6 questions to ask when creating website content

I’m often questioned about what steps and process to take to rank website content in a search-safe manner.

Most of the time, the question is based around how long should it take for a page or website content to rank in search results.

Often times it’s about how many times a keyword or keyword phrase should be used (i.e., keyword density). While other times it’s about how many internal and external links a page should contain.

Well today, I’m sharing 6 valuable questions to ask when creating epic website content.

Are new pages of the highest quality, written to inform first, and very relevant to a search term?

Start by asking the following questions:

• What’s the point of this page?
• Are you writing the page to game search engines in hopes of capitalizing on increased revenue from substantial organic traffic?
• What if the traffic the page garners is just that *traffic* instead of qualified traffic that converts into paying customers?

Okay, Okay. I’ve peppered you enough with questions, but you get my point.

In short, don’t write don’t to game the search engine, but do write to solve and add valuable content to educate, inform, and engage your readers.

Don’t sell, but do tell.

Do new pages duplicate existing website content?

If there is an existing a page on your website about a certain topic, you may do better by adding and editing content with new or updated thoughts.

It makes no sense to create new pages when you can build existing pages to have additional value.

Are pages automatically generated, with little or no unique content?

Plain and simple, stop buying content from fiverr or any site like it, and article spinning software and services.

Whether on purpose or by accident, content can be written that is similar or exactly alike but with minor changes (e.g., city or service/product name change).

Like those zip, city, and state pages that have the similar content flow or the exact content and images.

This so content trick once worked, but is now considered a thing of the past, so drop the footer-wide links and creatively “repurposing” content.

Is the purpose of this page met WITHOUT sending visitors to another page?

Enter doorway pages and unreasonable redirects (buying expired domains to redirect).

If you’re the party that is using popular keywords to rank on the first page of search results, and then redirect users to a different page than the page ranked, consider yourself done if *when* the search engines find out about your newly found trick of the past.

In addition, this goes for using landing pages that are loaded with keyword(s) to rank well, yet linked to an interior page that doesn’t rank well.

Either way, stop gaming search engines and really provide value to customers per customer preferences.

Will new website content ever pick up natural links?

If the pages won’t be involuntarily shared by your readers and customers, then stop writing or paying for content creation while you’re ahead.

Or if you have pages that don’t show high inbound links (e.g., ahrefs.com, moz.com, www.screamingfrog.co.uk), then you you’ll want to review and possibly restructure the content in its entirety.

In short, when readers and customers find valuable content, they’ll *naturally* share it with the world without you having to ask.

Are these pages more epic and superior than the competition’s present rankings?

Here’s where the rubber meets the road.

Don’t act like a snake oil salespersons, or suddenly find yourself having a bad case of amnesia when answering this question.

Face the music and truth of why you’re writing the way you write.

Yes, I get it.  You want more customers, but don’t we all?

However, here’s the big idea: if you can’t produce content is epic and more valuable than your competition, you’re just wasting time producing a heap of content garbage with keywords salted and peppered throughout.

Study, not plagiarize, your competition’s content and learn a few things about why and how they’re writing website content.  Heck, call them up and have a bit of coopetition.

You’d be amazed at what you’ll find out. Try it out and see.