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Ask any leading figure at Google Search what it takes to rank well and they’ll all tell you the same thing: quality content. Google isn’t the only player in search but its algorithm still sets the standard when it comes to ranking signals. Recent updates make content quality more important than ever – so let’s discuss the most important characteristics you need to optimise.
You could write an entire thesis on the reasons why content quality is important for SEO. For the sake of convenience, though, we can condense it down into two fundamental reasons:
This reciprocal cycle explains why content is so important, both to search engines and their users. It also explains the advice we constantly hear from Google and other search engines: create content for people.
Content that doesn’t satisfy the end user harms the overall search experience. This is why search engines need quality content and much as the people they serve it to. So, think of it this way: create content for people and optimise it for search engines (to maximise visibility).
The answer to this is slightly different for each page, but there are five key quality factors all website content should have:
The role of these factors has changed a lot in recent years, largely due to improving search technology. Search engines are more capable of understanding keywords but also the needs of users for a growing variety of queries. This means we also have to evaluate content quality with more scrutiny.
SEO has a long history of optimising for keywords but the modern search experience is far more sophisticated. Search technology has come a long way, particularly in the space of large language models (LLMs) and machine learning.
A search engine like Google is more capable of understanding the intended meaning behind complex queries than ever.
Google also has decades of search data with 8.5 billion daily searches constantly adding to the dataset. That’s six million searches every minute. It knows when a user types in the single phrase “pizza,” they’re probably looking to order a pizza in their local area. They’re not after recipes or the genius who invented pizza.
Statistical probability – backed up by huge amounts of data – tells Google to show local results for pizza places.
Beyond the intended meaning and intent of words, Google also knows which results and content types are most suitable for any given query. If a user types “how to…” Google knows to show a mix of video results with blue links, prioritising content with step-by-step instructions.
Increasingly, Google shows these steps in featured snippets or its AI-generated answers.
Modern SEO is about so much more than optimising for keywords. It’s about understanding the true intent of queries, what your audience needs from content, which content format is most effective – and what kind of results they’re going to see in search.
Relevant marketing content matches the specific needs and interests of the target audience. Useful content provides an actionable solution to whatever problem or need they have.
Search engines use language learning models (LLMs) to determine things like keyword and content relevance. However, they also analyse user interactions with content to gain a deeper understanding of how relevant and useful content is for each specific session.
Search engines perform this analysis on vast scales to constantly optimise results. They’re not only reordering blue links, either. They determine whether local results or video content are more useful for any given query and user intent.
For example, when someone searches for “hiking boots,” Google knows they’re probably not looking for a dictionary definition. The keyword implies commercial intent. So, Google is more likely to link to hiking boot category pages on footwear retailer websites. It might also include product images to highlight the relevance of results and encourage CTRs.
When the query takes on a more informational nature – eg: “best hiking boots” or “best ankle boots for ankle support” – the criteria for relevance and usefulness change.
Now, you might see links to forum pages, “best of” lists, video guides and other formats in the mix. You’ll also notice results and formats may vary more across device types.
When a user clicks through, Google analyses interactions to determine the relevancy and usefulness of the content: time on page, page visits, clicks on interactive elements, items added to cart, conversions, video view durations, etc.
Expanding upon the concept of useful content, helpfulness is one of the most important characteristics of quality content. In 2022, Google launched its “helpful content system” and updated it multiple times since.
The helpful content system is part of Google’s drive to reward content created for people. This is increasingly important in the age of generative AI. Although Google is implementing generative AI into the search experience, it needs users to be one click away from seeing original, helpful content created for them.
The key elements of helpful content include:
Google algorithmically analyses content helpfulness but it also has a team of human quality raters. These raters manually assess the quality of search results and content they link to, following Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines. This is where Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) come into play.
The search rating process involves two core stages:
In cases where pages have a clear purpose, quality raters are required to assess the type of page, its purpose and how effectively it fulfils its purpose.
Quality raters manually assess these pages and their content, grading them one of five Page Quality (PQ) scores:
Refer to Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines for more info and take a look at our posts on E-E-A-T for more help with optimisation.
Search engines personalise the experience for users, based on their search history, device, location, filters and other factors. Google started personalising search results for all users in 2009 (users could opt-out) and a lot of SEOs freaked out at the time. After all, how can you optimise for an audience if you don’t know which results they’re going to see?
Well, it all comes back to relevance, usefulness and helpfulness. Personalised search can actually help you target your audience more effectively if you truly understand them.
The quality content discussion usually centres around the actual contents of a page: writing, images, video, etc. Yes, the quality of your content yourself is the most important aspect here, but there’s a catch.
You could have the best content ever created on your website, but it counts for nothing if people can’t access it. If your website is too slow to load or content is blocked by popups, users will never get the chance to judge your content.
Google started ramping up its attack on poor experiences in 2012 with its first “page layout” algorithm update, targeting sites with too many ads. Two further page layout updates rolled out before the HTTPS update in 2014 and the great mobile-friendly update of 2015.
Since then, we’ve had mobile loading times, mobile-first indexing, a popup crackdown and the page experience update creating a unified signal for UX ranking factors.
The list of usability and user experience signals impacting search results continues to grow. At this point, any content quality optimisation strategy should start with a critical assessment of website UX.
Analysing your content for the latest quality standards will raise the bar of everything you publish. Regularly update your existing content and increase the overall quality of your content as your SEO strategy matures. Make this an ongoing process to keep up with quality standards as they increase and evolve.
Incorporate the following practices into your content strategy to create a culture of high-quality content:
At the end of the day, you need to do a better job than your rivals at providing what your target audience is looking for online.
If you need help analysing and optimising your content, our team can help. Call us on 023 9283 0281 or send us your details and our search team will get back to you.
Lee has been working in the online arena, leading digital departments since the early 2000s, and oversees all our delivery services at Vertical Leap, having joined back in 2010. Lee joined our company Operations Team in May 2019. Before working at Vertical Leap, Lee completed a degree in Business Management & Communications at Winchester University, headed up the online development and direct marketing department for an international financial services company for ~7 years, and set up/run a limited company providing website design, development and digital marketing solutions. Lee had his first solely authored industry book (Tactical SEO) published in 2016, with 2 further industry books being published in 2019, and can be seen regularly expert contributing to industry websites including State of Digital, Search Engine Journal, The Drum, plus many others. Lee has a passion for management in the digital industry and loves to see the progression of others through personal learning, training and development. Outside the office he looks to help others while challenging himself, having skydived, bungie jumped and abseiled (despite a fear of heights) with many more fundraising and voluntary events completed and on the horizon. As a husband and dad, Lee loves to spend time with his family and friends. His hobbies include exercising, trying new experiences, eating out, playing countless team sports, as well as watching films (Gangster movies in particular – “forget about it”).
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