What are the content and search engine factors?

When it comes to SEO success, you'll hear this phrase over and over again. In fact, that's why the SEO success factors table begins with content elements, with the first element related to content quality. Proper content will lay a solid foundation to support all other SEO efforts.

Cq: Content Quality

Are you truly producing high-quality content? If you're selling something, are you going beyond simple brochures that can be found on hundreds of other websites?

Do you give users a reason to spend more than just a few seconds reading your page?

Are you offering unique, different, and valuable content that visitors won’t find anywhere else?

These questions are just a few you should ask yourself when evaluating whether you're providing quality content. This is the cornerstone on which almost all other factors are based, so it’s not the place for deficiencies.

Cr: Content Research / Keyword Research

After creating good content, perhaps the most important SEO factor is good keyword research. You want to create content using the actual search terms people are using so you can effectively create content that "answers" those searches.

For example, a page on "How to Avoid Melanoma" might use technical jargon to describe ways to prevent skin cancer. However, if users are searching for "skin cancer prevention tips" instead, search engines might overlook this page or not rank it highly. Your content should be written in the right language (the language your customer or user uses when searching).

Cw: Keyword Usage / Keywords in Content

After conducting keyword research (you really did, right?), are you actually using those words in your content? Or, if you've created quality content without research, perhaps it's time to go back and edit it.

The main rule is, if you want your pages to be found for certain words, you need to use them in the text.

How often? Repeat each word at least five times or, for best results, aim for a keyword density of 2.45%.

No, no, no, that was a joke! There is no specific number. Although "keyword density" may sound scientific, even if you reach an "ideal" percentage, it certainly doesn’t guarantee anything.

Just use common sense. Think about the words you want the page to be found for, or the words you found in your keyword research. Then use them naturally in your content. Usually, when you make second or subsequent mentions, you might switch to pronouns, but instead of them, you can use the original terms here and there.

Cf: Content Freshness

Search engines love fresh content. When we talk about "freshness," this is usually what we mean.

You can’t update your pages (or publishing dates) every day to make them “new” and increase the chances of them being ranked. You also can't just keep adding new pages constantly and think that will ensure a freshness boost.

However, Google has something called "Query Deserved Freshness (QDF)." If a search term suddenly becomes much more popular compared to its usual activity, Google will apply QDF to that term and check if there’s new content available on the topic. If there is, the new content gets a boost in the search results.

The best way to understand this is with an example like the term “hurricane.” If there’s no active hurricane, search results are likely to contain entries from government and reference sites. But if there is an active hurricane, the results will change and may reflect news, stories, and information related to the active hurricane.

If you have the right content when QDF hits the right term, you can enjoy top results for days or weeks. After that, keep in mind that your page may be pushed down in the search results. This doesn’t mean you've done anything wrong; it’s just that the freshness of the content wears off.

Sites can benefit from increased freshness by producing content that matches the current and relevant topics in their industry.

Cv: Vertical Search

Other factors in this table cover the success of a webpage's content in search engines. But in addition to these lists of webpages, "vertical" results are often obtained. These come from "vertical" search engines that focus on specific topics like images, news, local results, and video. If you have content in these areas, your chances of appearing in the specialized sections of search results are significantly higher.

Not sure what "vertical search" or "horizontal search" is? Let’s use Google as an example. The standard search engine is designed to match general queries from a wide range of topics, gathering content from the web in response to various inquiries. This is horizontal search, as the focus spans a variety of topics.

Google also runs specialized search engines that focus on images, news, or local content. These are called vertical search engines because instead of covering broad interests, they focus on one segment, a vertical slice of the overall spectrum of interests.

When you search in Google, you will get results from webpages. However, you’ll typically also see specialized sections that show vertical results deemed relevant.

Having content that performs well in vertical search can help you succeed even when the content on your webpage isn’t as successful. Additionally, by ensuring that you have content that matches the key vertical areas for you, you can achieve excellent results in search engines.

Ca: Direct Answers

Search engines strive to display direct answers in search results. Questions like "Why is the sky blue?" or "How old is the president?" can be answered without the need to click on a webpage.

Where do search engines get these answers? Sometimes they license them from menus or song lyrics. In other cases, they pull them directly from webpages and provide a link as credit.

There are discussions about the success of using your content as a direct answer. Ultimately, if someone gets the answer they need, they may not click, so what is the success of this?

Currently, we believe that sites used as sources of direct answers are successful for two main reasons. First, it’s a sign of trust, as the site can help with other types of queries as well. Second, despite some concerns, there is evidence that actually being a direct answer can drive traffic.