A high traffic article today is different than it used to be and competition is one of the main reasons for this. Established content creators and marketing agencies pull out all the stops when writing content these days because they know that it takes more and better content than the competition to win out in search results. There’s likely already a number of extensive in-depth articles already ranking in Google for the keywords you’re looking to rank for.
Today, content creators must focus on quality, adhere to Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines, and implement effective SEO strategies to ensure their articles not only rank well but also attract and retain readers.
Content Quality
The cornerstone of a high-ranking, high-traffic article is exceptional content quality. This involves several key components including depth, originality, readability, references, factual data and expertise.
Articles must provide in-depth information that goes beyond the surface level. Original research, unique insights, and comprehensive analysis are what’s important. Readers are looking for content that solves their problem, educates or entertains them.
Engaging content is important for retaining readers. This can be achieved through a compelling writing style, storytelling, and interactive elements. Engaging content encourages longer dwell times and lower bounce rates, which since Google’s algorithm leak, we can pretty much confirm are positive signals to search engines.
Readability is another factor. Articles should be well structured, with clear headings, subheadings, bullet points, and in page menus if necessary. This can all help to make the content easy to scan and digest.
Google’s E-E-A-T Guidelines
Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines play a crucial role in determining the quality and ranking potential of an article. Google values content that reflects real life experience. It may seem like a hard thing to get across but I find that once I’ve started writing about a subject that I have direct experience of it will come across naturally. In fact not dwelling too much about the E-A-A-T guidelines is sometimes a good idea as long as you remember that you are striving to create content that adds value and helps your readers.
Expertise is all about demonstrating a deep knowledge and understanding of a topic. If you personally have the experience needed it should be easy to get across. If you don’t you’re going to need to thoroughly educate yourself on the subject and find some interesting slant about it. Citing reputable sources and providing evidence-based content will help with this.
Authoritativeness is established when the author is recognised as a reliable source of information within their industry. This can be achieved through consistent publication of high-quality content, contributions to reputable websites, and positive mentions or backlinks from authoritative sources.
Trustworthiness involves creating content that readers can trust. This includes ensuring accuracy, transparency, and honesty. Disclosing conflicts of interest, providing references, and avoiding misleading information are also important. A well designed, professional website with clear contact information also enhances trustworthiness. But what really sets someone apart when it comes to authority and trustworthiness is recognition from your peers. If you look at the world of link building and authority like the real world, having your peers know who you are and respect you is a great sign to other people. Aim for the same thing when trying to convince Google of your trustworthiness.
Keywords and SEO
While content quality and E-E-A-T are important, a lot of the old ways of SEO still work just as well as they used to. Keyword research is important for finding search terms that have enough search volume but are not too competitive for your website to rank for. Google’s keyword planner is a free tool that helps. Once the target keywords are identified, they should be included within the article. This includes the title, headings, Meta descriptions, and throughout the body of the text. Focus on one or two instances of each keyword and see how the article ranks. You can test to see if more of less instances will work once the contents indexed.
Include as much rich content as possible within your article. High quality images and video produced by you or embedded from other sources will help breathe life into your content. It will take longer to include these features but your competition will be taking that time and so should you if you want to see results.
You can also use off page SEO techniques to help your content to rank highly. A study by Ahrefs.com found that high ranking high traffic pages always have links.
Off page SEO focuses on activities outside of the website that can impact rankings. The most important aspect of off page SEO is building high-quality backlinks from reputable websites. This can be achieved through guest blogging, site memberships and advertising. Don’t listen to SEOs who tell you that your content will attract links naturally. It’s a bit of a myth unless your site is already ranking well in the first place.
Technical SEO ensures that a website meets the technical requirements of modern search engines. This includes a mobile friendly site, quick loading speed for all pages, and a secure HTTPS site with an SSL certificate. There needs to be no crawling or indexing issues which can prevent your site from being indexed,
Creating a high-ranking, high-traffic article in today’s digital landscape requires much more effort than it used to. It involves content quality, adherence to Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines, and thorough SEO practices. The upside is that it is possible to create a high traffic website if you put the time and effort in over a sustained period of time.
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