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Word Count for SEO: Does It Really Matter?

Every year, Google creates new algorithm updates that keep content marketers on their toes, trying to figure out the secret formula that would send their content to the top of the search engine results page (SERP). Also, some marketers think that writing longer content can help them improve their ranking positions.

Word count has always been considered a contributing metric used by many content marketers to determine the quality of text-based content. In addition to keyword density, word count is also presumed to be a vital search engine optimization (SEO) factor. After all, Google is a machine, so how else would it evaluate the quality of the content? For content marketers, word count is a significant signal that Google can understand.

Is Word Count a Crucial Factor in SEO Content?

Over the years, content marketers debate whether word count matters for SEO. Some believe that longer content is better while others agree that the quality is always superior to the number of words.

John Mueller, Google’s Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst, has confirmed that word count is not a ranking signal in the search algorithm. He specifically stated that just blindly adding text does not help improve the ranking of your content. Google is more about creating fresh, relevant, and high-quality content. While word count is not essentially a ranking factor, it matters for SEO, especially when combined with quality.

In most cases, the longer and more in-depth the content is, the easier it is for search engines to determine the context of the article. Additionally, the length helps search engine bots crawl and construe what the information is all about and rank the content in the relevant SERPs.

Google and other search engines love lengthier and more in-depth articles. However, it does not necessarily mean writing long-form posts for the sake of it. Google is smart enough to tell if your content is a blunder, and so can your readers.

Creating relevant and unique content that directly reflects your post title is the best approach to satisfy your readers. Otherwise, your target audience will get bored and immediately abandon your page, resulting in an unpleasant impact on your reader engagement or SEO.

Also, lengthy content provides ample room for optimization. For instance, it allows content marketers more opportunities to insert relevant keywords, including long-tail variations, without the risk of keyword stuffing. It also enables marketers to boost SEO by working on other essential content elements, such as headings, links, and images.

Most importantly, writing longer posts allows you to delve into the topic in greater depth, tackle the problem and offer solutions than is possible with shorter content. While you can provide answers to some questions with thin content, a longer and more detailed post has more value to your readers.

How Does Word Count Impact Your SEO?

While there is no given specific, optimal number of words that ensures high search results, it does not necessarily mean that it has no impact on your rankings. Mueller may have stated that word count is not a ranking factor, but he did not confirm that it does not affect other ranking factors. For instance, meta-descriptions may not be a ranking factor, but they can influence the click-through rate and prompt prospective clients to visit your website.

A higher word count not only helps you answer your target audience’s search intent but also boosts your opportunity for other websites to link back to yours, which are both ranking factors.

On the other hand, if your content is overly written and goes off-topic, it loses the relevancy of the user’s search. Just because writing a long-form post ensures you have more word count, keep in mind that it does not equate to quality content. Make sure to always focus on your goal—and that is to provide your readers with relevant, engaging, and informative content.

Top Digital Marketing Techniques to Learn in 2022

Every year ushers in technological innovations and new techniques in the digital market. As a company, staying on top of these changes and trends is crucial as it will determine your ability to stay relevant and engaging. With the increasingly competitive industry, quality customer interaction remains your key strategy to stand out.

You can only do so by maximizing traffic, search ranking, and conversion rate through accessible and responsive company communication lines. As search engines impose new regulations, and social media platforms create new options, being updated is vital for your next campaign ads.

So, how can you improve your digital marketing in business? Which trends should you invest in and how can you stay 2 steps ahead of your competitors. Find out the top digital marketing trends this year.

10 Top Digital Marketing Trends

Here is a quick run-through of the top digital marketing trends this 2022:

1. Metaverse

Making a big splash in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg launched this social media platform as a new way for netizens to interact and connect. Mainly using 3D holographic avatars, virtual reality, augmented reality, and video, it provides a unique online experience, where people can socialize, work, and play together from the comforts of their own homes.

And as this medium has been projected to grow for the upcoming decade, it’s best to invest in it now, when ad space is still affordable. This will give you the first-mover advantage, and allow you to offer a new kind of medium for your customers to engage with your company.

2. Accessibility

Inclusivity is key in today’s market. No customer wants to feel neglected and left out. So, even though you’re targeting a specific consumer demographic, you also have to develop products that cater to other people’s needs.

It could be for differently-abled people, pregnant women, kids, and more. For your company to maximize its market reach, you need to innovate and provide product variety.

Doing so will also reflect well on your company’s reputation as it will show your customers that you genuinely care about them. To gain traction for these new products, you can consult with SEO companies for special content development.

3. Gender Sensitivity

With the positive trend towards LGBTQ+ inclusivity growing, as a company, holding on to traditional gender norms should be scrapped. Sticking to it will only project an image of backward thinking and exclusivity that your target customers may not resonate with.

Creating gender-neutral ads and campaigns will prevent alienation, and show the public that you embrace diversity. Using the correct pronouns is also advised to avoid offending your potential customers.

4. Sustainability

With consumers getting more informed about global environmental issues, a demand for better corporate practices has been growing these past years and rightfully so. Conscientious customers are more discerning when it comes to choosing the brands that reflect their eco-conscious values.

However, it is not enough to simply use these values on the surface level for clout, as customers can see through it and view it as disingenuous. So, make sure to commit to concrete decisions that benefit both the planet and your company.

5. Comprehensive Content

Image Credit: Pixabay | Pexels

Content translates best when it’s simple and comprehensive. Using overcomplicated jargon, analogies, and high-end vocabulary will only alienate your audience. With search engines filled with millions of data, being straightforward and clear will make you stand out amidst the digital noise.

