How an SEO Consultant Can Help with Long-Form Content
In the world of digital marketing, content is king. Beyond providing value to your potential customers or clients, having strong, well-written copy on your website can help you from a search engine optimization (SEO) perspective. No matter what your industry may be–whether you provide a service or operate an e-commerce business–the words on your page matter, and the form that content takes is crucial to your site’s placement on search engine results pages (SERPs). Working with an SEO consultant can help you design content that is relevant, keyword-rich, and trustworthy. One common question among site owners, however, is just how long should that content be?
One aspect of digital marketing that business owners often overlook is that you have to consider who the audience for your content is. Snappy marketing lines and to-the-point stabs of text may look great from an aesthetic point of view, but are your customers getting the information they need? Are you presenting yourself as an authoritative source? It is with this in mind that long-form content is proving to be an effective SEO tool.
Why Long-Form Content?
With the proliferation of social media, the sheer volume of information that users consume can be staggering. Think about how you scroll through Twitter or Facebook–you are digesting short, quick hits of content and moving on to the next item. Viral TikTok videos are often clocking in under 10 seconds. All of this goes to say, with attention spans seemingly dwindling, the temptation to produce clipped, concise content is understandable.
But is that the best approach for SEO? Not entirely.
Long-form content is, as its name would suggest, lengthier by design. Typically, a copy that extends between 1,000 to 7,500 words is deemed long-form. While that sounds like a lot of text–and to an extent, it is–that volume of words allows you to execute some effective SEO strategies.
For one, with a higher word count, there is more opportunity for keywords. As a building block of SEO, keywords are crucial to how Google and other search engines will rank your pages. With more text to crawl, you can organically insert keywords into your content.
Authoritativeness is also a cornerstone consideration in how Google ranks websites. By having well-written long-form content on your website, you can demonstrate expertise and authority in your industry.
With longer articles, there is also more room for internal and external link placement. Links to reputable sources will strengthen your SEO, and internal links can be an effective way to keep users on your site and, in turn, lead to more conversions.
Creating Credible and Evergreen Long-Form Content
It is in the best interest of your business to present yourself as a reputable, credible resource. There are a few ways you can do this. One aspect to consider is: who is producing your content? Make sure you have authors who understand what they are doing. If you are producing legal articles, have them written by someone who went to law school. If you work in the health industry, it is helpful to generate content from medical professionals.
Evergreen content, which is content that is always relevant, is also your friend in the long-form world. If this content can also easily be refreshed, that is even better. An example of this would be an annual list of trends. You easily go from 2022 to 2023 with some minor tweaking and, as a result, generate new traffic.
So, how can you execute long-form content on your own? A good place to start would be assessing what is already out there. Who is currently ranking in the space you would like to occupy? What are they talking about?
Remember, you do not need your content to belong just for the sake of being long. It has to provide user value and be written with SEO in mind. Long-form content can also apply to marketing strategies beyond page copy–YouTube videos and podcasts are increasingly effective promotion tools, and they may present avenues worth consideration.
Working with a Top SEO Consultant
When assessing your overall digital marketing strategy and determining the viability of creating long-form content, there are some things you will need to think about. For one, do you have the resources available to effectively accomplish your long-form content goals? In other words, do you have access to knowledgeable copywriters and bloggers? If you view yourself as a strong writer and wish to produce your own content, do you have the time to do it?
A simpler option may be to work with an SEO consultant that features a strong track record of success. We can help you design and implement an SEO strategy that is tailored to the needs and goals of your business. To learn more, call us today at 213-322-0770 to schedule an initial consultation.
