Today it's not about getting the traffic . It's about getting the targeted and relevant traffic. - Adam Audette
More than 3 million blog posts will be written and published only today. Why do you think people might read yours?
Even though Google introduces changes to its ranking algorithm almost every day and it's quite hard keeping at it, there are lots of long-term methods to improve one's visibility in search engines and optimize the organic traffic flow.
This much I can say for now: it's all about quality!
Picture kindly provided by pixabay.com
Content needs to be problem-oriented
If you thought for a second about your own internet search behavior, you'd quickly recognize that the single most important reason why you're actually inquiring a search engine is that: you're having a problem.
People consult search engines in order to fulfill an information demand.
That's why Google incorporated Panda into their core algorithm in January 2016. Before, Panda was a filter rather than part of Google’s ranking algo. Yet, the fusion enabled the assignment of a so-called 'quality score' to web pages.
Now thanks to Panda, duplicate content, plagiarized or thin content, user-generated spam as well as keyword stuffing were punished with downgradings. Thus, any type of content manipulation became counterproductive in the context of optimization.
Panda was complemented by several other updates that in their totality lead to a completely new and more quality-oriented ranking.
What does 'quality' in the context of information search mean?
In the near future the single most important argument for crawlers will be: retention time.
People search content on the internet mostly because they have a problem to be solved.
In this context a problem can be defined in several ways and doesn't have to be necessarily a problem in sense of an inquiry. Being in the mood for entertainment could be also considered a problem here. What they have all in common is that:
The user wants a specific demand to be satisfied.
Now to identify relevance, Google looks at how well a specific page answers the searcher's question or fulfills the purpose of the query. Then, Google tries to figure out the degree of relevance of the page to the query.
The no. 1 critical success factor in this context will be the ability of the page to satisfy the user's demand, measured in the user's retention time.
So it's not only about directing the traffic towards your page anymore, but making the visitors stay for the longest time possible.
In their guidelines Google is telling raters what most of us already know: Content is king.
Only the best keywords won't help you to attract visitors or crawlers; you must have good content that engages your audience.
No matter how excellent your keyword-setting might be, if people don't really find what they're looking for - and leave your page too fast - your rankings will suffer accordingly.
From my personal point of view that's a quite meritorious evolution, since it will foster the production of real quality content. The users and their demand come into focus again.
The message: Make your content valuable responding profoundly to people's needs.
In this spirit: have a great and productive Monday!
Best, Marly -
Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!
PS: Don't forget that this is a troll-free zone.
Original content. Quotes found on quotefancy.com and pinterest.com.