What is Quality Content and How to Make It According to Google?

Although, it was not that important in the early days, right before 2011, of Google SEO. In those days, writers or web developers could stuff a bunch of keywords to rank their pages on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Neither was it necessary to make an engaging structure for good readability.

But by the advent of the revolutionary Panda algorithm update, the scenario has changed completely. This new algorithm was so intelligent that it could understand what people wanted to see as a result of their quarries. However, later came the Hummingbird and Penguin update to upgrade the content quality to the next level.

So what do these updates say about quality content? Or how does Google defines quality content for a website? Let’s get through this article and understand what quality content is and how to acquire that.

What Does Quality Content Mean According to Google?

Content is the key to driving more traffic and ranking on search results. But it’s not a one-day task to make your content visible at the top. There are some specific techniques you have to implement in your content writing to improve the quality. But the question is – who examines your content’s quality? The answer is your readers. They read your content to find out what they’re looking for.

Since every one of your readers has different viewpoints, you cannot make your continent satisfy each one of them. In that case, Google has defined or given some useful instructions to make the content in a balanced form to be liked by the majority.

According to Google, quality content is not only about good text with well-optimized keywords. It also means having a proper user experience to relate to the users’ wants. And based on this and the website’s overall quality (images, speed, structure, layout, and other technical parts), Google rates your content.

However, in this context, Google’s search advocate John Mueller has stated, “When it comes to the quality of the content, we don’t mean like just the text of your articles. it’s really the quality of your overall website – and that includes everything from the layout to the design.”

What We Think of Quality Content: The E-T-A Principle

I’m pretty sure that most business owners and content writers primarily focus on specific attributes of their content rather than what audiences want. These attributes are mainly optimized for ranking the content on SERPs. We think that enhancing

• Readability
• Keywords
• Grammar & Spelling
• Word Count
• Loading Speed

makes our content well qualified.

After the Medic update in 2018, the E-A-T principle became very famous among content marketers and business owners. It stands

• Expertise: interprets the main content and the author’s expertise in the given content.
• Authoritativeness: refers to whether the content provided by the author is to be trusted or not. Or whether the content has recognized authority.
• Trustworthiness: describes whether the audience can trust the content, the domain, and the author.

How to Create Quality Content Better SEO

1. Write for Your Audience

Ask yourself, who are you writing for? Is it for yourself or your audience? There is no doubt that your content is the key to your growth. And to achieve that, first, you must satisfy your readers with good and informative content. Thereby, as a content writer, it’s important to think about the audience. What do they want to see in the results? What are they looking for? Is your content relevant to their quarries? Do think about these questions while you’re making the content.

Creating content for your readers is not too difficult; all you have to do is keenly understand what they want. And to do this, you need to follow some vital techniques. First, do thorough keyword research, which will allow you to understand what your targeted audiences are searching for. Secondly, follow social media trends and what people are thinking about current activities. This will let you understand what’s going on in the digital world. In this way, you can optimize your content to rank on Google rapidly.

2. Do Thorough Research on the topic

Although it was an early method, the E-A-T principle still helps to improve the quality of your content since it determines your knowledge about the topic. Another thing that this principle ensures is the authority and trustworthiness of your content, which significantly impacts the audience to consider your content a reliable source.

Now the question is, how to do proper research on the topic? Well, it takes time and effort to research something; after doing that thoroughly, it becomes easy to write the content. In this, I’d recommend you a few tips. First, cite from a trusted source or website; otherwise, the content you’ll write based on it will become chaos for the audience. Secondly, always make sure that the references are relevant to the topic. And lastly, don’t forget to use recent or current materials in your writings.

3. Understand The Search Intent

Quality content or blog should have the potential to identify the users’ search intent – what they are looking for in the search engine. And to achieve that, do proper SEO keyword research because this will give you an idea of what people intend while searching for something. In other words, you need to understand whether your audience is looking for promotional or informational content.

For example, if a user is looking for some information about ‘content writing’, he is surely gonna skip the pages that provide content writing selling services. That means you cannot put promotional content into an informational blog or article and vice versa.

4. Make The Content Readable & Engaging

If you want your readers to revisit you, give them exactly what they want with better readability and a touch of personal engagement. Now the thing is – how can we make great readability and engaging content? Well, don’t push yourself too hard; all you have to do is apply some improvements to the structure of your content.

Good readable content should be easy enough to read and understand quickly and completely. Follow these techniques;

• Use headings for each context
• Avoid using complex sentences, bombastic words, and unnecessary phrases.
• Use common words as we do while talking.
• Make your paragraphs short with simple sentences as far as possible.
• Use synonyms instead of using the same words.
• Try using bolds, bullets, and serial numbers.
• Above all, create the language in such a way that it seems like you’re talking with your readers. This will create a good bonding with your audiences.

5. Make The Content Well Optimized for Better UX

Like I said before, quality content doesn’t mean only excellent text with great readability and engagement. How your readers will look at it and how they’d feel while reading your blog post or content also do matter. And this is about the UX (user experience) of your content. So now take a look at how the UX should be.

• Implement hierarchy in your content to make it visually eye-catching to the readers.
• Typography is what you should use to make the content more attractive.
• Use a good readable font style and add extra gaps (1.5) between the lines.
• Make sure that your content is looking good on various devices.
• Improve the page loading speed

Better UX optimizations not only gives you quality content but also helps to achieve better SEO result.

6. Improve Your Content’s Trustworthiness

One of the essential factors of quality content is trustworthiness. To build a good relationship with your audience, you must create trust between your content and its readers. But how? First, always make original content with the help of reliable sources. And make your own images rather than using readymade pictures available from various sources.

Secondly, make your content clear and user-friendly so your audience can understand it without hassle. And last but not least, add testimonials, make Google ratings and implement HTTPS in your domain. This would undoubtedly create a tremendously positive effect on the audience.

7. Keep Your Content Up-To-Date

Let me ask you a question. Which one will you use as a source of information – a backdated blog or an up-to-date one? Yes, your readers will also choose the recent one because it gives updated information. Therefore, when the audience sees you providing recent articles and blogs, they will choose you instead of an older source. Moreover, it builds trust among the readers. Hence, don’t forget to update your blogs within time to drive visitors.

Conclusion

I hope you understood, from the above discussions, what quality content is and how you can make it. Quality content isn’t just for ranking your website on Google; it also signifies the bond between you and your audiences. While best SEO strategies will take your blog to the top of SERPs, quality content will give it a touch of creativity, trustworthiness, and a good relationship. So now it’s time to improve your content quality and give it a shape of the quality that the world has ever seen. Let’s make the digital world better and better.