Just because a site has escaped punishment from successive Google Panda updates, it doesn’t mean that the content is up to scratch.
A site can still easily miss out on rankings and sales if not enough attention is paid to its content. High quality attractive content gets users interested. They show their interest by sticking around, coming back later, leaving a comment or making a purchase. The users will not behave in the way intended if the content lacks purpose, research or style. Search engine optimisation depends on individuals who are fully committed to continually improving the quality of their work.
Users have considerable expectations
SEO is all about seeing things through the eyes of a user. To be more precise, it is all about viewing the site from the perspective of a target audience. Such an audience will be unresponsive if they are not approached properly. Content has to tell them a site is relevant, authoritative and trustworthy. If users read the content of a site and find it wanting, they will feel like they have wasted their time. Therefore it is worthwhile to make sure that content is adequately planned. Shoddy content is often the direct consequence of poor planning.
The distinctive site voice
Every site requires its own unique voice. This voice must be in harmony with others in the sector. However, if it does not stand out properly then users will not be engaged by its content. The voice of the site can gradually develop as the nature of the target audience becomes clearer. Of course, there is a big difference between content being distinctive and odd so personal judgement is also required.
Content which can be scanned
Not every user is going to hang on every word on a site. Users are busy people and are keen to get what they want. The growth of the net and social media has also impacted on typical attention spans. Therefore sentences should not go on and on. Plenty of blank space should be used to improve the reading experience, and the language used must be jargon-free and easy to understand.
Visitor personas
It can be useful to think of a target audience in terms of smaller units. There will be variety within any target audience, and a site has to be able to sell things to users of different ages and incomes. Using visitor personas is a strategy by which this diversity of the target audience can be addressed. To do this, imaginary people with particular jobs, incomes and interests are constructed. The question which must be resolved is whether or not users just like the visitor personas would feel welcome on the site.
The durability of content
It is vital for copywriters to think about how long their content will be relevant to users. Sometimes it is acceptable to use news which will soon be out-of-date. However, content which has greater staying power is often a better option. Durability and quality are often closely related. If content is news-based, it can be given a longer shelf-life than it would otherwise have via clear interpretation.