How Content Optimization Can Improve Your SEO Ranking?

The Covid Pandemic has hit everyone on several levels, prime among them is Work life and personal life. While several people have resorted to working from home, others are currently destitute, unable to feed themselves or their family members. Several industries have taken financial hits, with the travel industry bearing the brunt of it. 

That brings us to the current spike in your SEO data. Some of you might have fallen down a few ranks, while others, in contrast, have welcomed a surge of traffic. Ecommerce websites selling essential items, online publishing platforms, websites featuring recipes (YouTube), and health-centric websites are the ones trending and getting the most traffic. 

It is much easier to reach your target audience, with everyone spending a majority of their time online. For understanding the scope of social media, you need to check out the social media monthly users graph in the 6th point.

What is Content Optimization? Is it a subset of SEO or Content Marketing?

Before SEO rose to its prominence, it wasn’t ethical in the broad sense. The experts of the time experimented with the strategies, leading to the emergence of white hat SEO. They tried everything from spammy links to stuffing keywords, which are today known as amateur SEO skills and sometimes termed Bad SEO. 
During that time, the content ranking on the top of search engines rarely had any merit. Over time, the google algorithm has evolved as a being that now understands the necessity of authentic content. Now, no matter how many keywords your page has, if it doesn’t provide answers, it will not rank for long, if it ever ranks. 

Today, white hat SEO and content have formed a lasting relationship that works together. If you focus solely on the content, you might get organic results, or you might not. Simply publishing content today doesn’t reach the right people who would be interested in reading it. It needs a little push from SEO to be visible. Sometimes, no matter how enticing the content is, it doesn’t reach its full potential due to the lack of foresight in implementing SEO ranking factors. 

In layman’s terms, Content Optimization is the proper implementation of On-Page SEO. You need to do proper keyword research, post which you need to use naturally, use those keywords in meta tags, meta description, post title, and also the image and video content. And to answer the question is it a combination of both content marketing and SEO. 

Content Optimization: 6 Ways For improving Your SEO Ranking

1. Optimized Content Leads to Increased Keyword Opportunities

In order to understand why this is a primary factor, we need to talk about the primary differences between a One-Page-Website VS Multiple Pages Websites. Now a run-of-the-mill website usually has distinct web pages for services, about us, blogs, contact, etc. 

Example: The first part showcases Privi as a multipage website, where when you click on the page links, suppose Services, you’ll be taken to a new web page dedicated to those.

In the second part, I have removed the pages and turned the Priviwebsite into a one-page portfolio website of sorts where people can reach out to Privi for digital marketing services. 

On the other hand, a one-page website has the bare minimum required to keep it afloat. It could be a  portfolio website or a business contact website that does the job of a digital business card in a manner.  Now some one-page websites try to imitate complete websites by adding links to different sections of the same website page, making it easier to navigate as well. 
Now, a one-page website barely has any content. And while it’s true, that there are numerous advantages of having one, the use of keywords isn’t one of them. And we all understand the necessity of keywords for SEO ranking. Although several sources refute the necessity of keywords, one fact is universal Keywords are the backbone of your website’s SEO. They are the primary language for Google. And they help it understand the relevance of a website’s content and purpose.

How can Content Optimization Increase Keyword Opportunities?

With a Multi-Page website, you have plenty of opportunities to use relevant keywords. In fact, we can say that a multiple page website’s long-term ranking depends on updating their webpage with constant content, be it a blog or press release. 

2. Optimized Content Affects the Website Visitor Retention (Bounce Rate)

Bounce Rate is calculated by google as a metric, which tells it how long on average users stick around on a website. Suppose you use keywords on your website that aren’t relevant to it.

For Example, You have a wedding card business. Now, you’ll want to use keywords that are relevant to wedding cards. Because when a person visits your website, they come there for the designs and your skills. But if you were to mislead them with keywords for a wedding florist, they’ll exit your website as soon as they see the cards with no mention of the florist. Google pays attention to such misuse of keywords as well as how long on average visitors spend on your website. 

Bounce Rate is one of the few metrics that search engines use for ranking websites. While it isn’t the only factor, any expert would tell you that it matters. There are a few exceptions to the common misconception that high bounce rates are bad for all websites. It is a false statement. The true statement would be: High bounce rates are bad for the majority of websites, excluding blogs, new websites, or websites that provide a quick answer to a person’s query.

To make it simpler, let’s talk about the following question. What happens when a person types in google: “How to check a website’s bounce rate?” It is the current need of that person. Once that person finds out how it is done, they’ll quit the website, not concerning themselves with the rest of the SEO Ranking Factors.

Some people might not even visit your website, thanks to google’s text snippet answers. For example: If you were to type in the query: How old is the pope?

There you have it, sites like Wikipedia also have higher bounce rates compared to others, as people have a tendency to exit a website that doesn’t answer their questions.

How to check a website’s bounce rate?

Provided that you have already signed up for google analytics, you can log into your account. Usually, you’ll be able to view the current bounce rate on the home page. If for some reason, it isn’t available, you can Go to the Behaviour section in analytics as shown in the image. Next, select Site Content. Now, click on the Landing pages. It will give you the overall bounce rate for your website. 

Website Bounce Rates:

How can Content Optimization Positively Affect Website Visitor Retention (Bounce Rate)?

One of the reasons your website’s bounce rate might be high is that your landing page has ineffective content. What’s on there isn’t interesting or informative enough or might not tell your visitors anything about your website’s purpose or reason for existence.  Content Optimization is a necessity here. You can either sit down and work on the content or hire an expert to work on it. 

