You’ve heard the infamous phrase “Content is King” more than once. We’re constantly reminded of its importance and how much it impacts search engines and the end-user experience. It’s no wonder why so many continue to stress its importance – Statista states that by 2023, content marketing will be a $88 billion industry. In other words, if you want your business to make it in the new digital economy, you must put content at the forefront of your marketing strategy. But what does that mean? 

In this post, we dive into what exactly makes excellent SEO content vs. lousy content and why avoiding awkwardness and bumbling repetition are critical components of a successful piece of content. 

The Problem 

SEO content is frequently repetitive and simplistic to the point of nausea. The writer’s objective is simple, to achieve a density of keywords that will entice Google to show the content higher in search results. After all, that is the point of SEO-focused content marketing, to increase Organic discovery. The repetition is often coupled with a low target reading comprehension level. Why? Research shows that most adults have a basic or intermediate reading level and would have trouble easily comprehending an eighth-grade reading level. 

What that often ends up creating is a piece of writing that is simplistic and redundant. 

The problem is that you aim so low that the content doesn’t lift anyone into a higher understanding of the subject. That means you will lose many readers who are looking for quality information. If the goal is conversions, simply obtaining readers isn’t good enough – the content has to pull them through to take action. 

A Potential Solution for Great SEO Content

Writing doesn’t have to be dumb to be understood, and it doesn’t have to be needlessly repetitive to be indexed by search engines. 

Earnest Hemingway is famous for his clear, concise sentences that say so much while nearly everyone can comprehend them. But no one would accuse his writing of being elementary. That is the goal: straightforward writing that is informative and engaging. In other words, you can aim for a wide-reaching reading comprehension without sounding awkward and basic. 

But what about search engines? Surely they need the repetition in SEO content writing to get results, or no one would write this way. I think keyword density is essential, but there are even more meaningful metrics like engagement and shareability. In other words, if your SEO content is highly engaged with and highly shared, that will lift it to the top of search results far more effectively than meaningless repetition. 

Meaningless is the key operator. Your content can have meaningful repetition. If you are having trouble having a healthy density without simply rephrasing the same content over and over, you need to work on creating meaningful content. After all, meaningful content will last longer, users will share it more, and they will come back for more. 

You don’t have to sacrifice quality for keyword quantity. Meaningful content will lead to more conversions than dull, meaningless repetition. And more conversions mean more engagement, which means better SEO content rankings. 

Takeaways:

• Content marketing seems to work!
• It doesn’t have to be boring, simplistic, or contain meaningless repetition.
• Meaningful content will convert at a higher level and lead to more engagement and Organic reach.  

Read more of our posts on SEO here.