How to Optimize Content for Your Audience, Not a Search Engine
Having quality SEO is a benefit of quality content—not the cause. Great content marketing is created with the audience in mind, providing a great reader experience by adding value. In contrast, too much keyword optimization creates an insufferable, clunky reader experience. Therefore optimization should be mainly focused on reader experience. Here are some ways to improve that area.
The Title
The title of your content creates the first impression, and is the reason someone reads your content. Your goal should be to run right up to the point of being clickbait, without going over. Tip: develop a list of potential titles then select the most popular by committee, or by testing on social media.
Social Share Buttons
As with many things, less is more. Make it easy for your readers to share your great content. The less actions they need to take, the better. Tip: make your social share bar a persistent sidebar, following the reader’s eyes as they scroll down the page. Also, serve canned verbiage to go along with any share. Susanna Gebauer of The Social Ms explains why:
“Your audience is lazy: If I can share a post with two clicks, I might do it—if I need to copy and paste the title, the link and your Twitter handle… do you really I think I need to share your content that bad?”
Pictures
Pics make everything better. By using relevant images in the body of your content, you can evoke emotion in your audience. Visual appeal helps keep a reader engaged. Tip: take the visuals a step further and include a timely GIF.
Layout
Have you ever hear the term “wall of text” used positively? Probably not. Use best practices to make the layout something that draws readers in rather than pushing them away. Tip: use a myriad of sentences, paragraph sizes, images, and sub-headers.
Check out Gebauers’ full insights in the original article below.
About Author
