If you want to do SEO, start with high impact content
There are literally billions of posts about SEO – all sharing their own advice and wisdom on how to do it. How do you how to pick which strategy to use and apply? Truth is I don’t know, as there is a lot of conflicting advice. But the one thing that does seem consistent amongst SEOs is the stated importance of great content. Google ‘content is king’ and see for yourself.
Why is content King?
Many reasons – but the one thing that should be obvious is that it is easily readable and ‘makes sense’. Great content is more likely to be shared on social media platforms and linked from other web sites. This is good for SEO.
There is an even more important benefit of great content. That is the lexicology of it. Great content tends to have lots of interesting keywords that are semantically linked. For example the word doctor is often linked within the content with the words medicine, or hospital or nurse. The semantic links add context and enrich the content. Search engines love this and people using search engines do too. Great content is therefore more easily searchable and more easily findable.
Why high impact content?
We’re moving onto the next level with this. Great content isn’t high impact content unless it has an effect on your reader. That effect should provoke them to share and comment and shout about your content. High impact content is amplified by the actions of the other people. High impact content will reach areas that plain old content just won’t get to! Now do you get it?
But what is high impact content? It could be about anything quite frankly but it needs to cause a reaction in your audience by hitting the emotional triggers. Have you seen the commercials by charities asking for donations? Their tactic is quite clear – get you in your gut. It’s why they show footage of starving children and abused animals. Guilt. And have you seen the commercials of flash sales and limited stock offers? They tell you to hurry and order quickly before their stock runs out. This is fear of missing out – another emotional trigger. This content (because that’s what it is) is high impact because it causes you to take action, or in the very least, feel something (and later take action.)
High impact content cannot be dull – it has to provoke a response. It doesn’t even need to provoke an agreeable response! Controversial bloggers and tweeters (President Trump as a great example) have many detractors, but a negative response amplifies content just the same. The reaction is important – more important than the content.So take this lesson and apply it in your SEO strategy. Great content is a good start but high impact content Is far far better. You could start with an experiment; take an old post that is performing badly and rewrite it to be more controversial. Hit the emotional triggers. Then re-post and re-share. How does it work for you?