It wasn’t that long ago that content quality was a mere consideration for brands and businesses that wanted to gain exposure in search and beyond. As search engines’ algorithms were not that advanced, it was easy to trick Google, Bing, Yahoo and others into displaying inferior results at the top whenever somebody searched for an answer to a question or a solution for their needs. As times have changed, however, content quality is paramount to search engine performance – without quality content, you cannot expect to rank well in search or convert users. Because of this need, we have put together a quick check-list of items you’ll want to remember when crafting quality SEO articles that attract users, increase visibility and satisfy those who read them.

Research Keywords

Before you can adequately begin promoting your content via SEO, you must first know what to target. Which specific keywords is your brand most likely to do well in, reach the targeted audience and can incorporate naturally into content? With a list of potential ideas in hand, begin doing some research to figure out the answers to all of these questions. At the end of your research, you should have at least a few ideal keywords that can be used for various articles.

Use Tags and Descriptors

Search engines do not see our websites in the same way visitors do; without subtle clues as to which pieces of content are titles, which pieces are the body and which pieces fall into some other category, Google and others do not know how to categorize it differently. Pinging for SEO in part requires the use of tags and descriptors. Be sure to use the header tags and apply basic markup when targeting local audiences. This will help search engines figure out which parts of the content are more important than others, and which pieces of content indicate a local presence (very helpful with local searches).

Create Emotion, Passion, Intrigue

In large part, you only have a small window in which you can secure the attention span of potential readers or lose them altogether. Pinging for SEO requires a certain technical approach, no doubt, but pinging the interests of readers requires a more abstract handle on things. The article’s title and sub-titles should be action-oriented and invoke emotion or interest at a fundamental human level. In addition to stirring their interests with titles, be sure to include photos or videos that will quickly cause their eyes to gravitate toward sections of the content you most wish them to see.

Share, Share, Share

At the end of the day, your content is only as good as the number of people who see it. While addressing SEO concerns will help your content do better in search engines, you also have a responsibility to distribute it through other means. Your email list may find the latest articles you’ve published to be of interest: find a way to promote them to your audience. Likewise, social media should always be abuzz of your latest additions, as this is how content that drives traffic generally goes viral.