3 Smart Moves That Bring In More Blog Traffic

Want organic search traffic?

You need to optimize your content.

SEO isn't dead just yet.

While there are plenty of other ways to drive traffic, ranking in the Google SERPs (search engine results pages) for the right search queries can give you a big advantage over your competitors.

Don't worry, though. It's 2017, and keyword stuffing is a thing of the past.

Even keyword density isn't a central concern these days.

In the past, the need to optimize for SEO could mess with your prose.

Today, you can write naturally.

So what features does your content need to rank?

Here are some of the most important factors:

Google is constantly changing their search algorithm.

To make sure you stay on top of the search results page, you need to look beyond today’s tactics and focus on long-term strategies that will keep you on top of search results.

The one constant in the ever-changing landscape of SEO is that Google will always rank in-depth, quality articles over sub par content.

Research by Ascend2 backs this up, with 57% of marketing influencers from around the world indicating that relevant content creation as the most effective SEO tactic.

[image source: Neil Patel]

Here’s how to create content Google will reward you today and for years in the future.

Increase length

It’s no secret that Google rewards in-depth content.

Despite the advice you’ve probably heard about blog readers wanting brief information, the truth is that the best-ranking articles in SEO are long.

The Google search for exercises for strength provides a great example. The top four results are all over 1,000 words, with the top spot claimed by an article that’s over 2,000 words.

[image source: Neil Patel]

You can see this on my site, as well. All of my articles, including this one, are in-depth and contain lots of content.

This type of content is better for use, and thus ranks higher in Google.

Improve readability

This, of course, varies by industry. If you have a B2B medical website selling complex instruments to physicians, you shouldn’t simplify your content for your readers.While Google values length, it also ranks content by how easy your content is to read.

But if you’re using complicated jargon that isn’t necessary for the industry or topic you’re writing about, it’s time to make things easier to read.

One of my favorite tools for this is the Hemingway App.

It’s a free way to check your content’s readability. Unless it’s technical in nature, try to keep your blog articles around the 6th-grade reading-level mark.

Update frequently

The world is constantly changing, and Google wants to present its users with the most updated content possible to reflect this.

To improve your article’s results in Google, you should update them frequently. This doesn’t have to be a difficult process.

All you need to do is make a few updates to the WordPress post, and Google will recognize the changes.

For example, in a search for effective sales copy, this article stands out. It was just published a week ago!

[image source: Neil Patel]

When we visit the article on ConversionXL, we find that it was actually updated a week ago — not published then.

[image source: Neil Patel]

When was it published? Well, according to the metadata (which is hidden from the user, but available in the source code), we find that the article is almost six years old!

[image source: Neil Patel]

Because it’s been recently updated, though, Google indicates that it’s recent content.

This is a great way to keep your content fresh without making constant changes to your articles.