How To Write Ranking Content In 2023

To rank well and attract users to your site in 2023, you need to make sure that you are offering value and something unique to users. If you are writing content to cram in keywords or overly sell to one specific demographic, then your whole digital marketing can suffer because of it.

We’ve said for years that you should write for users rather than “for SEO”. This was historically to avoid search engine penalties, but always had keyword densities, positioning and content lengths in mind.

Now the focus has fully shifted to being for humans. This might seem obvious as the human users make the decisions, but we’ve been writing for bots and crawlers for years!

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We probably need to retire the idea of writing “for SEO” now, as this is basically the equivalent of AI generated content. The term will persist, but it needs to mean something else now.

So, what can you do to ensure that your site content performs best?

Use The Data

It is a great idea to fill out your own data sets from analytics, your CMS, polls, etc. This guarantees the content and data is yours.

You don’t have to be overly specific by saying exact figures, but you can enhance your content by letting users know your retention rates, sign ups, percentage of transactions online and many other data points to help create content and help users.

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Utilise Quick Answers

Longer tail content often wins historically, but if a question has a simple answer, it doesn’t need explaining.

You could Google cooking information like how long to make a soft-boiled egg or what temperature beef should be internally for medium rare. This moves the focus from the search result to the term. Generally the longer the search term is, the shorter and more specific the answer will be. You can have a long and detailed blog about the different temperatures or how you came about a recipe, but in these cases Google will only care about the figure of minutes to boil or the temperature figure.

Add Specifics

Following on from the above, you should make sure that your pages give more than competitors.

This is particularly important on ecommerce sites, but it can go for numerous types of listings. If you and 20 competitors all copy the basic manufacturer details, then you’re leaving the deciding factor to things like backlinks, domain strength, etc.

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If users are searching for a specific measurement, then you can beat the competition on these specific terms by including it.

Think Carefully About Your Header Structure

This has been a thing for blogs for a while, and planning out the H1, H2s, H3s is important for this still. But now you should extend this to all pages.

This is another way to make the most of longer term search phrases which some users will type in or ask. You can utilize your top 10 blog to include which one is best for different budgets or needs without having to write the same content over and over.

Use Quotes

Using industry figures and quotes from happy clients is a great way to enhance what you are already saying.

Rather than talking from one perspective, adding quotes about your products, services or company can greatly help your authority.

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Trust Your Information

When you are giving answers to questions, make sure that you are assertive and give definitive answers when possible. This helps increase the chances of ranking on Q&A based terms.

Of course, most SEO related questions can be answered with another question, but when it’s possible, make sure you trust your information and give the best answer.

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