Insights
People-first content and SEO
In the competitive race to rank well with search engines these days, business owners are commonly falling into the trap of writing their website content for search engines and not for human consumption. The difference may only be subtle but Search Engines are smart enough now to pick up the patterns.
“People-first or Human-first content" in SEO refers to creating content that prioritises the needs and interests of the audience, rather than focusing on search engine algorithms solely.
Google heavily prioritises this user-centric approach that aims to provide valuable and relevant information to the readers.
Part of the People-first approach is also providing a great overall page experience which Google’s core ranking systems are looking for.
Here are some key principles of People-first content for SEO
- Understand your audience
- Write quality, relevant, targeted and engaging content
- Answer Frequently Asked Questions
- Prioritise on solving the problems of your audience
- Focus on your own expertise & experience
- Focus on a great over user experience and accessibility
What are some of the Benefits of People-first Content
- Increased Trust and Credibility: Humanising your content will make your brand more accessible, relatable and trustworthy.
- Enhanced Brand Loyalty: By consistently delivering valuable content, you can build a loyal following of readers who view your brand as a reliable source of information.
- Enhanced User Experience: Tailored content is more engaging, easier to read and provides valuable information.
- Better Targeting and Personalisation: Understanding your audience's preferences and behaviours enables you to create content that is highly targeted and personalised
- Higher Conversion Rates: Writing with your audience and their goal in mind, you have a higher chance of achieving a conversion.
- Improved SEO Performance: Search engines like Google rank People-first content and a great user experience higher in their results.
Content quality evaluation
Evaluating your own content against the questions below can help you gauge if the content you're making is helpful and reliable.
- Does the content provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?
- Does the content provide a substantial, complete, or comprehensive description of the topic?
- Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond the obvious?
- If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources, and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?
- Does the main heading or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?
- Does the main heading or page title avoid exaggerating or being shocking in nature?
- Is this the sort of page you'd want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
- Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopaedia, or book?
- Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
- Does the content have any spelling or stylistic issues?
- Is the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
- Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don't get as much attention or care?
- Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site's About page?
- If someone researched the site producing the content, would they come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely-recognized as an authority on its topic?
- Is this content written or reviewed by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?
- Does the content have any easily-verified factual errors?
How to avoid creating Search Engine-first content
Answering yes to some or all of the questions below is a warning sign that you should reevaluate how you're creating content:
- Is the content primarily made to attract visits from search engines?
- Are you producing lots of content on many different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results?
- Are you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?
- Are you mainly summarising what others have to say without adding much value?
- Are you writing about things simply because they seem trending and not because you'd write about them otherwise for your existing audience?
- Does your content leave readers feeling like they need to search again to get better information from other sources?
- Are you writing to a particular word count because you've heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (No, we don't.)
- Did you decide to enter some niche topic area without any real expertise, but instead mainly because you thought you'd get search traffic?
- Does your content promise to answer a question that actually has no answer, such as suggesting there's a release date for a product, movie, or TV show when one isn't confirmed?
- Are you changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed?
- Are you adding a lot of new content or removing a lot of older content primarily because you believe it will help your search rankings overall by somehow making your site seem "fresh?" (No, it won't)
Summary
The acronym “E-E-A-T,” stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness and is part of Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines.
Demonstrating a good user experience is more important than ever for Google Search rankings.
By following a People-first approach in your SEO strategy, you can not only improve your user or customer satisfaction but ultimately also improve your website's search engine rankings.