How to Create Awesome Content That Attracts Quality Links and Improves Ranking on SERPs

Content tops the numerous ranking factors that determine the SERP of a site. Not just any kind of content, but unique and informative.

With great content, you can reach the audience on social networks, and thus, expose your business. In return, you will earn some quality backlinks. Moreover, by providing helpful information to readers, you can get them to stay longer on your website as they will want to consume more of what you have on offer.

In a nutshell, these are the major advantages of having a top-notch content. However, creating it is easier said than done. To come up with amazing content which readers and search engines cannot get enough of, here are the steps you should follow.

1. Do a Keyword Search

This is to help you match content to search queries, and hence, provide some that people actually want to read. Site owners often fire blanks by writing about issues that they believe will interest readers, without first researching to be certain what is actually in demand. You need to avoid this huge mistake.

If people find your content worthless, they will quickly leave your site thus showing to search engines that it’s either irrelevant or of low quality. Consequently, search engines will degrade your site’s rank, making your efforts useless.

Here is how to go about finding keywords to base your articles on:

- Find out from your email subscribers what their main struggles or interests are, and use this information for your articles. You’ll be surprised at how different their responses are from what you expected to hear;

- Use the popular posts on BuzzSumo to get an insight on what readers are interested in reading about in your niche topic;

- Check out Answer the Public and Keyword Planner to find the most frequently asked questions to write about and most searched words respectively;

- Use Quora and Reddit to find questions that keep popping up in your niche just because people feel that the answers provided are unsatisfactory or overlooked;

- Scrutinize the comments left on both your posts and the posts on other sites to find similar questions that readers seem to ask the most;

Read through the content section of Wikipedia articles and pick out words that resonate with your topic.

2. Find LSI Keywords

Take it a step further to find phrases or words that relate to your main keyword to help search engines better understand your content. For instance, if your topic is “online marketing,” some of the LSI keywords will be ‘online marketing strategies,’ ‘internet marketing websites,’ ‘website marketing services,’ ‘SEO marketing companies,’ ‘best digital marketing and online advertising.’ Google’s RankBrain algorithm, which is set to process 100% of queries, will recognize the user intent to give you the most relevant result of your search.

You can generate these keywords from an LSI graph, keyword planner, or type your primary keyword in Google and afterward check out the related searches at the bottom of the page.

3. Write Interesting Long-Form Content

Now, go ahead and write a unique, helpful and engaging long-form article of 2,000 words and above. People prefer linking to long-length content because they believe it’s more comprehensive and more helpful. Besides, Google ranks higher sites with long articles for the same reason.

To start, first come up with a catchy headline that will compel readers to go ahead and read your article. It should be in a list format since, according to a BuzzSumo study, list articles do gain more backlinks and shares than other forms. But if you feel that the list format isn’t suitable for your article, then you can opt for either “why” posts, “how-to” posts, or infographics as they also provide high results.

And as you write, remember to sprinkle the LSI keywords throughout the article. More so, make the content much easier to read by breaking it up with subheadings.

4. Add Quality Links

Incorporate external links to content on authoritative sites that relate to your topic. You can find them on BuzzSumo by just searching your main keyword. The search results will bring up the top rated websites in your niche.

Check them out to find linkable content that can add value to your site. Don’t forget to find the names and emails of the website owners. After linking to their content, send them a message and inform them about your related article and how you’ve mentioned them in it. Politely ask them to share it with their audience.

This will expose your content to a huge number of people who might also share and link to it. Quality backlinks are important in SEO because Google uses them to determine the authority of a site. Basically, if your content is worth linking to, then it’s great content that deserves a high SERP. A rank 1 site will have about six times more links than site ranked 10.

Also, link your content to other articles on your site to keep readers on it. In fact, the longer they stay, the lower your bounce rate will be. This will show Google that your site provides relevant content, and deserves a high SERP.

5. Enhance Content Quality with Visuals

Use high quality and colorful images in the articles to make them more compelling and easy to understand. In fact, content with images, videos, and infographics can increase not only the readability rate but also the number of shares.

Through their captivating nature, visuals can entice readers into reading the entire post which in turn can increase the dwell time on your page.

Writing amazing content can be time consuming, but , the benefits are worth the effort. Follow the steps provided in this article to come up with content that will earn you many reputable backlinks which, in turn, will contribute to an increase in your site’s rankings.

Featured Image Credit: Pixabay