Three Simple Steps to Better SEO Text
These days, everybody knows that content is King. Unfortunately, knowledge and acceptance of this mantra have led to the web bursting with pretty pathetic content. So many businesses have fallen into a 'more is better' way of working – quantity taking precedence over quality. A study by BrightEdge found that, on average, websites that ranked in the top 10 results on Google had content around 1,890 words long.
Nowadays, getting away with filler is something you cannot realistically expect to do. As such, it pays to be as proactive, professional, and picky as possible regarding the SEO text you produce. Or, to put it another way, don't simply throw text into the mix randomly for the sake of it.
Following this advice and your search engine optimised text will help you grow organic traffic to your website.
Take your SEO text to the next level.
There are three simple steps you should follow every time to improve your search engine optimisation or SEO:
Proofread
First and foremost, the value of proofreading cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, the fact that it takes time and effort to proofread content thoroughly means it is often skipped. However, what makes the difference with professional proofreading is thoroughly checking the content by at least one additional party. When working with your content, it is natural to get 'snow-blind' along the way and find it impossible to evaluate the text objectively. This is why you don't have to look far to find even prestigious articles and content with all errors.
According to a study by Global Lingo, 59% of UK adults would not use a company with obvious grammatical or spelling mistakes on its website or marketing material. This statistic underscores the importance of ensuring your content is error-free before publishing.
Add Visuals
While search engine spiders cannot crawl visual content, this doesn't mean the visuals do not add weight to your overall SEO strategy. Think of it this way—the major search engines are now factoring in bounce rates, current traffic, links, sharability, and so on like never before. The better your content performs through all of the above, the higher its SEO value. Visual content used strategically to break up sizeable textual content can be uniquely effective.
Research has shown that articles with images get 94% more views than those without images. Additionally, tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images. As such, it's essential to avoid the belief that visuals cannot and will not benefit your overall SEO strategy. In reality, you may find that the opposite is true.
Add Outbound Links
Last, it's also essential to get out of the mindset wherein the only links with value are inbound links. There is much value in having plentiful and suitably high-profile outbound links. Outbound links demonstrate professionalism, authority, and quality to your visitors. Given that Google and Co. are all about professionalism, authority, and quality, you can't realistically expect them to overlook facets and characteristics like these.
A study by Reboot found that websites with outgoing relevant links to authoritative sites ranked higher than those without. This debunks the myth that having outbound links is terrible for SEO. Google has stated that linking to other websites is an excellent way to provide value to your users.
Which they don't. Outbound links can play a role in determining your SEO strength. So, while it's not a good idea to get carried away with spammy links just for the sake of it, never overlook the importance and value of including high-quality outbound links in your written content.
Following these three simple steps—proofreading your content, adding visuals, and including outbound links—can significantly improve the quality and effectiveness of your SEO text. Remember, quality content is critical today to attracting and retaining a loyal audience, ultimately driving business success.