If you are interested in working on your content, here are some tools you can use: Content Writing Starter Pack: All the free tools a prospective Content Writer needs to start writing

Now, to simplify matters, you can also re-organize your website. For example, you can guide them to resources on your websites such as FAQ which may help them get answers to their questions, and provide links to the respective web pages on your website. Known as interlinking, this ensures that as long as you link relevant content, people will stick around on your website.

3. Optimized Content Helps Your Reach the Right Audience

Which one would you prefer? If you had a website, would you prefer to have huge traffic that quits quickly with zero conversion?

Or would you prefer selective traffic that would stay on your website and procure your services or read your entire content?

The choice here is very simple. And that is the reason why we had to put it that way. This is the difference between choosing quality over quantity. Quality traffic helps rank your website due to numerous factors. Not only do they stay on your website, but they are also directed to your website because of proper keyword usage. 

When you target the right audience, you need to plan the content that will attract them. Suppose you have created a website whose sole focus is on earning through affiliate marketing. In this case, you’ll have to write reviews of specific products, or you can choose to make lists instead. Suppose you want to earn by referring to laptops. This is where you put in the work. Do your research, find the best laptops available on the affiliate service provider. Now, write a detailed and informed review about each of these in a list. When you share such informative lists, the probability of the reader visiting at least one of those is higher, which also increases the chances of them purchasing the product.

4. Optimized Content Continues Attracting Traffic Long After it is published

We’ll be talking about evergreen content. So, how long do you think evergreen content lasts? If you want a number, some sources claim that it lasts for two years. But that is why we have included this here. When we talk about long-form content, it doesn’t mean ramblings of teenagers or an online diary. We are talking about impactful evergreen content, which helps you rank not just for the  

Let us begin by understanding the difference between regular content and evergreen content. 

Regular Content: 

When you enter the keywords: “who won the election”  in a search engine bar and hit enter, the following results will appear:

Who won the election isn’t a specific enough search term. So, Google will give you the latest relevant results for the keyword. Now, these news websites publish content daily, and this type of content on news sites doesn’t trend for long, a few days or maybe a few months, after which it becomes common knowledge, and no one searches for it. This leads to a decrease in traffic. 

Evergreen Content:

When you type the keywords: “mental disorders”  in a search engine bar and hit enter, the following results will appear:

It is the hallmark of evergreen content. Health-related websites post informative content that doesn’t have to be updated frequently. The progress in the medical field is slower compared to the news or technology. And therefore, at any given time when you search for Mental disorders, you’ll probably come across either the same or similar results, an authentic health-dedicated website giving us the information we need. 

Another example of this is statistical data providing websites where reports generally aren’t going to change, but that data will help researchers predict the trend for the future. We have shared a screenshot of some of the top statistical websites. If you look for market trends for 2007, you’ll find them on at least one of these resources. And that data will not change unless an unknown factor is brought to light. 

Now, as long as your content answers a single person’s questions, that person will visit your website. SEO is a strategy that enriches the content.  Without content, there would be no SEO.  And without SEO, it would be hard to keep tabs on authentic high-quality content. 

Optimized Content gives you the edge over your competitors.  Unlike social media, where content moves beyond one person only if it’s viral, your website content will keep getting organic hits as long as it remains relevant. And continue ranking for it as well. 

5. Search Engines Prefer Content-Rich Websites: 

Sherice Jacob, an SEO expert, has unveiled that the top-ranking web pages have five factors in common, and one of them happens to be long-form content. 

Now, long-form content usually ranges from 1000 words to anywhere as long as 2500 words. But creating long-form informative and precise content is an art that only a few have mastered. If users come across the ramblings of a writer, they are going to leave. And that’s a guarantee. Visitors are there for the information, and they prefer their content to be unambiguous. They don’t want to be interrupted in any way. 

Long gone are the times when you could rank on the search engines with just a keyword. What was the formula? Right: Keyword in the title, keyword in the first para, keyword in the last para, usage of LSI keywords, and littering the page with keywords. 

Search engines majorly google has evolved way beyond that and has shifted its focus on the quality of the content, which has definitely helped it weed out the content that didn’t contribute a lot. So, try to keep it simple and cover all that’s necessary. Because without long-form content, even SEO won’t help you rank in the top. 

6. Sharing Optimized Content On Social Media Improves Ranking.

The recent data obtained from a Statista report gives us the following numbers: 

It helps us understand that social media is one of the strongest platforms for sharing your optimized content. Even at the time you create ads on social media, you need to fill in details that ensure that you are targeting the right audience. That is the key. In a way, the content you generate is for a certain audience. You have to identify it and then use it to your best advantage. 

Suppose if you were to share a one-page website on your social media, let’s say a portfolio. The chances of it being viewed by your peers are not a lot. But, if you were to share it on platforms such as LinkedIn, a network for professionals, it might get a lot of hits, and people might also leave suggestions on how you can make it better. 

Each social media platform ranks for some content. For example, Facebook does quite well with entertainment and has now gained popularity for its video content, from recipes to short films, ensuring that the viewer is hooked. 

On Instagram, influencers are the most popular. A profile with a beauty influencer will get more hits than custom-generated content, no matter how artistic. Find out which social media platform is ideal for your niche and stick to it. Here are some tips on how to get traffic from your Instagram profile 

When we think of it, these SEO Ranking factors might seem quite obvious to some of us, but when it’s time to implement them, several of these are easily neglected in favor of simplicity.  It is often like instant gratification, and it doesn’t have a long-term positive effect on your SEO Ranking. Content Marketing, on the other hand, can do great for your business. 

If you have a query or need any professional help, to build your content marketing strategy, feel free to get in touch with us :

Email – [email protected] or Call/Whatsapp – +91-9429501010