There are many different ways you can boost your SEO strategy. Having longer content with
more keywords, having engaging content that keeps visitors on your website longer, and
allowing users to leave reviews are just a few ways you can help your website rise through the
search engine results.
More Content Creates More Room for Keywords
It’s been widely reported that people don’t have the attention span that they used to, leading
some marketers to recommend lots of short content to grab people’s ever dwindling attention
spans.
It turns out that not only is the statement that our attention spans are shrinking false, but it turns
out having a lot of short content is bad for your SEO optimization, too.
That’s because shorter content, such as alt tags for images and homepage copy, has limited
room for keywords. And keywords are what search engines use to see what your site is about.
For example, If your site only mentions “dog food” as a keyword once, it won’t think your site
knows much about it. But if it finds you mention dog food several times, along with some
relevant long-key keywords related to dog food, then Google thinks you must know your stuff
and will send visitors your way.
That’s where long form content comes in, and how it can boost your SEO strategy. The longer
your content is, the more room it has for the keywords that you want search engines to find.
Articles, blog posts, and guides are all good examples of content that can be infused with
keywords to enhance your SEO.
Content Makes Your Website “Sticky”
The amount of time a user spends on your site is known as “dwell time,” and is a factor search
engines use to determine if a site should rank highly or not. If users only visit your site for a few seconds before going back to Google (known as a “bounce”) you’ll have a high bounce rate, which is bad for SEO.
The solution? Make your website “sticky,” or one that users will want to stay on and return to in
the future.
You can do this by creating content that gives your visitors useful information they’ll want to
bookmark and reference again in the future, or by giving them engaging, long form content that
takes time to read.
The longer a visitor stays on your site, the more relevant search engines think it is, and higher
you’ll appear in search rankings.
Reviews Boost SEO Naturally
When it comes to SEO, it’s hard to compete with user generated content (UGC). Some of the
best UGC out there are customer reviews and testimonials.
Why is that?
When determining your rankings, Google searches your site for keywords, titles, backlinks, and
internal links. Normally, you have to do that yourself.
But, when a customer writes a review for your products, they’ll do all that work for you. They’ll
automatically include phrases, links, and long-tail keywords in their reviews that will catch
Google’s attention, improving your SEO naturally.
Putting It All Together
While there are many different factors that go into increasing your ranking in search engines,
sometimes the best advice is also the simplest: create engaging, in depth content that will keep
visitors on your website longer and coming back again and again.
And though it takes moderation and upkeep, consider letting your visitors comment or post
reviews on your website. They’ll naturally create unique content for your site that search
engines will use to draw other people to you.
Brandee Johnson is the owner and CEO of LimeLight Marketing. After a 15 year run in corporate America, working for leading brands Deluxe Corporation and LEGO, Johnson followed her long-time dream of starting her own company and founded LimeLight Marketing, a brand, digital marketing and development agency that helps brands foster customer trust and grow market share. Since then, the agency has grown rapidly to serve companies across the US.
