Is My Content Good for SEO?
With Google rolling out multiple iterations of their Helpful Content Update (HCU) over the last year or so you might be asking yourself – “how do I know if my content is helpful?” And by extension, you’re likely wondering, “how do I know if my website content is good for SEO?”
This article will help you understand how to evaluate the SEO value of content and more importantly – how to improve it. Let’s get to it.
How to evaluate the SEO value of your content
First, there’s a number of different metrics that can help you evaluate the SEO value of your content. The most obvious metrics to look at are rankings, clicks and impressions from Google. But the first bar for a piece of content to get over is indexing. If a piece of content is known to Google, but not indexed for a prolonged period of time (more than a few days or weeks) then it’s likely it’s not viewed as helpful. This can easily be determined by checking in Google Search Console (screenshot below).
Analyze the metrics below if you’re looking to evaluate the usefulness of existing content on your website:
- Organic rankings
- Organic clicks, impressions & CTR
- Pageviews, sessions & users
- Engaged sessions
- Conversions
- Backlinks
Most of these metrics can be obtained from Google Analytics 4 and/or Google Search Console, both of which are free to setup and use. SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush BrightEdge or Conductor might be needed to accurately track organic rankings and backlinks.
Even pieces of content that don’t drive a lot of traffic can be really helpful and important to your overall SEO. For example, some resources might attract a lot of backlinks without driving a lot of traffic. Not every piece of helpful content with SEO value is going to drive a lot of traffic and/or conversions. It’s important to take a holistic view of your content’s value before deciding to discount or remove it.
But let’s not get too hung up on the metrics just yet. Let’s dive into what really makes content good for SEO.
People-first content is SEO content
Can low quality content rank high sometimes? Sure. But the days of easily gaming Google with spun content are long gone. If you think there’s a difference between good quality content and content that has SEO value – you’re likely assuming you can trick Google. And although they are far from perfect, Google is one of only half a dozen companies that are worth over a trillion dollars. Good luck trying to trick them. Your best bet is to invest in creating people-first content that answers a question or addresses a need.
Taking a step back and thinking about what type of content you find useful on the internet is a great way to take a people-first approach. So how do you craft quality content using a people-first approach while still getting it to rank well? Let’s dive into Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines to get an idea.
How to improve your content with E-E-A-T
Whenever you’re creating or editing content with the goal of improving SEO it should be done through the E-E-A-T lens. E-E-A-T is an acronym for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust which is referenced in Google’s search raters’ guidelines. Search raters (people paid by Google to rate the quality of results, which is then used to improve Google’s algorithm).
Demonstrating your (or your business’s) experience, expertise, authority and trust through your content is a must. Creating unique content that provides credible information in comprehensible format is sure to win over both users and search engines. Sharing credentials, examples and use cases is a great way to demonstrate your expertise, expertise and authority on a subject. Consistently creating content that checks these boxes will then be sure to build trust with your audience. Content that embraces these principles will almost certainly be good for SEO.
Gaming Google is a gamble you can’t win
The SEO industry is littered with so called experts that think they can outsmart Google for you. There are even entire books written on the subject.
Working with anyone that claims content quality doesn’t matter or that content can be written specifically for search engines isn’t recommended. Having too much AI-generated or spun content on your website is bound to disappoint users and negatively impact your SEO. It’s a risk to your website’s long-term organic search performance, business reputation and potentially even your bottom line.