In a post-Hummingbird world, we all know content matters. But many SEOs are still trying to work around this update because we think we don't have the tools to gauge content quality. If you've said, "I'm not a writer," or, "How do I know what will resonate with my audience?" And even, "Content is hard and takes time; do I really have to?" You might be suffering from content anxiety.
Content quality anxiety can come in many forms:
- What is content, really?
- I hired a content team or agency. How do I know if they're any good?
- How can I calculate the value of content?
Help is available.
Read on for your guide to understanding what makes good content (and improve your SEO in the process).
1. What is content, really?
First, just to make sure we're on the same page, a quick operational definition: Content is the sum of all of the words, images, videos, and audio on your site, social pages, emails, and beyond. A good content creator is thinking about everything from the language on your newsletter subscription text to the tone in your order confirmation email or even the wording on your delivery envelopes.
2. I hired a content team or agency. How do I know if they're any good?
In-house or agency, knowing if a content creator or team is up to snuff can be one of the most intimidating things for non-creatives. While there are a lot of tips and tricks to creating great content, there is no secret code for recognizing great content. Use these guidelines and you'll be golden.
Are the ideas original?
If you want your content to stand out in the crowded Internet (and who doesn't), you're going to need original ideas and content. Before you even decide whether you like the ideas, do a quick pass through your memory. If your content team's first set of big ideas sounds uncannily familiar, dig deeper.
The tricky part about this is that every wedding provider in this SERP is trying to speak to a very common need that brides have: finding creative ideas for a fall wedding. But your content team or agency should be able to help your customer find that information in a new and exciting way. It's okay to insist on originality.
Is the content appropriate for your audience?
You also don't want your ideas to be so shockingly original that you and your audience can't relate to them. For example, if I was to suggest an interactive game based around Waiting for Godot for your dog food business, I'd expect you to cry bullshit unless your audience is entirely composed of literary professors and playwrights.
Do you feel like the content adds value to your site?
Shiny objects can be great for attracting new visitors to your site. Make sure that big new idea attracts the kind of attention you want.
Big content is an investment. And while it's great to take some risks, your content team should be able to convince you what value that content adds and make a case for how it might be received.
Does your content tell a story?
This one isn't strictly a necessity, but do not underestimate how far a good story can go to making your content memorable. This can take the form of an anecdote that illustrates the point, or the whole page can be a story in itself.
In the case of Warrior IPA from Left Hand Brewing, the beer becomes a character. And while it would have been hard to fit a full beginning, middle, and end in one paragraph, hints of this warrior's story pair perfectly with the illustration on the label. This product description is so good that the beer nerd info is purely a bonus.
Does it raise the hairs on the back of your neck?
Probably the best test of content ever: pay attention to how you feel when you first experience the content. Trust your gut. If you're engaged and can't get enough, it's good content. In this example from the Distilled blog, Harriet Cummings reaches deep into the soul of someone who wants to be a better public speaker and pulls all the right strings to cement that engagement.
You don't have to know why a piece of content blows your mind (that's the content team's job), just pay attention to how it makes you feel.
Is it Internet-friendly?
Reading content online is a lot harder on the eyes than reading on paper. Breaking up the text with headings, bullet points, images, and shorter paragraphs helps keep your customers on your page.
As for non-text content, make sure your images, video, and audio all load well and as quickly as possible.
Does the writer use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation?
We've all seen examples of a gorgeous, well-planned infographic that's perfect except for just a few typos. You may not be one of those sticklers who judges the work of others based on proper grammar, but you can bet that someone in your audience is using grammar, spelling, and punctuation as a measure of the quality of your content.
This is my final impression of one of the most gorgeous interactives I ever saw online. Sad face.
Do you immediately want to share the content?
One of your goals involves social shares, right? Or at least you wouldn't be sad if you got a bunch of them. If you're excited to share whatever you're reading, others will be too. If you find it dull, well…
3. How can I determine the value of content?
How do you prove the value of something that's everywhere, anyway? There are lots of possible answers. As an SEO, you probably understand most of these measures already, but here's how to tweak them to evaluate content. You'll likely want to use overall traffic plus a combination of the things below depending on what type of content you're focusing on.
