Building a successful digital presence these days largely revolves around the types – and quality – of content you produce. Whether you operate a blog, a video channel, a social media platform or something else entirely, quality content is a key requirement in being successful. With search engines in particular, the quality of content matters greatly.

While ensuring that content is of a high quality is obviously a goal in every situation, how do search engines view “quality”? We know that search engines rank content based on their opinion of it, so understanding what it is that influences that is essential.

Today, we’ll take a look at what exactly leads to content performing well in various SERPs.

Write for Audiences, Not Algorithms

Many people forget that creating good content that ranks well involves writing for relevant audiences. Additionally, many forget that SEO stands for “search engine optimization” rather than “search engine writing”. Each piece of content written should be pinging search engines in a format that absolutely reads well, informs, entertains and/or persuades.

Before you consider any technical aspects whatsoever, write each piece of content (or plan out and shoot each video, etc) for the audience in question. By doing so, you’ll have the basis of a high-quality post, page or other form of content that can then be optimized for search engines.

Optimize for Search

With a well-written or expertly-produced piece of content, the process then turns to optimization. Through the use of meta data, titles and tags, keywords and other forms of on-page SEO, organic content can be transformed into organic content that effectively conveys professionalism and meaning to search engines and its algorithms.

Through the use of keyword research and other effective tenets of SEO, content can be improved upon to incorporate both technical expertise and a human touch for audiences.

Target Mobile SERPs

With more people using mobile devices to search for what they need than desktop and laptop computers, most brands, blogs and businesses now understand how important targeting this traffic is today. Websites that are not optimized for mobile traffic will naturally rank lower in these types of SERPs, meaning that a mobile responsive design is critical to strong content performance.

In addition, the targeting of mobile-relevant keywords may result in different phrases and keywords being used than for desktop searches, so utilizing any number of tools that help discover mobile-friendly keywords is crucial.

Share, Share, Share

Last but not least, a huge component of ensuring content ranks well in search results is the ability to promote it across multiple channels and platforms. While not directly tied to rankings, the more people – whether they be on social media, via search ads or even via email – who see your brand and its content, the more they will be likely to conduct brand-specific searches in the future. This helps further associate your brand with authority and trustworthiness, amplifying its rankings over time.

In addition to that, sharing content across every platform available will also indirectly accomplish – at least for that specific piece of content – what you’re wanting to achieve via higher rankings (more traffic).

Improving your content’s rankings in search results takes time, but creating the framework for future success can be done starting today. With these four tips, you can begin improving your chances at ranking more prominently, giving your content the visibility it deserves.