What You Need To Know About Content and SEO

Google accounts for about 90% of all searches (Source: Moz). And 97% of all consumers use online media to research when buying something local (source: BIA/Kelsey’s study). So what does this mean to local home improvement contracting companies? It means that Google is King. It also means that Google is focused on providing quality search results to shoppers, hence its popularity and ability to continuously interest people to use its search engine. 

Related: How Often Should You Be Blogging?

High Quality Content = Rankings

So how does Google keep quality search results, and in return keep searchers happy? Easy: by making sure that quality content is part of its core algorithm. And it is. When Google first introduced its content algorithm a few years ago, online folks took notice and blogging for SEO reasons was born. Then, Google started focusing even more on its algorithm. So much so that about a year ago, it announced its now, core, algorithm will focus on the quality of content over an extended period of time. So, all websites with low quality content wouldn't be penalized overnight, but rather over a year + long review.

This core algorithm that focuses on quality has one BIG message and it's that Google cares about quality of content - above all else. This algorithm doesn't consider linking or anything else. It's just about high quality content. 

High Quality Content = SEO

For local businesses that specialize in home remodeling, landscaping, and other similar work, this means one thing: stop running from content. It's time to accept content as your major SEO (Search Engine Optimization) effort. 

And the best part is that it's not a sketchy, ineffective SEO - like the old linking and keyword stuffing methods. Those produced traffic (at best) - but not qualified leads. This new form of SEO is more effective than any other form of advertising. Outbound leads have a 1.7% close rate while Inbound (SEO) leads have a 14.6% close rate (source: Search Engine Journal). Outbound includes anything traditional, including print advertising, radio, tv, etc., basically anything in which you would be trying to reach a consumer while they likely are doing something unrelated to your service. Inbound (SEO) includes attracting potential clients to your business - reaching them while they are doing something related (e.g. searching for a solution that your business does). Related: What is SEO Anyway?

Where Does High Quality Content Belong on Your Site?

High quality doesn't mean an occasional blog or a good paragraph on the homepage. It means everything on your site should be high quality. Just because you've got one page of high quality will not position your entire site as high quality. In most cases, Google considers each page separately- based on what the page's content has to offer to readers. So, in summary, each page on your website is equally as important as any other page. High quality content is a page-by-page effort. Every blog post, every website page.

What Exactly Makes Content High Quality? 

We listen to Google for this. You can read their answer here. In short, high quality content is useful, original, and credible information. It's not mass-produced, contain broken links, or written for robots in the search engine world. Read this related post: Listen Up Construction Industry: Not All Blogs Are Made the Same.

Image: Flickr via Search Engine People Blo