30-second summary:
- Quality of content is key to a high ranking in Google organic, but it 's not easy to tell what a search crawler may deem as high quality.
- High quality content is certainly one that is semantically relevant to a target query and covers the given topic in sufficient depth to satisfy a search user, therefore, semantic relevance is probably the most powerful SEO signal.
- The content structure helps Google and its users quickly grasp the main points covered on the page. Topical and logical subtitles can therefore be a sign of good copy.
- Readability and accessibility may not be class signalsent direct, but they can improve on-page engagement, which can send quality signals to Google.
- Relevant outbound links that add content depth may (or may not) be direct ranking signals, but they certainly add to the user experience on the page (and therefore can influence what Google thinks of your page).
Google's mantra has always been "create great content". However, while 15 years ago creating great content might not have really helped, we're finally at the point where this recommendation has started to pay off. The truth is, high quality content is the key to higher rankings these days. But what is good content? In d 'other words, how to say a good copy en A mediocre question?
Answering this question is actually more difficult than it looks. A human being can sort of tell if a text reads well and provides value, but how to assess it from an SEO perspective, when a machine decides on these fairly subjective criteria.
Well, we don't know for sure. We can only make (educated) guesses based on what the representatives of Google are saying, from personal experiences, as well as what we seem to know about search algorithms.
What constitutes a good copy?
If it can be easy for a human to tell a good copy from a bad one, what is it? who can trigger the trigger with regard to motorsof research?
Here are some calculable criteria that can directly or indirectly define the quality of the content:
- Semantic relevance (Is the copy relevant for a target search query? Is the copy sufficiently deep / complete?)
- Well -defined content structure (are there any captions that reflect the key points?)
- Accessibility (Can the content be easily understood by a person disabled?)
- Readability (Is it easy to read your content?)
Semantic relevance
What is the relevance of the content? There is no right answer to this as it can also be quite subjective.
This is why G oogle used semantic analysis to create its own understanding of what relevant topics and how to know if a certain document is relevant to a certain search query.
I have already shared a guide to semantic search and what semantic analysis really is. In essence, semantic analysis is all about grouping any subject into related concepts and entities and looking for relationships among all of these concepts and entities.
Based on the semantics of the document, you can more or less tell how close it is to any topic and how well it responds to a search query. There is also tools that translate relevance into numbers.
Text optimizer , for example, takes your copy and compares it to Google's search results for your target search query. The higher the score for your copy, the more relevant it is to your target topic:
Source: Text Optimizer
Resources
To get a better score in the Text Optimizer, select and discuss other related concepts that the tool suggests using. Here is a quick and easy explanation on how it works .
Content structure
For years, content structure has been considered the second most important on-page SEO factor (after the page title).
Content structure is how you use H2 / H3 / H4 Subtitles to introduce new sections of the copy. Without captions, your copy would be just a wall of text.
Google uses captions to understand key points in any copy (and often uses them for generate organic sitelinks ). It has long been believed that Google uses captions to determine which keywords in a web document are more important than others.
Nowadays, we know that Google pays a lot of attention to captions, as it now uses H2 / H3 tags to locate the parts of documents that deserve to be featured.
You can analyze your (or your competitor's) use of content captions using SE Rating . It offers a tool for Convenient page audit that lets you see your H subtitles at a glance. You can also click any tag to highlight it:
Source: SE Rating
Traditionally, you want these sub - excerpted titles make sense without seeing the full copy.
Many internet users tend to peruse these subtitles before deciding if they want to stay on the page and read carefully. So you want these subtitles to do a good job of keeping all those lurkers engaged. Learn more at creating an efficient content structure with subtitles.
Outgoing links (references)
The Outbound links have long been at the center of many SEO misconceptions.
Do they directly contribute to your web page ranking? Can they be a sign of depth or quality of the content?
I guess we'll never know for sure , but what we do know about links is that:
- Google uses them to go from page to page, from site to site
- Links are part of the quality of your content: Whether you use a trusted source to back up your copy determines the reliability of your content
- Links are your call to action in content: you define your readers' navigation paths by them inviting you to check your external references.
You want your links in the content to contribute to your r copy utility.
Site Checker feels good outbound link analysis work in any page. The reason I prefer this tool is that it displays anchor text (as well as possible errors) giving you an idea of if you are doing a good job controlling your readers' navigation path.
Source: SiteChecker
As with captions, the best practice is to make sure that you can guess what your copy is about by just looking at its links.
Also, don't don't bother to follow those outgoing links either. Link only to resources that provide useful further reading. This way your readers 'experience will make sense and Google will catch up.
Readability
Google doesn't seem to use readability as a direct ranking factor, but a readability score can help determine a certain type of audience you are using.
In addition, high readability levels will make your content difficult for people with cognitive disabilities to understand. can be another indirect signal to google that your content is suitable for limited audience.
Both signals can be negative ranking criteria.
As a precaution, avoid high readability scores. Besides better accessibility, it will also make your content easier and faster to understand.(and thus will improve the engagement on the page which is surely a ranking signal):
- Make sure your sentences and paragraphs are short
- Avoid lesser-known (and complicated) terms and jargon
- Use active voice instead of passive voice when possible
- Create lots of lists
- Again, use subtitles
Yoast plugin will evaluate the readability of your copy while youstill working on it. Here is how to install and configure it.
Content accessibility
Again, most of the above elements (content structure, links and readability) help make your content accessible. Google Reps do not offer any confirmation to find out if Google uses accessibility or complianceADA as a ranking factor. However, we know that Google has desperately trying to introduce and standardize guidelines for accessibility of web resources that appear in Google SERPs.
As we know after years of working on Google SEO, Google's various efforts to force whatever this is usually reflected in its guidelines to webmasters. This is what happened to site speed, which initially was a moderate move, is what is happening to the mobile user experience signals which are now included in Google's guidelines.
Whether this is a direct grading factor or not, the accessiWeb bility is an important on-page engagement factor allowing more users to properly engage with your content. This is a huge topic too, so go ahead and read all this ADA Compliance Guide to understand the concept (and the underlying legislation) better.
Conclusion
Obviously, content quality auditing is more complex than running the tools above, but it helps to know some of the metrics that can be improved.
Ann Smarty is the Brand and Community Manager at InternetMarketingNinjas.com. She can be found on Twitter @seosmarty .
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