How to Improve the Quality of Your Blog Content

Laura Cole — June 5, 2017

If content is king in the modern age, then copy is surely the kingmaker?

This is reflected by the fact that 75% of brands will invest more in their content marketing programs this year, with significant investment being made in unique, custom content that offers the highest level of value to consumers.

The quality and structure of your copy is central to the success of custom blog content, however, and there are cost-effective steps that can help you to make your words more visible, impactful and engaging. Here are just a few:

1. Google is Predisposed to Reward Long-form Content

While it is widely accepted that Google rewards unique and high quality content, defining this can be a challenging pastime. In fact, there are several metrics that Google use to determine the quality of blog posts, with some being considerably more influential than others.

One of the more compelling factors is the length of your posts, with studies highlighting the fact that long-form content is far more likely to rank on Google’s first page. More specifically, the average length of content ranking on the first page of Google’s search results in 1,890 words, creating a direct correlation between the amount of words that you write and the reach of your published posts.

While you can boost the reach and visibility of your blog content by prioritizing longer-form posts, however, there are several points to keep in mind.

Firstly, try to ensure that you develop content ideas and topics that can sustain in-depth writing, while structuring your posts to boost their readability. This can be done fairly easily, by creating a logical flow of ideas and breaking up large chunks of text into paragraphs or bullet points.

Also, don’t be afraid of writing shorter posts where required, particularly when dealing with subjects that are not necessarily as engaging or thought provoking. These maintains the quality of your writing and final post, ensuring that every word is impactful and capable of offering value to the reader.

2. Embrace the APP Principle

Often, it is the seemingly small details that boost the quality of your blog content. Take your title and introduction, for example, which must instantly engage readers while also providing them with a compelling reason to read your individual posts.

The introduction provides the most important hook for your content, and should be considered as the entry point into a relationship with your reader. An excellent way of creating an engaging intro is to use the so-called Agree, Promise and Preview (APP) method, which cultivates a structured and concise introduction that lays the foundation for your article.

If we break this down, your opening sentence or two should pose a question or make a statement that stirs some recognition in readers. Ideally, this will be something that Google’s algorithms will also identify with, as you look to showcase understanding of a particular concept or problem. You then follow this up immediately with the promise of an answer or further information, which can be supported by a fact or proven industry statistic.

Then comes the preview, which should provide a concise explanation of what awaits them in the article. This serves as a segway into the main body of the article, and should offer a clearly-defined value proposition to readers.

3. Integrate Long-tail and Unique Keywords

Finally, we come to the optimization of your blog content, which includes the use of relevant and actionable keyword that impact on the search engine ranking of individual pages. The keywords that you use in your content can also impact on the readability and appeal of each post, so you need to research these carefully and apply them with care.

To begin with, it is important to adopt an open mind when researching and integrating keywords into your content. This is because so-called short-tail keywords are usually generic and extremely competitive, so it is important to create a varied set of phrases that underpin a prominent online presence.

These should include long-tail keywords, which are relatively unique and can be tailored to suit the precise nature of each individual blog post. These are more specific in their nature, meaning that they generate less competition in terms of traffic and can provide far greater insight into a specific topic.

Not only this, but you can even manufacture keywords to add value to your content and boost the search engine potential of your blog. This is built on the premise that your brand is a pivotal keyword in your SEO strategy, and yet in most instances this is not a recognized word or phrase.

Using this principle as a starting point, experiment with potential keywords when defining concepts, presenting ideas or sharing expertise on a subject. In short, leverage your knowledge to create engaging keywords that help to make your content truly unique (while also boosting its visibility online).

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