“Content is King!” How SEO Prioritizes Content Instead of Keywords
Just when we thought the phrase “content is king” is dead, there it goes again as one of the most crucial factors in search engine optimization. SEO is a vital process to consider when creating content. Marketers often focus more on keywords while generating content ideas, but fail to understand that unique content that reflects what the audience is searching for tends to rank higher in search engine results than content built explicitly around keywords.
Keyword and keyword research are vital for SEO, and they’re usually what most people think of when the term SEO comes up. However, there are many more ranking factors to be aware of, including quality content, security, accessibility, links, mobile-friendliness of your content, and the website’s loading speed. Going beyond keywords to produce quality content that’s valuable to users is the way to go.
So, what is the significance of these two terms, and how does SEO prioritize content instead of keywords? Let’s take a close look at how search engine technology has evolved over the years and how this affects the most important SEO factors to consider when generating ideas for content creation.
Is Content or Keywords More Important for SEO?
According to Google, content is among the top three ranking factors. If you’re looking to increase your web traffic, you must continuously provide quality and well-optimized content.
Without content, search engines will lack sufficient information to index and rank your website pages. So, are keywords then relevant for SEO? The simple answer is YES! Done correctly, keyword targeting can help your content rank higher in search results, increasing your blog and website traffic.
What you want to avoid is “stuffing” keywords into content, repeatedly using the same words, to try to get a better SEO ranking and improve your position in SERPs. This leads to poor content that doesn’t perform well on Google rankings.
The secret is to research keywords the right way. Don’t be fooled by the data. While we can learn more about search volume and competition level through SEO tools, these tools won’t show us what content resonates with the audience. Doing a Google search on your keywords to see the topic titles that come up, comments, and even shares that they get will help with ideas on what content to publish.
Does SEO Really Give Priority to Quality Content?
Google’s new update, Helpful Content Update, which was rolled out on August 18, 2022, continues to prioritize content that’s written for humans over content that’s over-optimized for search engines. As long as you produce quality content across your site and take Google’s advice, you should be just fine.
Google doesn’t rank content based solely on the keywords in it. They rank content because they want to offer the best answers and solutions to their users’ queries. This is why Google has search quality guidelines to help people create engaging content that resonates with its users.
Instead of stuffing your content with keywords, provide content with the most standout solution for users, and Google is more likely to rank your content highly. It’s that simple!
Below are some of the ways to ensure your content offers the best solution:
- Make sure your content is authentic, authoritative, and provides a high level of expertise
- Use references from authoritative and trusted websites
- Link your content to authoritative and trusted websites
- Provide well-researched content
Pink Dog Digital Is Here to Help
Ready to create interactive content with integrity and make it king in your SEO? Pink Dog Digital can help. We specialize in effective digital solutions for businesses, allowing you to produce high-quality content and improve your SEO performance. For more information, email us at pinkdogdigital@gmail.com, call us at 410-696-3305 or contact us via our website.