one metric that proves successful for getting traffic to a website, it is a focus on quality, not quantity. Sure, you may say “What about eBay, Gumtree, Wikipedia etc. etc…?”

The truth is that these websites offer extreme quality, but also extreme quantity. Most of the large websites now are either run by teams consisting of hundreds of staff or the information is crowd-sourced, like Wikipedia.

However, if you look at websites in your niche that are at the top of the search engines, there is a good chance they are offering the user a better quality experience than yours, and are in “better company” — that is to say, more popular sites are linking to them, compared to your site.

Here are some tips to create the right sort of content that will actually get you closer to your goals:

1. Write timely, relevant content

If you are a lawyer, update your website whenever new laws come out that may affect your target market. If you are a builder, update your website about projects you are working on and changes to building codes.

2. Update often — but only if you are going to craft something of quality

Adding content to your site every day is a waste of time if it isn’t relevant and if nobody cares about what you have to say.

3. Research your material

Quality content that gives your target market some information about how to better their position, or achieve something is a good place to start. You want people to read your content, stay on your site, and purchase your goods, all of which help you to optimise your web presence.

If you can implement these steps, you are taking a big stride toward leveraging Google’s algorithm and getting your site into the king spot.

Interested in increasing your Google ranking? Bambrick is here to help. Our SEO team is based in Brisbane and has helped hundreds of local and interstate businesses increase their online visibility with Google-friendly SEO strategies and techniques. We’d love to hear from you, so please don’t hesitate to contact us online, by phone on (07) 3216 1151, or drop by our office on Wharf Street and have a chat.