Content; you’ve heard about it, in fact, you’re reading about it right now. Content about content. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
All cheesy and cringe-worthy wordplay aside, content is one of the most important ranking factors in all of SEO. In the future, content may be the uncontested champ of organic marketing. Many have already observed that “content is king.”
Whether you consider that a premature coronation or not, there is no disputing the fact that content when leveraged effectively can bring in more organic traffic.
How it does this, however, is not as simple as it might seem. We asked the experts at Genius eCommerce, a BigCommerce SEO agency, what role content really plays behind the scenes in SEO.
Here’s what they had to say.
The “Technical” Side
Content is evaluated by search engine algorithms as a ranking factor that has its own set of “sub” ranking factors. That is, not all content is the same.
Content can be assessed, for example, by length, structure, keyword density (or lack thereof), link structure, use of typographical conventions (like bolding, bulleting, header tags, and more), and where it appears.
These are the “technical” aspects of content. Nearly anyone can write a keyword-optimized article of a given length following the conventions that are appealing to Google.
Anyone that can use keywords, write an article a few pages long, include some useful links, and highlight key points can write content that is categorically “good.”
It will catch Google’s attention and the website that contains it (or the website to which it links) will receive a boost in organic rankings in the search engine results pages as a consequence.
But that does not paint the entire picture. Content also affects the user experience or UX, and there is so much more to it than length and keywords.
The “Non-Technical” [and More Important] Side
The “non-technical” side of content production is where things get hairy. This is because while nearly anyone can “technically” write a “good” piece of optimized content, readers still need to weigh in.
Google also ranks content on the basis of E-A-T, or expertise, authority, and trust, as well as depth.
Google wants to know if there is substance behind the words before serving them to readers. If it seems as though the content is informative, original, helpful, and answers a customer query, it will serve it higher in the organic rankings.
Then readers will find it, and if they like it, they’ll click on it and read it. For users to read it, it has to be good. If it isn’t they’ll bounce.
Low time on page and high bounce rates signal to Google that, ahem, content is not “good.” Rankings will fall as a result.
However, if users spend a lot of time on a page, navigate through internal links or link back to the original piece of content, Google has just received an affirmation that the original content it ranked is effective. This is content that is good from both “technical” and “non-technical” points of view and is by far one of the most valuable pieces of the SEO puzzle.
Fluff is rampant in “optimized” content. The basic rule of thumb is to answer the question that satisfies the search intent and move on. Then you can optimize for other technical features like internal link structure and code. First, satisfy search intent, then follow the template.
Contact This BigCommerce SEO Agency to Learn More
This is how content works (in a nutshell) to generate higher organic rankings for an eCommerce website. Regardless of the eCommerce platform around which your online store has been built, it’s a vital component of any organic digital marketing strategy (like an SEO campaign).
The eCommerce SEO experts at Genius eCommerce have been creating custom BigCommerce SEO services for years by working closely with both BigCommerce and its many customers.
If you’d like to see a BigCommerce SEO strategy that’s nearly guaranteed to boost organic traffic and conversion rates for your BigCommerce website, look no further. Contact their BigCommerce SEO agency at GeniusEcommerce.com today to get started with a free SEO audit.
