These days, everybody knows that content is King. Unfortunately, knowledge and acceptance of this mantra has led to a situation where the web is packed to bursting point with pretty pathetic content. So many businesses having fallen into a ‘more is better’ way of working – quantity taking precedence of quality.
In this day and age, getting away with filler is something you cannot realistically expect to do. As such, it pays to be as proactive, professional and indeed picky as possible, when it comes to the SEO text you produce. Or to put it another way, don’t simply throw text into the mix randomly for the sake of it.
Instead, if you want to take your SEO text to the next level, there are basically three simple steps you should be following every time:
PROOFREAD
First and foremost, the value of proofreading cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, the fact that it takes time and effort to proofread content thoroughly means it is often skipped. But what makes the difference with professional proofreading is having the content checked in full by at least one additional party. When working with your own content, it is natural to get ‘snow-blind’ along the way and find it borderline impossible to evaluate the text objectively. Which is precisely why you don’t have to look very far these days to find even prestigious articles and content with all manner of errors.
ADD VISUALS
While it’s true to say that search engine spiders cannot currently crawl visual content, this doesn’t mean the visuals do not add weight to your overall SEO strategy. Think of it this way – the major search engines are now factoring in bounce rates, current traffic, links, sharability and so on like never before. The better your content forms by way of all of the above, the higher its SEO value. And it goes without saying that visual content used strategically to break up large pieces of textual content can be uniquely effective. As such, it’s important to drag yourself away from the belief that visuals cannot and will not benefit your overall SEO strategy. In reality, you could find that it’s actually quite to the contrary.
ADD OUTBOUND LINKS
Last but not least, it’s also important to get out of the mindset wherein the only links that have any value are inbound links. In reality, there is a great deal of value to be had from plentiful and suitably high profile outbound links. When you think about it, outbound links demonstrate professionalism, authority and quality to your visitors. Given the fact that Google and Co. are all about professionalism, authority and quality, you can’t realistically expect them to overlook facets and characteristics like these. Which they don’t – outbound links can and do play a role in determining your SEO strength. So while it’s not a good idea to get carried away with spammy links just for the sake of it, never overlook the importance and value of including high quality outbound links in your written content.