8 Factors That Determine Quality Content for Local Businesses

Small businesses have it far tougher than big brands when it comes to competition, tighter budgets, and a smaller workforce. Yet despite all this, ranking higher in local search results can make or break a smaller business, which is why creating high-quality content should be a top priority. But what does it mean to create quality content? In this blog, we’ve highlighted eight key issues you need to focus on when creating content to appeal to users and search engines.

Why is content quality important?

AI has drastically changed how businesses approach content marketing, but it’s worth the reminder that Google is ultimately looking for content that’s going to provide the best user experience and highest value to someone searching for that specific query. Your content serves as a powerful tool for generating leads and enhancing engagement with your audience. It can also help promote social proof, encouraging people to try your services or products, and boosting conversions.

One: Expertise and Experience: The E-E-A-T principle

Let’s start with a major ranking factor that Google itself has stated is most relevant to content quality: the E-E-A-T principle. This stands for Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. When it comes to creating content for your business, these are the standards it should be meeting.

• Expertise: Make sure your content shows a legitimate in-depth knowledge on the subject matter
• Experience: Are you demonstrating that the author has genuine first-hand life experience with the subject, for example, having used a product or having visit a destination?
• Authoritativeness: Your content should be on an authoritative site, which shows Google your content is reliable
• Trustworthiness: You need to demonstrate that both the author of the content and the site it’s published on can be trusted

With this in mind, here are eight ways to create content that’s valuable, engaging, and SEO friendly.

Two: Use engaging headlines

 Headings aren’t just important for the reader to help them navigate the page, but they also help Google understand what the page is about. And, of course, the most important heading of all is the headline. A creative headline needs to be eye-catching to draw in the reader and encourage them to read on.

Three: Include strong visuals

 Content doesn’t just mean text. It’s also video, images and also the layout of the page too. Think about how you’d naturally read a blog and work from there. It should be well structured, visually appealing, and incorporate clear images or videos that showcase your business or products where possible. Avoid using long paragraphs by breaking text up with bullet points or headings to improve the user’s experience of reading the page.

Four: Don’t neglect to spellcheck

 Google doesn’t like to see content filled with mistakes and spelling errors, and neither do your readers, so once you’ve finished a great piece of content, proofread it. It’s a simple step but one so many businesses fail to do.

Five: Add high-quality, natural links

 A significant part of your SEO and content strategy should be building links to your site, and that’s why developing an authoritative and trustworthy site is so important. But outbound links are often overlooked. Ensure you’re only ever linking to reputable, high-quality sources, and include natural anchor text for your links so as your links don’t appear spammy or out of place.

Six: Know your audience

 Whenever you’re writing a piece of content, you should know precisely who you’re creating it for. Content that comes across as condescending will put off an expert audience, while one filled with jargon and technical knowledge will alienate less experienced readers. Your audience should always inform the content you’re producing – it’s how you’ll build a loyal following and engage with your target customers.

Seven: Think shareability

The goal is to create content that’s going to be shared, so make sure you’re developing content that’s as valuable as possible so your audience will be interested in it and want to pass on the knowledge you’ve given them. Unique, original content that delivers fresh insights or a unique perspective is more likely to be shareable, so aim for this with each piece you create.

Eight: Answer search intent

Relevancy is key in creating high-quality content, so each piece you develop needs to be relevant to the users’ search query. This gives your content a purpose and helps ensure it’s as valuable as possible, addressing a need from the user.

In essence, Google wants to connect users with the most helpful, reliable, and user-friendly information available. By ensuring your business is consistently creating genuinely valuable content that demonstrates expertise and provides a great user experience, you’re aligning with Google’s definition of high-quality content.

At Artemis, we understand the value of content as a part of your overall SEO strategy. If you’re interested in benefitting from our years of experience in the industry, don’t hesitate to contact us today.