Attribution modeling
While content is everywhere on your site, the things most of us think of as content (blog posts, landing page text, and yes, even infographics) are rarely the last touch before a conversion. Attribution modeling helps you assign a portion of the value of a conversion to all the pieces of content that a visitor sees before converting.
For example, if they read a blog post, click through on an email, and read an FAQ, you can give each of those touches partial credit. Read more about attribution models.
A/B testing
A/B and multivariate testing are great ways to measure the value of some forgotten areas of content like the text in form fields and pop-ups. These tests can also tell you when you don't actually need content in those areas. Don't forget that less can be more.
Social shares
Engagement matters and social shares are definitely one way to measure engagement. Of course social shares are probably a better measure of blog posts and product descriptions than of the copy you use in the checkout process.
Links
In a perfect world, great content earns links. Don't assume your content is valueless if you aren't earning links, but do celebrate when it does. Use Open Site Explorer to find and keep track of links.
Comments
Yes, it does seem like fewer people are commenting on blogs these days. But, as with links, this just means the comments you do get, usually a signal that a reader is deeply engaged, are all the more valuable. Dan Shure explains this in depth in The Broken Art of Company Blogging (and the Ignored Metric that Could Save Us All).
One Metric
Our blog editor, Trevor Klein, has developed and refined a personalized metric for Moz called the One Metric. This system combines a variety of the signals above and then weights them to give a quick overview of what's succeeding and what's failing. We've already been using that information to inform decisions about future content efforts.
Caveat
The success of content cannot always be measured in numbers, and if you invest only in projects that have a predictable rate of return, you're missing opportunities. Rand calls this serendipitous marketing. Just make sure as you're considering the value of your content that you leave room for Serendipity.
Is this SEO?
Yes. Remember how I mentioned the Hummingbird algorithm up above? I know that this is the algorithm update most of us would like to forget, because we think it's so much easier to spot spammy links than quality content. But it's really a lot simpler than that. Google is looking for content that answers users' queries. And according to Marie Haynes, "Google's goal with all of these algorithm changes (Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird) is to encourage webmasters to publish content that is the best of its kind."
So if you're an SEO (or anyone else) with content anxiety, let it go. You have the tools to tell when content is good and to select a team that knows what makes it great. Go ahead and let that team try to sell you on an idea. You can trust yourself to make the final call on whether or not it's actually worthwhile.
And if you're part of a content team that's trying to make the case for your big ideas, please join me on September 9 for "The Storytelling of Content Strategy." This Mozinar will cover one method of creating more engaging (and persuasive) strategy docs.
Do you ever experience content anxiety? What are your measures of content quality? Has a particular experience with content made you either gun shy or wildly enthusiastic about content? I'd love to hear your stories in the comments.
Are the ideas original? - I strongly follow this theory, If you really want to get noticed, you must look different. In Content Marketing, most of the agencies follows the latest trends and lost their identity, they just get lost in the crowd. To be very honest, this is the first time when i got an article which is above up to the mark. This article containing every aspect of Content which makes Content a High Quality Content, specially the idea of original content is superb.
Very very well written, your research is very effective Isla, Hats off for you..
Thank you, Nazre! I'm very glad to hear you're championing originality.
I definitely think your point about 'Is it Internet-friendly?' far too often gets overlooked.
There are some fantastic writers creating brilliant unique content, but (especially in the non-digital sector) don't put nearly enough thought into a web-friendly structure.
In an era where content is a key marketing tool, the web is so incredibly saturated with new material every day and most articles and blogs are barely going to warrant a glance or a quick skim by the majority of users. Content should convey enough meaning in that glance that a user wants to delve further and read the piece as a whole.
Writing in a traditional fashion, no matter how good or unique, just isn't suited to the web and gets overlooked too easily.
Couldn't agree more Shaun! Sometimes simply changing up the design and format of your content makes it that much more appealing to online readers. The content might be the best thing you've ever written but if it doesn't capture someone's attention and pull them in to actually read it what's the point? A content makeover might be what you need to push things ahead.
