Search engine optimization is, hands down, the most important aspect of gaining website traffic. Not just more website traffic, but good website traffic.

Competing for high-ranking search engine results can be a backbreaker, but it doesn’t have to be! This is where content comes in.

What is quality content?

Content, overall, is a very broad term. However, quality content is most accurately defined as useful information conveyed in a variety of formats. In other words, content can be anything from blogs, images, websites, gifs, memes, live chats, music, PDFs, videos, and more.

Nonetheless, not all content is quality content.

The quality of content is based around how well it performs in terms of engagement, leads and increased website traffic. Quality is defined by what a person gets out of content, as opposed to the time and money put into it.

So how does quality content affect SEO?

The algorithms used to rank in search engines, like Google, are ever-changing. However, one of the most significant and consistent commonalities in search engine rankings is high-engagement content.

A piece of content receiving excellent engagement is a key indicator of it being high quality. In an internet-world oversaturated with content, Google is on a mission to organize this flood of information by its usefulness and accessibility.

Because of this, Google favors useful, credible, informative content in search engine rankings.

How does one make high quality content for SEO?

A lot of work goes into a high quality piece of content. Keeping your audience at the forefront, keyword research, readability and backlinking strategies all contribute to the value of your work.

Quality content follows the 80/20 guidelines in two ways:

• 20% of your time should be spent creating your content
• 80% of your time should be spent promoting it.

Most importantly, content should be subjected to what your audience cares about. It’s important to recognize that as much as quality content needs to be optimized with keywords and searching intent, writing for the reader should always take precedence.

How do you measure high quality content?

It’s all about the data. To truly determine the quality of your content, it must be tracked through analytics and social measuring.

By assessing your bounce rate, social engagement, link clicks and where your content traffic is coming from, you can analyze the success of your piece. As mentioned, with content, 20% of your time should be spent creating content while 80% of your time should be spent promoting it.

When measuring the success of a piece, assess the platforms it’s pushed out to. Is it being promoted in the right place for your audience?

Quality content boosts your search engine results. Though SEO takes time, creating content that will be helpful in the long run is certainly the way to go.