1. It’s Google’s second most important ranking factor
After announcing that RankBrain was the third most important ranking factor late last year, Google remained tight-lipped on what occupied the top two spots. That was until recently when they announced in a Q and A that links were still the most important factor, whilst content was almost equally important.
Google has long suggested that content is exceptionally important, with Matt Cutts speaking openly about it as far back as 2014.
Google likes great content. Their algorithm is becoming more attuned to rewarding those with great content.
It’s quite obvious that Google wants great content.
2. Customers want great content
You don’t run a business to please Google; you run it to please your customers and hope Google is happy along the way. We live in a time of accessibility, of gross commercialisation and commoditisation. It’s not enough for businesses to provide a good or service anymore. That’s because businesses are providing so much more, and, like it or not, they are the yardstick.
People yearn for brand experiences, to be spoken to as equals, and to be involved in the purchasing experience at all stages of the sales funnel. This means giving them content to engage with, amusing or educational, stuff that they’ll want to share with their friends.
Content is particularly important for e-commerce businesses because it’s not like bricks and mortar shops where you have sales staff to promote your products, answer questions and provide advice.
That’s what content is, your digital salesperson.
For example, for a business that sells gifts for men, some content directed towards the female demographic that will assist them in choosing a great birthday gift for a tech lover or sports nut might be useful. For a business selling pianos, a downloadable guide for piano maintenance would be extremely useful. Ikea is an exceptional exponent of this value-added approach to content and their website is full of really useful guides, tips and tricks on home decorating and organisation.
From an SEO standpoint, on-page metrics such as bounce rate and time spent on the page are becoming increasingly influential for SEO, so getting customers engaged is hugely important. Content is great way of keeping people engaged and interested once they land on your page.
3. Link building
There used to be several avenues to obtain links without producing top-notch content. That’s not the case anymore.
Links and content have become heavily intertwined, and most link building today revolves around having ‘linkable assets’ such as infographics, articles and videos to provide value to those linking out to you.
In an announcement on their blog several weeks ago, Google postured that it will be cracking down on ‘do follow’ links that are a result of gifting – giving away goods or services in exchange for links. This is on top of an already stringent outlook on sponsored posts, where links must be flagged as ‘nofollow’. The message is loud and clear; if you want links, earn them. Content is an excellent way of doing so.
SEO benefits are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to content; there are so many other reasons why it should be part of your digital strategy – customer acquisition, customer retention and building your brand image, just to name a few. So start getting it done today!
Written by
Matt Lawry