Thanks, Shaun and Nick! Anecdotally, I've even seen many of my literary friends respond well to breaking up text with headers, etc. online. And that's a tough audience :) So in case you ever need to make the argument to anyone, even writers prefer it. And I wish I had data on how changing up formatting improves engagement (if you've seen anything along those lines, please share). Maybe that's something to experiment with.
And Keri to the rescue! Apparently the crackerjack team at Moz has been all over how well a well-formatted post increases time on page for years. Check this out https://moz.com/blog/10-super-easy-seo-copywriting-tips-for-link-building.
1st is many thanks to Isla, given such a very useful information about quality content analysis. And i totally agree with you. Thank you so much!
Thank you for reading and for your nice comment :)
Thanks Isla Mcketta, i really looking for the that kind of post where i can learn the trick to get my contain better, thanks for sharing this,, Really appreciate
Really great article Isla McKetta.
Other than sending a very poor message to your audience, tell me will bad grammar be identified by Google's algorithm? Is this a ranking signal?
Ben
Great question and I wish I knew the definitive answer. I do know that, according to Search Engine Watch, when Matt Cutts was asked about whether bad grammar in comments can hurt you he said, "I wouldn't worry about the grammar in your comments. As long as the grammar on your own page is fine ..."
Because I always write for humans first, I vote for good grammar (even if your tone is casual) whether or not it's a ranking signal.
Ok, for moment I agree with your point but thing is many update comes which are not related to content and also many good writers write content SEO Friendly, Google Friendly and unique but they not get 100% value and some website's have poor content and duplication issue but they have good ranking and Page Rank.
Sometime i also don't understand about Google Algortihms because I seen this issue many times with many websites. Thanks for share such a great news.
Hi Hardev. It frustrates me just as much to see poorly written site and sites with terrible images and duplicate content rank well because they're employing just a few tips and tricks. I'd argue that the best course of action is to create content for the humans (who have the potential to actually become customers) rather than search engines (who can only direct people).
As algorithms get more and more sophisticated, it's a good guess that search engines are trying to encourage the kind of original, quality content that humans like. That would mean that good content will be be rewarded more and more while bad, duplicative content will get dinged. Here's hoping...
Ya i understand your point and agree with that, i'm also following this type of strategy as you described in your reply.
Please search in Google.com "puppy for sale in pa" and click on first ranked website, You will see there too much spamm works, too Many Achore Tags on same keywords, currently for "puppy for sale in pa" keyword density is more then 20%, As google algorithm and white hat SEO guideline 4% or less keywords density is best.
There is not any quality content, and i found many dupication issue with ther website, Open this link to check that https://www.copyscape.com/?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.greenfieldpuppies.com%2F
Oh that makes me so sad. Let's make amazing content anyway (and be ahead of Google for a change). :)
Thanks For Reply, Actually I’m always ignoring spam websites and not following them if Ranking is Good, because I know in future that website will get penalty and website owner lost his/her years of work.
Well written. I have to work with a lot of content writers and the thing is when they come up with the exact same content that every other content writer is coming up with. Ex: "7 ideas for a winning resume". etc. I think good content writers create original content.
Thanks, Oremo! As a content writer I've totally been there. I think the best thing to do to get original ideas is 1. make an environment (usually the brainstorming room) where it's safe to fail and 2. keep encouraging them to push harder. It's sometimes easier to write uninspiring content, but it's never (for me at least) rewarding, so you'll probably get them to go that extra mile with a little extra support.
This information conveying absolutely noteworthy and factual. During my writing course the content anxiety was my difficulty. To make content storytelling is one of my way to get an exit of the problem but gradually I understand that is content anxiety.
Now, I can understand that a big idea to say something is inestimable instead just posting about latest trending content.
The information about 'I hired a content team or agency. How do I know if they're any good?' can help me to deal with the team.
A big thanks for this wonderful context you published. :)
I'm very glad the post was helpful to you, Krunal. I think that for a writer, content anxiety can be a lifetime affliction, but the great thing is that the more you practice, the less that anxiety is justified.
