Content is King: An SEOs Guide to Writing Better, Data-Driven Content

Content is king. You’ve heard this from every conference, webinar, and blog in the marketing world. Quality content on your website can make or break your search engine optimization efforts. If you want to come out on top in the search results, your content needs to be correct, be engaging, and follow Google’s YMYL and E-A-T standards.

Writing carefully crafted, original content with expert research often seems easier said than done. That’s especially true when there isn’t a definitive way to identify what content on your page is considered to be “engaging.” Or is there?

Truth is, there are three key SEO performance indicators (KPIs) you should measure. With these metrics, you can boost your SEO value and take a data-driven approach to create relevant, trustworthy, quality content. But, first, you must analyze your organic metrics to understand what is working in your content and what is not. We’ll outline the top metrics content writers and SEOs should have at the top of their radar.

Best Metrics and KPIs for Measuring the Effectiveness of Content

Time Spent On Page

According to the Nielsen Norman Group, users stay on a webpage for about 10 to 20 seconds. Yes, you read that right. First impressions are everything If you want to boost the average time spent on your page. Your content has to immediately captivate your readers like an all-day Netflix binger.

Bounce Rate

Similar to the average time spent on page, the bounce rate is the percentage of users who leave after viewing one page without clicking on or engaging with anything else on the site. Bounce rates vary depending on website type. A B2B lead generation website typically has bounce rates between 30-50 percent. In comparison, direct-to-consumer retail sites average 20-45 percent. A “good” bounce rate differs from business to business, category to category. But, if you’re looking to improve your strategy or refresh a few underperforming landing pages, analyzing bounce rates is a good place to start.

Unique Visitors

Often novice SEOs and DIY marketers utilize their website’s overall users as a success metric. Although there isn’t necessarily a “right” metric to track, there certainly is a better way to measure success. The “new users” metric in Google Analytics shows each new, unique individual user your site reaches. This performance indicator is key to measuring the effectiveness of your overall content and keyword strategies.

How To Optimize Content and Increase Time Spent On Page

Does your content speak to your audience–literally and figuratively? Is your content filled with technical jargon or is it too watered down? Your digital marketing content, especially blog content, should be used to build a relationship between your brand and your potential consumers. Frame content to your prospects, not your peers. If your users are truly interested in the content on your site, you’ll see an increase in the average time spent on the page. 

How To Optimize Content To Lower Your Bounce Rate

A high bounce rate can be a clear indicator of a major problem, in terms of search engine optimization. Your title tags and meta descriptions might be misleading. Maybe your keywords are irrelevant to your content. Or your page is taking too long to load. 

Luckily, a simple content audit offers an easy fix. Compare the content on your low bounce pages on your website to your higher bounce pages. However, if the answer isn’t so clear cut, here are some SEO content writing tips to make sure all eyes stay on (your) page:

• Don’t mislead users. Make sure your title tags, meta descriptions, and on-page content is delivering what was promised on the search results pages.
• Make your content scannable. Bullet points, subheads, short paragraphs, and bolded words make content less intimidating to read and are easy on the eyes.
• Engage your audience. Earn clicks with enticing calls to action and relevant anchor text links to pages on your website.

How To Optimize Content To Boost Your Unique Visitors

Users searching for the answer to a specific problem are faced with hundreds of search results and typically only click on the top few choices. To increase unique visitors, you obviously want your web page to rank the highest in the search results. But, to get there, you’ll first need to make a great, click-worthy first impression with a catchy, keyword-containing title tag and meta description.

• Use target audience-specific keywords. Users are looking for specific solutions with specific search terms. Dive deep into search query data in Google Search Console to find the keywords that are already driving users to your site. Any content indexed on your site should be written with a data-driven purpose in mind.
• Write flashy but accurate title tags and meta descriptions. The title tag and meta description are going to be what readers use to determine whether to click on your link or not. You have 160 characters to catch your reader’s attention, so make it count. 
• Make your meta descriptions descriptive. If the name didn’t already give it away, each meta description should be unique and summarize the content on every indexed page on your site. With a concise, relevant description, users are more likely to click.

With a small glimpse into the metrics behind your content, you can identify what content engages with your audience most. Whether you’re targeting prospects in certain regions with a localized landing page or simply refreshing your blogging strategy, this insight will help you create similar pages in the future. 

Are you making the most out of your search engine optimization efforts? If you’re unsure, contact the marketing experts at our digital ad agency to jump-start your SEO strategy.