One of the biggest challenges marketers’ faces is getting their content the attention it deserves. The reason is simple. If no one reads your content, you have no chance of succeeding with content marketing. In this post, I want to show you exactly how to create content that engages your audience and ranks high on Google based on data and research.
Why is search traffic important to
sellers?
Search traffic is the real deal and I'll tell
you why in a heartbeat. But before that, let me ask you this:
The last time you bought something online, what
process did you go through before reaching the product you finally settled for?
You have likely done a Google search to find
out exactly what your options are and what is the best option among them.
For most people, a Google search is the first
thing they do before making an online purchase. This means that if you are
a serious marketer who wants to get great results with your content, you should
work hard to rank it on Google.
Rand Fishkin's research shows that Google
deals with about 57.8% of online traffic. This is followed by Facebook and
YouTube, with referral traffic of 5.2% and 4.8% respectively.
Fishkin's
research shows that Google is still the platform to beat when it comes to
getting people to discover your content online.
Not
only does Google traffic outshine other sources, it is also steadily
increasing.
According
to the
BuzzSumo Content Trends Report , Google sends twice the traffic to
publishers compared to traffic from social media.
From the chart above, you can see that search
engine traffic (especially Google) is the most efficient, reliable, and
consistent way to drive traffic to your content.
How to turn Google into a traffic
generation tool for your content
Most marketers now turn to Google to drive
organic traffic to their content. Because of this, the competition for a
top spot on search engine results pages (SERPs) continues to increase.
SERPs mean you need to do more to outshine your
competitors and drive those Google visitors to your website.
Here are the steps you need to take
to create content that ranks high on Google , according to science.
Step # 1: publish long-form content
Gone are the days when you can post a 500 word
article and rank high on the first page of Google. That is not the case
today. This is because users are smarter and appreciate content that digs
deep to solve the specific problems they face.
Because of this, Google rewards long-form
content and ranks it high on the first page. Recent research from SEMrush supports this. The research team
found that there is a correlation between content length and social shares,
backlinks, and traffic.
According to the survey of more than 700,000
articles, they found that content that is more than 3,000 words performs better
than shorter content. In fact, research shows that long-form content
receives three times more traffic, four times more shares on social media, and
three and a half times more backlinks.
In similar research, Backlinko analyzed 912 million blog posts and found
that there is a correlation between content length and backlinks.
Research revealed that content with at least
3,000 words tends to get an average of 77.2% more backlinks compared to content
that is shorter than 1,000 words. Therefore, this type of content
generally ranks high on the first page of Google.
Orbit Media also recently conducted their
annual research on “ How Blogging Has Changed “ And we also came to an interesting conclusion
regarding the length of the content.
They
found that the average blog post in 2019 is about 1,236 words, which is 53%
longer than the average blog post length about six years ago. Not only
that, bloggers who post content with more than 2,000 words report getting
roughly 55% more results than those who don't.
From
the following, you can see that long-form content is a strategy that should be
used by any marketer who wants to rank their content on Google.
Additionally,
when posting long-form content, you:
·
Become known as an expert and authority in your field.
·
Make your content attractive and worth sharing.
·
Rank high for your target keywords in SERP.
·
Improve your brand awareness.
·
Get more audience for your business.
Step # 2: Structure
your content properly
The
structure of your content also determines how it will perform on search engines
like Google. This is because the structure of the content affects the user
experience and the time they eventually spend on your blog.
If
your content is well structured, anyone who comes across it will likely take
time to read it. That way you will show Google that you are a relevant
article and it will perform well in the search engine. Otherwise, your
content won't survive stiff competition from search traffic.
Since every business needs
to manage
its daily tasks effectively. To stay relevant, making sure you
structure your content properly is good practice, you need to imbibe yourself
as a marketer.
The
SEMrush research cited above shows that there is a strong correlation between
the overall performance of a content and the use of H2, H3, and H4
tags. They found that well-structured content with H2 and H3 tags is more
likely to perform high on Google.
In
fact, 36% of content that has H2 and H3 tags perform better in terms of
traffic, shares, and backlinks.
From
the above, you can see that structuring your content properly helps it to
perform well on Google.
With
a good content structure, you:
·
Make it easy for search engines to read and understand what your
content is about.
·
Allow users to navigate and digest your content seamlessly.
·
Increase your classification and ease of use.
Step # 3: Make sure
your title is longer than 14 words
Your content
headline plays an important role in turning it into high-performing
content on Google. In the SEMrush research mentioned above, they also
found that the title (H1) of your content affects engagement and the traffic it
receives.
Specifically,
they found that articles with longer headlines (at least 14 words) get twice as
much traffic, twice as many shares, and five times more backlinks compared to
those with shorter headlines (seven to ten words long). ).
Previous
Backlinko research also reinforces this fact. The finding shows that there
is a correlation between title length and social shares. What this means
is that the longer your headline is, the more likely people are to share it on
social media platforms.
Research
shows that content with a title of approximately 14-17 words tends to perform
higher (approximately 76.7%) than those with shorter titles.
From
the above, you can see that your content is more likely to perform better if
the title is considerably long.
With
a long headline, you:
·
Make people understand exactly what your content is about. This
pushes them to read and probably share it as well.
·
Take the opportunity to include the keywords you want to rank
for. That way, you have a better chance of getting a high score.
Conclusion
Ranking
high for target keywords on Google is a Herculean task for many
marketers. Understandably, the SEO industry is evolving, and competition
continues to increase.
In
this post, I have shared with you three (3) proven strategies that can make
your content perform high on Google. These are science-backed tips that
you can implement now to get results for your content right away.
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