Google, Please Take Care Of This Post
Some search engine optimization experts start their careers following every Google update, tracking the changing algorithm to adapt their strategies in real-time.
Not me. I spent my early career inside a fishing kayak, getting sunburned and writing content at night in the back of my pickup truck.
My time was spent getting to know the people in the boat beside me. The articles I wrote were for them, not me or my web traffic. I figured, if I take care of my readers, Google will take care of me. So far, so good.
Remember Why You’re Writing Content
Are you writing content for robots or people? It’s usually pretty easy to tell. Dense and boring, “SEO content” is often packed with a word salad of fluff and keywords––designed to fill space so Google will crawl the page.
Content created to draw in customers, and inspire them to action, is much different. Customers should hear the passion in your voice and actually want to keep reading. At least, that’s the plan. Think of your best customers as you’re creating content. That focus helps to make your content sharper.
- Evaluate your content to see if it’s readable and enjoyable
- Try different content formats, beyond just blog posts, like ebooks, videos, or webinars
- Showcase the values of your business to inspire customers to raise their hand
Make Your Digital Experience Better and Better
Once your content is live and published, kick up your feet and relax. Just kidding. Think of your new content as simply a starting point: this is where the real work begins. Most of search engine optimization rests on the “optimization” part, making many small tweaks to get a little better, then a little better.
On top of making small tweaks to individual content assets, a content audit can measure success at a higher level. Is your content improving over time, getting more and more customers interested in your business? Or is it sitting on your blog, doing very little to your bottom line?
- Content that is constantly being improved has a better chance of ranking on SERPs.
- Updating content is an opportunity to add more value, such as infographics or widgets.
- Review your website for technical errors creating a bad user experience on content pages
Connect Your Content Back to Your Customers
What does fishing have to do with b2b website development or digital marketing strategies? Everything. One example: there’s always a bigger fish. A competitive analysis can help highlight your strengths and weaknesses or discover gaps in your content. Just be careful you don’t fixate on what other websites are doing.
Increased competition also means you have to be specific with your intentions. Why are you creating a piece of content? Is it thought leadership, or are you convincing customers to click a button? Is it to showcase the history of a business or catch a customer’s interest, so they start a new project?
- Survey your customers to find out if they’re consuming or ignoring your content
- Cross-promote content in different marketing channels to test engagement
- Let customers in on the content creation process with customer spotlights.
This Post is in Google’s Binary Hands Now
The internet is an interesting ecosystem, and Google plays just one small part. Algorithm and web crawlers make the connection between businesses and people possible. The quality of your content is up to you.
If you remember why you’re creating the content in the first place, for your customers, then Google can do its job and find them for you. Like I figured all those years ago, writing content online between fishing sessions: take care of your readers, and Google will take care of you. Now robots, do your thing.