That's crazy, I had a Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout in my hand while reading this. With that said, I think their whole website is a benchmark for how to properly structure and display content on your site.
That. Is. Awesome :) My brother works within spitting distance of their brewery, so it's a family favorite :) And yes, I too ADORE their content and site.
Excellent write-up. Appreciate the approach and the information shared. Though the writer has already covered the Quality part, just wanted to add my point of view on Quality Writing. Let me start by saying, most of the writers I've come across write for the Search Engine Bot. But the real point of success lies not in writing for the bot but for the target audience one is catering to. So, understanding specific need of the audience and then writing for them is the main secret behind Quality Article.
Content is not the sum of all of those things. You can have 10k words and 500 photos with zero content. In fact, many of the readers here already do.
I just wanted to say great job on this post. Quantifying "quality" isn't always easy (Google still struggles to do it every day) but is one sure-fire way to improve the performance of your site.
Thanks, Everett! I really appreciate that :)
It's crazy how many small details can also affect the quality of content. It is seen that the research was done meticulously.A small wink for the illustrations! Very nice work.
Thanks for your post. With regards to just blogging and content I do wonder if iIn this day and age of everyone wanting immediate satisfaction and shorter attention spans, do you recommend shorter blog posts? For example if we are talking about the use of essential oils should we make several short posts about the use of essential oils rather than one longer one? Especially when you mention that you want to break up text with bold headers and pictures I'm wondering if breaking up one long blog posted once or twice a week into several posts so that almost every day I have a post would be helpful?
Hi Zachary,
You raise a really good question and I hope it doesn't sound like I'm waffling if I say, "It depends." Research from Nielsen shows that people will only read 20-28% of any given post. If the post is shorter, you might indeed get them to read more. But if it's longer, you might also be able to provide more value in the one post.
Because it can go both ways, and because it's likely very dependent on your specific audience, I'd advise that you test both strategies and see which gets you closer to your goals. That information about what your audience responds to can then also inform your content strategy. I'd love to hear what you find!
Thanks for the information, content matters a lot and your post really very helpful for judging the quality of the content.
Thanks
Content Marketing is tough... ooph :( Creating a story might be easier but telling a story is not. You got a nice screenshot here where you found the mistake on "Life of Pi" banner. Silly content writer or a banner designer :)
I believe that "original", "real" and "genuine" story always win the online world.
lot of stuff to keep in mind, but really useful. Just one question: as you said, this is seo because of hummingbird and so on, but, what is the techincal answer? In other words: what part of the algorithm works around this semantic stuff?
If You run Your business You have to write content for Your website (at least edit after to meet Your requirements). None of "seo writers" know more than You and only You're able to do it good. Of course if writer doesn't run the same business like You.
I saw many writers reading wiki, related websites and just "copy and make unique" content for few bucks. I hired several of them and after all I always had to edit content written - not because of errors.
Imo content is good if is readable, people stays for a while on that page and some of them returns. If just made for seo (keyword stuffings etc) - that's bad for You.
As a novice in the content publishing arena, I have been wondering as to how one measure quality. There is no real "yardstick" and to a great extent one is left the rather poor alternative of "gut" feel. This is one of the few articles I have found that goes a long way to clearing up some of the mystery. Many Thanks for a good read and articulated in a manner that was very easy to follow.
Glad to be able to help! You might find that the more and more you dig into these criteria, the more you'll trust your gut too :)
Superb article Isla..I have read the valuable content marketing tips here. I like few of your points most.
Thank you, Maulik!
While I greatly agree with you I can't help but counter argue that recycled content can still be ultra valuable. It's actually a very common business practice.
If your company has a better or wider base audience (followers, likes, etc.) then you can take less-than-stellar content and still get a big win out of it, more so than great content written by a fledgling start-up. That's because the start-up is at the whim of those that have the audience sharing and liking it.
People do like nice content, but I find it's also more of a thing that marketers like. How many times have you seen the same tired article flash on your Facebook page with renewed vigor? I know I have seen it time after time.
So while I agree with you 100%, I still am of the mindset that content is only King when it has a Kingdom of people to rule.
