Google tells us all the time to “make great content for users,” but according to Jonah Stein from ItsTheROI, that’s an incomplete statement. Of course it’s in our interests to create great content for our readers; if we didn’t they would have no reason to come to our sites. We know this and so does Google, which is why it’s increasingly frustrating every time the search giant rolls out a new algorithm or update without any accompanying advice as to how to use them besides saying “make great content”.
In a recent interview from San Francisco, Murray Newlands, and Jonah Stein talked a lot about this topic, defining exactly what “great content” is and how to create it in order to take advantage of Google’s latest changes.
To find out more, watch the full interview below:
These are the key takeaways from the video:
- The main talking point throughout the interview is Google — what they do and don’t tell online publishers and site owners, and how to play within their rarely spoken rules. Jonah explains that Google has been telling publishers for years to simply “make great content” and that Google will bring traffic, but that Google has failed to divulge how they measure “great content”. So the question then becomes, “If I don’t know what great content is, as defined by Google, how do I create great content?” According to Jonah, there’s not really a great answer to this question because Google can’t give away the data or insights it uses to develop its conversion testing methods (in the interest of privacy), so publishers are left to try to figure out what makes great content on their own.
- Despite the rather vague definition of “great content” Jonah offers up his tips for content creation later on in the interview. He says that the biggest key is to optimize your site starting at the top of the funnel, rather than the bottom because even if you’re really good at online marketing, you’re still probably converting less than 10% of your visitors. By optimizing the top of the funnel and focusing on the people who are prone to leaving your site pretty quickly, you can offer them more value and watch your traffic, clicks, and conversion rates increase. If you are able to keep visitors on your page for longer and still provide the information or answers they’re looking for, you will also improve your search rankings as well.
Please visit SEJ’s YouTube page for more video interviews.
