The content published to your website can make or break visibility in search engines.
To put it simply, the standards for blogs, website copy and content of all ranges by search engines, such as Google, is ever changing. Recently, Google has made a series of updates that emphasizes the importance of quality content, rather than frequency. In light of these changes, you may want to consider enhancing your digital content strategy to allow for more informative, in-depth content that effectively helps to increase the visibility of your website in search engine results.
The Basics for Content in 2021
As you transition your online content strategy to meet the needs of Google and other search engines in 2021, it may be helpful to first shift your perspective. Rather than creating content for Google or your business, instead create with the intention of meeting the needs of your target audience. This could include overviews of product pricing, brand comparisons or answers to their most frequently-asked questions.
In summary, website content in 2021 should be geared to meet the needs of your target audience, rather than your business or search engines.
This perspective can help you to generate content that is truly informative and answers the questions that your audience is asking. This in turn, will meet the needs of various search engines with quality and informative content, helping your web properties to rank higher in local search engine results.
The Elements to a Perfect Blog Post
Word Count
- Blog posts should have anywhere from 1500 to 2500+ words each.
- Add length to your blog by adding relevant information and answering additional questions about the topic that your audience may have.
Formatting Your Blog Post
- Most readers prefer a quick read, which is why the format of your blog is so important.
- The use of headings, subheadings, bolded text, visual content, bullet points, lists, and even a table of contents can help the reader find the information they are looking for quickly and effectively.
- It is suggested to use a variety of H1, H2, H3, and H4 headlines throughout your content and where appropriate.
- Consider readers who consume their information by skimming and be sure to highlight takeaways and most relevant information. In fact, 43% of people admit to skimming their blog posts.
- Did you know that blogs with images receive 94% more views than blogs without? Always include a variety of relevant visual content, such as videos, photos, and infographics to help break up the written content and engage your readers visually.
Keywords and SEO
- Focus on one strong keyword per page or blog post, ensuring that it can be found in the beginning of the blog, at the end, within at least one heading or subheading, alt text, picture file names, and the metadata title and description.
- Include a minimum of 10 internal and reputable external links.
- Add a metadata title and description to each webpage or blog post. The page title should be 50-60 characters and description 150-160 characters, spaces included. Be sure to include your focus word or keyword in the metadata.
- Add alt text to all images, including keywords or focus words where applicable.
Helpful & Informative Online Content
- Authority articles are informative, accurate, and engaging; provide your audience with as much information as possible regarding the topic in question.
- Focus on content that is relevant and use a variety of data, facts, and examples to drive the intent of the content.
- Be sure to bring new ideas to the playing field as well, rather than just repeating what others are saying, as this can help to make you a figure of authority on the subject.
- Answer the questions that your audience, readers, and customers are really asking. In particular, many have questions regarding pricing and costs associated with your business. While some may be hesitant to provide their pricing online, this can actually help to convert more quality leads as they already have the information that they require to make a decision when it comes to cost. Speaking of leads, did you know that companies with blogs produce an average of 67% more leads monthly than companies who don’t blog?
Planning Your Website Content Strategy
Before putting pen to paper, some planning can help you get started on the right foot.
Take some time to first research keywords, blog post topics and frequently asked questions from your target audience. This can provide you with greater insight on the direction you may want to take when creating and optimizing your content.
Once you have a better idea of the content you would like to create and the best ways to optimize, take some time to put a detailed plan into effect. This plan should include topic ideas, keywords and focus words, resources, and publish dates. To take your plan a step further, consider distribution options. Knowing how and where you are going to promote your content beforehand can greatly contribute to the reach and engagement of your blog.
Researching relevant keywords and putting together a strategy for content creation and distribution can help to set you up for success and really determine what your audience is looking for.
Merging Existing Digital Content
While adding more informative and longer authority blog posts can help aid in your revamped search engine optimization strategy, you may need to do some housekeeping as well. Pre-existing shorter blog posts may not provide as positive a contribution to your SEO strategy as before, which is why you may want to consider merging existing blog posts.
For instance, if you have three 600-word blog posts with similar topics, merging them into one can help to create a more informative piece of content that can rank higher in search results.
Steps to Merging Blog Posts
- Perform an analysis on the blogs in question to determine which one is ranking the highest. This will be the blog that is enhanced with information from other pieces of content.
- Add content from the other blogs to enhance the information in the highest-ranking article. You may want to do this separately in a Microsoft Word document or Google Document, to ensure proper formatting, spelling, grammar, and sentence structure.
- Add image galleries, videos, hyperlinks, and infographics as needed and optimize where possible.
- Once all of the content has been merged, unpublish the other blogs to avoid duplicate content on your website and set redirects in place where needed.
This will provide you with the opportunity to create an authority piece of evergreen content that meets the needs and answers the questions of more readers. When merging content, it’s important that you maintain the integrity of the post and add redirects for the unpublished blogs if needed.
This strategy will help to reduce the shorter pieces of content on your website and blog section, while not letting any content go to waste.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Should a Blog Post Be?
While the average blog is 1,236 words, the minimum number of words that a blog needs in order to succeed is higher than that. Blog posts should be a minimum of 1500 words and an average maximum of around 2500 words, although you can go as high as 4000 words or more if needed.
How Many Keywords Should I Target in a Blog Post or Webpage?
You should aim to target one strong and well-researched keyword for each page or piece of content.
How Many Links Should I Add to a Blog?
A minimum of 10 internal and external links should be added to each blog. When adding an external hyperlink to a blog, take your time to ensure that the source is reputable and adds to the integrity of the content.
How Long Should Metadata Titles and Descriptions Be?
Page titles should be 50-60 characters and descriptions 150-160 characters, including spaces.
IMP Digital
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