Now, great content with an a great audience? ... that is something we all strive for :)
Alan, I think it depends on what you mean by recycled content. Do I think you can have a wedding-oriented site and not talk about fall colors or themes? No. Because brides are definitely looking for that information. But I do think there is always a fresh and new way to talk or write about any topic. For example, if it was worth the investment, I'd suggest creating an interactive color wheel for fall weddings so brides could coordinate all those wedding pieces with their theme. And the wheel itself might even help spur some ideas. (Note, I have not checked the interwebs to see if this has been done).
But if you were to define recycled content as a reposted article or even just a rewrite of an idea someone else came up with, I'd ask what value is that article adding to the Internet as a whole? If you're working with a SaaS company, you might need to educate the customer base on what SaaS is, but there is always a new and more interesting way to do that.
There is always going to be a business that comes late to the conversation and is having trouble spinning a new idea. I totally get that. But if they reiterate what someone else said, even if they do it a little better, I'd argue that no one gets much value.
So yes, great content with an audience. And I hope your great content helps you find that audience now and in the future :)
I think you are missing my point.
If Company A writes a piece about red race cars being dangerous and publishes it to an audience of 500 people, then those 500 people and the network that they are attached to will possibly see it and be aware of it.
If Company B sees this article, and writes essentially the same thing (recycles it) and publishes it to an audience of 50,000 people, then it would get the attention of FAR more people and be seen as unique when it is in fact, not.
There is a MASSIVE amount of this going on. Just look at how fast Reddit content is quoted on other outlets. It's not so much the value of the content or the freshness of it, but who can win the race to the eyes of the readers.
That's why I say that not all content has to be fresh, unique, or valuable to the internet. You just have to be the first to serve it to the masses to get the prize.
Make more sense?
Alan, I see what you're saying, I really do. I simply disagree with the idea of recycling content. Reconfiguring it, curating it, adding a new angle to the discussion, sure, but not recycling.
It would be like Nike seeing a shoe design they liked from an indie designer, going, "Hey, that guy's never going to get the distribution that we will," and making the shoe and selling it to their audience as their idea. When instead they could have done an indie designer showcase where both the designer and the big brand benefit.
Syndication is a different matter, and of course there's the thing where two people come up with the same idea. And you can't, to my knowledge, copyright an idea. But repurposing someone else's content without attribution borders on plagiarism.
So if your point is that people can profit off this behavior, of course the answer is yes. But that does not mean it's the right thing to do.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about content strategy. Perhaps it is easier to deliver and write good content if the goal of the content is clear.
Instead of thinking that content should be written to e.g. rank for, it should be tied together with a business goal and a following action that you expect the user should do after he/she reads the content.
René, I'm so glad you brought up goals and calls to action, because they are both so important. The one thing I'd like to add is that sometimes the action you hope for from some content (not all by any stretch) is simply that the reader feel a stronger brand affinity. So I'd ask that when people consider what action they hope for from that consumer, they think broadly about the possibilities.
Awesome article, this is very helpful to many of my clients who suffer from content anxiety. Thanks
Thanks for helping to spread the good word, Antoine! Working with lots of clients who suffered from content anxiety is part of what inspired this article. If you have any success with yours, I'd love to hear about it. I'd be equally interested if you encounter additional roadblocks to empowering those clients to understand what makes good content.
Very effective approach Isla; You are right that every web-master should involve within the Game Plan of using So-called quality Content on website, Social Platforms or in Newsletters effectively.
Your approach of Using Content with mixed output of Text, Images, Audio and video elements is also helpful because that will be more user engaging and social shares will be more. I also agree with the defined metrics to check whether Content is adding value for Goal completion including Social shares, Comments and One Metric.
Good Research Isla and its implementation will come out with really good results in terms of User engagement, traffic or even ROI.
Thanks, Shyam! I'm really glad you liked the article. I'd love to hear about any examples you find where quality content is improving ROI.