Flowery prose will only take away from the point that you want to get across. So, next time, when you’re creating content for complicated topics, make sure to break it down and be comprehensive.

It would also be better if you visualize it through infographics, videos, and graphs. If you’re new to this, you can always contact SEO to help you out.

6. Social Commerce

Never underestimate the power of social media. As the main digital spaces for today’s netizens, these social media platforms will serve as the main channels for discourse and engagement.

For your company to flourish in the digital market, having a business page on major social media channels of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter are crucial. Registering your company in online shopping apps can also foster greater customer traffic.

It will serve as your company’s establishment proxy in the digital world. Paid ads, sponsorship, live streams, and more are also useful digital PR tools to promote your content and expand your market reach.

7. Buffering Your Supply Chain

Stock capacity, especially during the holidays is a problem for any company. However, if you’re a service-based company, then enough manpower should be prioritized. For the latter, aligning your available stocks with the current demand is a crucial planning pre-requisite, as any delay in delivery can lead to unsatisfied customers, which could lead to damaging the brand’s reputation.

So, to guarantee that you can always provide for replacements, returns, and broken merchandise, have a 30-day stock buffer. This way, when you experience shipment delays, you can still have a longer time window to plan out alternatives.

8. Prioritize Consumer Privacy

As Google has phased out third-party cookies to protect customer privacy, as a company, you have to think of other ways to profile your targeted audience without violating their rights. This means improved methods of data collection that value consent and anonymity. Now, this may sound like a tedious process, but CRM tools like emails, newsletters, and social media surveys can still provide quality engagement.

9. Cryptocurrency

Image Credit: Vadim Taranov | Pixabay

Cryptocurrency has rapidly gained value over the years. As customers are looking for easier ways to transact and pay for their items, this economic medium is something to look out for although its compatibility relies heavily on your company’s target audience. So, before you consider using it, try to do some market analysis first.

10. NFTs

As the mediums for interaction continue to evolve in today’s digital world, making a profit out of your content can be quite challenging. As they cannot be directly converted into cash, the value of these digital assets may seem low. However, with the rise of NFTs or non-fungible tokens, you can now utilize your online content as actual market products.

Digital marketing trends in 2022 are all about the emergence of virtual currencies, communities, and space for netizens. The rise of augmented reality has been fuelled by the recent limited physical interactions that the pandemic has caused in the past years.

With that said, these trends can be quite complex, so proper digital market training is necessary for you to use them efficiently in your campaigns.

What-is-Quality-Content-in-SEO

What is “Quality Content” in SEO?

One way to make your business website relevant in today’s market is by featuring blogs. It is an effective inbound marketing strategy worth investment. However, you cannot call random articles you post on your website a “blog.” A blog is defined by original, quality content that stands a good chance of placing your brand at the top of the competition.

The purpose of this article is to enlighten you on what quality content is for SEO and marketing.

What Is Quality Content?

Quality content is essential to SEO success. Largely, it means having content that exceeds your site visitors’ expectations. If you sell online, attract more clients to your website by creating content that gives customers good reason to stay and browse through all your pages. Content is what influences the ranking of your website on Google’s and other search engines. To offer real value and increase your traffic, acquaint yourself with Google’s standards for quality content.

1. User Demands

Search engines check the quality of your content by determining if you provided what the user wanted. The Google’s core ranking algorithm that was rolled out in 2016 changed how quality content was considered regarding user demands. Gaming sites, for example, are ranked highly because they feature fewer texts, but fulfill what most gamers want. Content value is not necessarily about the text, but how the user responds to the content.

Consequently, if you want to rank better in SEO and marketing, understand your target audience and create content that is relevant to them.

 2. Create Attractive Key Content

The part of your website that features the primary purpose of your business or brand (including videos, texts, images, games, or reviews) should be well-crafted and written with expertise. While writing this part, try as much to stay away from using common phrases or content that is already available on thousands of other websites.

Create-Attractive-Key-Content

3.  Supporting Content

SEO demands content that is helpful and tailored towards the main purpose of your site/brand. The body of the text ought to help readers/customers find exactly what they want. Good content provides value to anyone visiting the website and encourages them to continue exploring the pages. One of the best ways to do this is by linking to other articles on your site.

Supporting-Content

4. Site Layout

Quality content and supporting information are not enough to garner high rankings or gain more traffic. How you present content is another determining factor. If your website is difficult to navigate, a user is likely to move to a competitor’s site. For this reason, a website needs design that:

  • Places quality content at the top of the page for easy accessibility
  • Ensures advertisements appear after the main content

Your web pages don’t (necessarily) have to be pretty; if they’re easy to navigate, you’ll get higher rankings.

5. Placement of Ads

Although they do not necessarily affect your rating, how you place advertisements is what matters. Beautiful design and good content should be followed by a clear line that shows what is content and what is a commercial advert. Design and organize your page appropriately.

Placement-of-Ads

6. Article Length

Quality isn’t necessarily determined by the length of the blog or content in your article. SEO is rewarded when you have information on your page that adequately satisfies what the user is seeking. The topic and purpose of the article are big “selling points.” A better way of knowing if your content is long enough is to check those that rank high on search engines (e.g. Screaming Frog).

7. Trustworthiness

Content that reflects expertise and trustworthiness are often associated with high traffic. This is because the two qualities make the information appear reliable. This implies you sell services or goods that are trustworthy. Your content demonstrates that your company is reliable. This is particularly the case with financial, legal, and medical marketing online. This aspect might get you positive reviews, which is a great way of attracting more new customers to your website.

However vague the term “quality content” may be in SEO marketing, it is imperative to: