by Conor McDonough, Partner, Scribendi Digital Marketing
For a period of time in the mid to late 2010s it was a common SEO practice to post as much content as possible without any care for its relevance or how well it was written, so long as it contained the right character count and the proper balance of keywords. You still see plenty of B2B businesses using “content aggregators” for this reason – posting canned content that feigns relevancy by using industry buzzwords in the hopes of climbing to the top of a Google search result. (Side note: If you use an aggregator, do a Google search of the article titles. They will show up on other websites, most likely those of your competitors. Google counts that as duplicate content and it hurts your SEO.)
“It’s common to hear “content is king” in the SEO industry. Although I agree with that statement, it should not be applied cart blanche for every single site in every single situation. In fact, there are cases in which adding too much low-value content can have the opposite effect for SMBs and local businesses.”
It is time to stop thinking of ranking your website home page at the top of a Google search results page as the end goal of your SEO. It is quickly becoming apparent that that is no longer how an educated lead conducts a search. Searchers now access core information about your company from your Google My Business (GMB) listing. Google has actively pushed for this to occur.
In the present SEO environment it is much more likely to see a timely, relevant article or blog you have written appear on a Google search result than it is to have your website home page pop up. Articles and blogs solve problems immediately, problems that a searcher may not even realize they need solved if all they see is your home page.
Create Timely Content Based on the Actual Needs of Your Customers
Not every article, blog, or video you create needs to be an A+ term paper. But posting five blogs a week because they contain the right keywords will not help your SEO as much as posting a single, well researched and written article. And, SEO aside, the modern website visitor is sophisticated enough to tell the difference between canned keyword-stuffed content and something your company has produced with a purpose.
Create a Calendar and Adapt Around It
There isn’t always breaking or big button industry news to write about. That is why many companies turn to article aggregators to pump out frequent content in the hopes of driving SEO. But with Google’s algorithm changes and uncanny AI abilities, the best course of action moving forward is to create a content calendar at the beginning of the year and adapt to industry news on the fly. Many B2B industries deal with the same seasonal issues, i.e. accountants always have tax season, and you can hit the same topics every year while slightly adjusting the content to fit new standards and changes in the industry. Doing this work ahead of time and sticking to the calendar that is laid out may seem like more work than simply hiring a content farm, but it will pay off in elevated SEO.
Create a Calendar and Adapt as Needed
There isn’t always breaking news or big industry story to write about. That is why many companies turned to article aggregators to pump out frequent content in the hopes of driving SEO. But with Google’s algorithm changes and uncanny AI abilities, the best course of action moving forward is to create a content calendar at the beginning of the year and adapt to industry news on the fly. Many B2B industries deal with the same seasonal issues (i.e. accountants always have tax season, contractors do more work in spring and summer) and you can hit commonly recognized topics every year while slightly adjusting the content to fit new standards and changes in the industry. Doing this work ahead of time and sticking to the calendar that is laid out may seem like more work than simply hiring a “content farm” but it will pay off in elevated SEO.
Here at Scribendi we work with clients in a wide range of industries to create relevant content and the discipline to maintain a planned content calendar. We are writers at heart who know how to create compelling content and then do the necessary work to make it SEO friendly. We do not follow the “write for SEO” model. We write for the audience and edit for SEO, which makes our content a cut above.
Want to impress prospects – and Google – by setting your content apart from your competition? Give us a call at (339) 244-4222 or email us at info@scribendi.net to get started.