The only way to perform in terms of content past Google Humming Bird & Knowledge Graph is how you content can be answerable to user queries which can be long tailed, mostly compiled under not found data in GA. So, the only way to judge would be how well your content would be informative enough in terms of your niche searches. Also, how unique is your representation. Page on time comes in effect when you have something unique to offer. It should be KISS (Koncise, Informative, Short & Shareable) worthy to stand out in SERPS. Thanks!
You're absolutely right, Amit, that your content should answer user queries. As a writer, I'd argue that there is room for content that does more than that, too. For example, storytelling can be a very powerful tool to engage a visitor's attention and keep them on page, but it doesn't always directly answer a query. So, yes, please do make sure those potential queries are answered, but if you have the opportunity, take your content even farther.
Amazing Isla, THIS is a quality content :-). When I experience content anxiety, I use to read my firsts post to remember me why I began. Then I remember that I love write, and finally I just laugh of the anxiety. Thanks!!
Thank you, Rubén! Any time we can remember how much we love doing what we do is a good day :)
Creating content is not difficult. Creating quality content and useful, which also is shared is more complicated. Efforts should be made to tell stories that reach your target audience. I think there are many factors that can measure the quality of content: time users have remained on the page and bounce rate for example
Thanks for your awesome post Isla :)
Thank you! I'm really glad you emphasized storytelling and would agree that time on page and bounce rate are both good measures.
Thanks for sharing this Isla. I can't agree enough on the part "CONTENT THAT RAISES THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF YOUR NECK." That is easily said but difficult to do. In my experience, studying the consumer behavior/ psyche of the readers contributes to achieve this state of spell-boundedness. Thinking in their shoes is difficult. How does my reader think, behave, process information, imagine, fear, laugh, improvise etc. What is it that they are looking for on the internet. The better the match is with their needs, the better the outcome is. Content is king, but a stubborn one. We need to see things from a "MARKETING" stand point. Instead of a SEO stand point. What do you say?
Well said, Fatima! I strongly believe that empathy is the key to nailing that point and to get there it helps to think from a marketing standpoint, a writing angle, and also a human place :)
Great article Isla. Looking forward to join you on 9th September for the webinar!
Thanks, Sagar! Let me know if you have any questions in advance, I'm happy to try to work them into the webinar.
Superb research IslaI, I really appropriate it 'Still Content is KING'. But now adays writing/getting good content is bit difficult post panda and hummingbird algorithm.
I have quick question: How can right unique and fresh content if I am writing for digital marketing niche?
My content writer and me also sometimes facing these problem like suppose writing for web hosting, web design or seo niche contents, where as, the million pages are saying on same topic, same techniques or same ways.
No doubt we are using heading, title, bullet points including audio and video in between content body and using social channels also but still < 50 visits only.
I am saying only article and blog contents not webpage.
Manoj, I totally get this. I used to work for an agency where I had to come up with new ideas about SaaS and cloud computing and even more fun industries along the same line. It really helps if you have a strong brand identity and a content strategy in place (so many great resources for this here or check out my webinar next week). That will help you understand what your brand's unique angle is.
For example, I'm writing an example content strategy right now about a cloud provider who is targeting indie game developers. By narrowing that focus, a writer can focus on the specific needs of those individuals. It might get the company fewer clients, but they'd be more likely to be engaged and loyal clients. That's how you build brand ambassadors. This also allows you to stretch what kind of content you're offering. In this case, the company could write a few riskier articles like "The World of Warcraft Guide to Building Your Dev Team" alongside safer content like "How Indie Game Developers Get the Most Out of a Little Cloud Space."
But really though, who's going to be creating the Waiting for Godot interactive game?
That's really meta :)
Content quality analysis is very important. You need to ensure that everything is perfect from user point of view. Proper A/B testing, CTA optimization, good interface and more needs to be taken care of.
Great call on the CTA optimization and interface! Thanks for adding to the discussion :)
thanks for the information you provide
Nice Tips to determine the content relevancy. While analyzing the value of a content – there are many things that should be taken in an account such as The concept, vocabulary, the way how content specialist is expressing himself. The content must attract users in all way. Many times I found that many content writers just write content for the sake of work and forget about A.I.D.A
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