3 Reasons Why Your Content Doesn’t Work

When it comes to overused phrases, “Content is King” is right up there. You might be sick of hearing it, but it remains as true as ever – yet still people can forget this golden rule on occasion. Whether you are a web designer writing SEO-friendly content for your latest development, a full-time SEO or a humble content writer, there are a few things which you might be doing wrong, and which could be affecting your position in the rankings.

Would You Like Some Content with That Spam?

Google (that impossible-to-please partner that we all have to live with) has a long list of things that it dislikes, but one of its real problems is with spam. Content which is stuffed with keywords, headings which don’t make sense and areas thrown in wherever you please will all cause your website to fall in Google’s estimation, which is why it is so important to remember that subtlety is the key when writing successful content for SEO.

Act Natural!

Speaking of subtlety, how many websites have you seen which practically scream from the rooftops “HI GOOGLE, WE’RE WRITING FOR SEO PURPOSES OVER HERE! LOOK AT US! LOOK AT US!”? SEO might be about getting your website to the top, but a position on page one is no use if the pages your website visitors are directed to are simply useless.

Good SEO content combines two things: SEO value and user value. Your page should do what it says on the tin (or in the page title), and should have a value beyond that of simply levering your website up through the rankings. Consider it like this: if the website you are writing for was not being optimised, how would you write its content? Put the user first, not the search engine, and you can create relevant content which is as customer-friendly as it is SEO-friendly.

Is it Any Good?

Even a website which is sitting at the top of the Google tree could feature poorly-written content. Google might not quite be able to judge good content from bad (“good” in terms of quality and readability), but take a look behind the scenes of your website and poorly written content will soon stand out. Poor content could lead to a high bounce rate and a lack of conversions, meaning that however high a website sits in the rankings, it simply won’t work for the business in question.

Spelling mistakes, a lack of authority and content which is just plain boring will do nothing for the image of a brand, so if you lack confidence, make sure that you invest in some professional help with your SEO writing.

Make sure that you keep these three factors in mind when you are writing for SEO (whilst also remembering that Content is King, of course) and you will soon be producing some truly royal text which Google and users alike will love.