How to Rank Higher in SERPs with the Right Content

June 18th 2020 | By Emma Grant

Ask anyone who markets their business online what their ultimate goal is and the majority will say they want to achieve those hot top positions in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). The reason? Because enhanced search engine visibility equates to more leads, and any search engine consultants will tell you that more leads can mean more sales.

Content is the lifeblood of search engine optimisation. It affects every aspect of SERPs ranking strategies. But what constitutes the ‘right’ content, and exactly what benefits does having the right content deliver?

What is the RIGHT content?

The right content is material that matches user intent. It’s also content with substance that answers the very questions your potential customers want answers to, clearly and informatively. In other words, quality content.

Search intent

Google’s aim is to provide the most relevant result for any given search query. It does this by organising the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful. It’s precisely why Google has invested heavily into understanding the intent of search queries. In other words, by asking exactly what the user was trying to find out.

BERT – Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers – is considered the biggest change to Google search in the past five years. BERT models are what Google uses to better understand search queries.

Sometimes people want to buy. Other times they want to learn. And this is the key thing about search intent. If your web page or blog doesn’t align with search intent, then it’s not going to be of any use whatsoever. So, the big question, how to interpret the intent behind the search?

A good place to start is with the first page of the SERPs that come up for your target keywords. Take a look at:

The type of content – is it a landing page, a blog/article, a product page or a category?

The format of the content – usually more to do with blogs or articles, this could be a news or thought-leading opinion piece, a how-to guide, a tutorial or a listicle.

The hook of the content – how is the content angled? Is it to get in touch to learn more, or to buy something? Whatever the hook, this is the thing that compels the user to click through to your content.

Ahrefs reported a huge jump in ranking position from #40 to #6 in just four days simply by matching search intent along for their keyword, ‘on page SEO’. The long and the short of it is, as Ahrefs says, ‘if your content doesn’t align with searcher intent, then you should fix that before doing anything else. Otherwise you’ll be fighting a losing battle.’

So, once you’re familiar with the type, format and hook of the content that’s ranking for your target search terms, you can make sure yours matches in those respects.

Quality content

Quality content builds site authority and encourages demand for more. This is where you need to get one step ahead by understanding your audience and what they want to know, and providing solutions in the right content format (see above).

Remember though, questions don’t just arise before a transaction. People may also need technical support, aftersales care, help and advice on using a product. Attending to these queries strengthens brand loyalty.

Keyword research in its traditional form is pretty much redundant these days. Suggested queries like Google’s ‘People also ask’ deliver valuable intel on what people are actually looking for and the questions they want answered. Topic research really is the new keyword research. Remember intent. Always. Also remember that the most naturally written, high quality content will always win through.

What does the right content DO?

Without the right content, you’ll never realise the full benefits of SEO. Relevant, useful content compels visitors to stay for longer, and dwell time in itself is an important ranking factor that can have a positive effect on search rankings.

Search engine consultants will tell you that the right content will also:

Generate backlinks – one of the most important SEO strategies that indicate credibility and trust. The more quality links you have, the better you’ll rank in the SERPs. Great content that’s relevant to the reader is more likely to be shared and bookmarked. It’s as simple as that.

Prompt a high click through rate – the more people click your links, the better your chances of top rankings in the search engines. And of course the more traffic you get to your website. The better your content, the more likely it will be clicked.

Boosts your brand – branding is important for SEO, and vice versa. Great content presents you as a knowledgeable authority, a trusted source. It enhances brand credibility, which in turn can net you more backlinks. Branding can also enhance click through rates.

So you see, everything’s connected!

Figment – the SEO expert London companies rely on for boosted search engine rankings

Ranking higher in the SERPs gets you more online visibility so you’re more likely to attract a greater number of clicks, which gives you a better chance of increasing sales. The right content really does make all the difference.

Not sure where to start with your content marketing strategy? Our specialist search engine consultants are here to help and have a proven track record as the SEO expert London businesses have depended on for many years to get them results.

To chat about your vision for improved search engine rankings, you are welcome to get in touch.