The Best Types of Content for SEO
There was a time when providing quality content wasn't the biggest priority of SEOs.
Their concerns back then consisted mainly of stuffing websites with keywords and doing all sorts of tricks in the hopes of making search engines notice the websites they're working on and give them top rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).
As far as SEOs were concerned, content didn't really matter, as countless websites with basically useless content topped SERPs during those days.
Thankfully, Google put a stop to the party when they implemented game-changing algorithm changes in 2011. The once-neglected web content has since regained its rightful place as king, and SEOs now make sure their websites have nothing but high-quality content that is relevant and useful to search engine users.
Technically, you can publish any content you want on your website. Some types of content, however, stand a better chance of getting noticed and ranked by Google et al. Here are the types of content that are best for SEO.
Authoritative Blog Posts
In a world where content is a top ranking factor, it's but normal for a website to have its own blog. You can use your blog to write authoritative posts which can help you build a reputation as an industry leader. Apart from giving your take on news and developments in your industry, it would also be great if you can write about other topics that your readers would find engaging.
Infographics
Many people love the written word, but more people prefer reading information they can process more easily. Infographics provide them that opportunity, as they are graphic snapshots of information that would have taken a few thousand words to express in article form. Readers are also more likely to share infographics, and that gives it a chance to become viral and be a veritable source of backlinks.
Use these free tools to create infographics people will want to share.
Videos
Videos make up most of media consumption and web traffic today, and for good reason: they are more engaging than any article or infographic. Video content will also dominate the future if the prediction of experts that it will account for 80% of all web traffic by 2020 is to be believed.
Optimize your videos on YouTube to claim a suggested clip in Google search results.
Trending Content
Sure, trending topics don't last long, but their popularity is often enough to drive traffic to your site in such a short time. You can use trending content to help you launch new products or promote existing ones.
If you time your content right, you can use breaking news and hot topics to attract more users and high-quality links. This process is known as "newsjacking".
Newsjacking is the tactic of injecting yourself into the big headlines of the day by finding a big story everyone is talking about and providing an analysis or angle that's relevant to your brand.
There are lots of benefits to creating newsjacking content:
- You can get your name and content into a larger audience than you might normally
- You get to show some expertise and thought leadership
- You can showcase your website and/or brand as the place to go for newsworthy industry updates
Newsjacking is a useful tool in the link building toolbox for any SEO.
How-To Guides
People always search for instructions on how to do stuff, and that's why how-to content will always be popular. You can give your audience tips in the form of an article, a video or an infographic.
One of the best places to start when looking for how-to ideas is your own support and sales teams. Check your help center tickets, inbound emails and calls from customers to zero in on the most common questions for content ideas.
If someone is taking the time to reach out to your ask a question, it's more likely than not they've already searched online. So this can add a lot of SEO value.
Lists
Everybody likes lists, whether they're in the form of a magazine article or a blog post. For some reason, a list tends to become even more popular when the title of the article or post begins with a number.
For a list that people will find engaging, you have to make sure that you do your research well. Being clever about it would also be a nice touch. Make it as detailed as possible, and if you can make it longer, just do so.
Extra Resources for SEO Content
Once you've come up with your great new content idea, check out some of these extra tools and resources to create the best content you can for your audience and SEO:
