Want to know the single most important element on a website? No, it’s not backlinks; it’s content. High-quality content that’s relevant to your target audience encourages people to visit and engage on your site. And this increased level of engagement usually translates into higher search rankings for your respective keywords. So, what steps can you take to improve your website’s content?
Cite Sources
When writing content, be sure to cite your sources. Whether it’s a blog, forum or news editorial, you should link back to any sources used to create the the content. This helps readers find other related information, and it also shows search engines that your website isn’t a one-way street. Some webmasters avoid using external links in their content, fearing it will send visitors away from their site. Granted, some visitors may click and leave your site, never to return, but the benefits of using external links greatly outweighs the cons.
Check for Errors
Of course, you should also get into the habit of checking your web content for errors before making it live. We’re all bound to make a spelling or grammar mistake from time to time — and that’s okay. But if the bulk of your web content is riddled with multiple errors, it could leave a lasting negative impression on your readers. So, run your content through a tool like Grammarly beforehand, checking and fixing any errors.
Write for Visitors
The golden rule of content marketing is to write for your site’s visitors, not the search engines. This means you should avoid stuffing keywords into your content for the sake of trying to rank for those keywords. If including a particularly keyword adds value to the reader, then go ahead and add it. If it doesn’t, don’t add it.
Allow Comments
Visitor comments are somewhat of a double-edged sword. Enabling them on your blog or website creates free, unique content — content that search engines love. At the same time, however, it also attracts spam. Spammers will attempt to leave generic, meaningless comments in an effort to get their website listed on your site. Nonetheless, you should still allow visitors to leave comments on your website or blog. It’s a great way to enhance your content with additional commentary. And if you are worried about spammers taking over, use an anti-spam plugin. There are dozens of ways to deal with spammers while still allowing visitors to leave comments.
Update it
You should update your website’s content regularly so it’s accurate and relevant. Over time, some of the thoughts and ideas shared in your content may become irrelevant and/or incorrect, in which case it will have a negative impact on your site’s authority. To prevent this from happening, you should go back and update your site’s existing content. If there’s something incorrect, fix it ASAP.
