There’s not a web publisher in the world who doesn’t ask him or herself, “How can I get a top ranking for my content?”
After all, we all know that a top page ranking for any keyword is the best available source for quality traffic. But in a recent blog posting titled, No More Tricks: 5 Ways to Create Content That Google Wants to Rank, content guru Neil Patel asked a more relevant question, “Does your content actually deserve a top ranking?”
Rank-worthy content, according to Patel, is not only something your customers will want to read, it’s something that Google is increasingly looking for. So what’s in the Patel’s secret content sauce? Here are a few of his suggestions for creating rank-worthy content.
Size Matters
Conventional content wisdom suggests that readers aren’t interested in longer articles, but that may not, necessarily be true.
According to recent studies, the top ranking content for any given keyword is right around 2,500 words. That’s a far cry from the 300-500 word range most bloggers are used to producing. (Patel’s average posting is more like 5,000-6,000 words.)
This doesn’t mean that content should be lengthy just for length’s sake. It does mean that if an article titled, 10 Tips for Owning Casino Bonuses is a good blog post, 20 Tips will probably be even better.
Look Good, Rank Good
Casino affiliates have a tendency to throw content at a wall without worrying much about how it looks and letting search engines do the rest of the work.
While that strategy may result in short-term higher search ranking, it’s not a great long-term content approach. Readers, as it turns out, care a great deal about how their content actually looks.
The good news here is that just about any type of formatting improves your overall search profile, even the formatting doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective.
Simply adding a graph, or even bullet points will make a big difference in how your content is received by search engines and end user alike.
Be Credible
Credibility on the web is a big deal and it’s only going to get bigger as search algorithms get more sophisticated.
Patel strongly encourages web publishers to cite their sources and, of course, to use credible sources whenever possible. Not only do readers feel more confident when solid sources are cited, those links to quality websites are something Google just loves.
Finally
No one has ever regretted making an effort to beef up the overall quality of their content. It’s something that pays off over time with quality attention from readers and Google alike.