Beyond Keywords: Creating Content That Ranks AND Resonates

A common myth in SEO circles – mainly from those not inside the industry but who recognise its benefits as a marketing tool – is that keyword-heavy content ranks well. 

Nowadays, creating content that exclusively targets keywords isn’t enough. 

Google is an increasingly sophisticated and intuitive search engine, with its PageRank algorithm very clued into search intent and marrying page relevancy to each query. Today, user experience and expectations drive page relevancy, more than whether your content contains a plethora of keywords. 

This wasn’t always the case – years ago, sites used to stuff their pages full of keywords and related search terms (each with different search volumes and keyword difficulties) to ensure that Google’s crawlers were picking them all up. Now, that’s considered a spammy practice, and can actually detract from your organic page efforts, as Google considers this a deliberate attempt to manipulate its crawling process. That’s how smart Googlebot has become!

You may have identified the most pertinent terms that you want to rank for, but businesses everywhere need to strike a delicate balance between SEO optimisation and genuine audience engagement.

As a freelance writer, I’ve seen my fair share of content that ranks well and that which doesn’t over the years. A pattern I have noticed recently is that keywords rarely, if ever, play a part in whether a service page or blog ranks high. What matters more is whether the content is engaging enough for that particular website’s target audience.

In short, don’t ignore keywords completely, but focus on providing value to your audience above all else.

So how do you create content that satisfies both aims? How do you ensure it has all the necessary ingredients to rank well in search results while still providing value to your target audience?

Fear not, I have the answers.

Firstly, Understand Google’s E-E-A-T

The days of keyword stuffing and thin, irrelevant and borderline unreadable content have passed us by, at least if you want to try and rank high in organic search results.

Google and other search engines have become increasingly adept at both recognising user intent and measuring content quality.

As such, businesses that rely on organic website traffic need to approach content creation with two main aims:

1. Delivering genuine value to their readers
2. Satisfying search engine algorithms

One of the most helpful tools in helping me create content that ticks both these boxes for my clients is ensuring that it demonstrates E-E-A-T principles.

E-E-A-T stands for:

• Experience
• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness

Google has made it abundantly clear that content meeting this criteria is more likely to be ranked in search results. This means that your content needs to delve deeper than providing surface-level information, and provide genuine insights and practical value to your audience.

Whatever your business sector or target audience, this means that you have to think about more than just keywords. Think about what questions your audience asks, what your story is, what they are looking for, what they consider valuable, and how you can align your products or services to satisfy those aims. Once you figure these pertinent points out, you can then identify search terms that align with your aims.

Understanding User Intent

Before crafting any piece of content, however, it’s crucial to understand not just what your audience is searching for, but why they’re searching for it. 

User intent broadly falls into four categories:

• Informational: Users seeking to learn or understand something
• Navigational: Users looking for a specific website, page or location
• Commercial: Users interested in a product or service seeking more details
• Transactional: Users ready to make a purchase or take action

By aligning your content with the appropriate user intent, you can create pieces that naturally incorporate relevant keywords while providing exactly what your audience needs. This alignment not only improves your search rankings but also increases engagement and conversion rates.

Creating Content That Serves Both 

To create content that both ranks and resonates, consider these key elements:

• Cover a topic comprehensively. This doesn’t necessarily mean writing 2000+ word articles, but rather addressing all relevant aspects of your subject matter clearly and concisely.
• Include supporting data, expert insights, and practical examples to add depth.
• Ensure you write naturally in a way that engages your readers rather than forcing keywords where they don’t belong.
• Structure your content appropriately. Use clear headings and subheadings to break it up into sections.
• Add bullet points or numbered lists to break up your text and make it easier to scan. Case in point!
• Incorporate relevant examples, case studies or anecdotes that illustrate your points and help foster a stronger connection with your audience.
• Break up paragraphs of text with relevant images, videos or infographics.
• Be sure to add descriptive filenames and alt text to your images (as search engines use this to understand their relevancy).
• Pose thought-provoking questions and calls-to-action (CTAs) that encourage reader engagement.
• Use shorter sentences and clauses to make it easier for more readers.
• Add internal links to guides, blogs and articles to related pages where users can find more information.

Measuring Success

To ensure your content is hitting both SEO and engagement targets, monitor these key metrics:

• Organic search rankings for target keywords
• Month-on-month and year-on-year traffic growth
• Clicks and impressions for pages
• Average time spent on a page
• Bounce rates
• Click-through rates to blog posts shared on social media or Google Business Profiles
• Social shares and engagement
• Conversion rates

Use these insights to continuously refine your content strategy, focusing on what works best for both search engines and your audience.

The Future of SEO Content

It’s hard to say what the future holds for search engines and content. Google is always refining its search engine algorithm, and particularly with AI at the forefront of its evolution, content creation could see game-changing developments before long.

However, the line between SEO-optimised and user-focused content will likely blur even further. 

Businesses that succeed will be those that focus on creating genuine value while following white hat SEO recommendations.

Your ultimate goal should be creating content that solves problems, answers questions, provides advice, and satisfies user intent. When you achieve this, search engines will reward you with higher rankings, earning you more users and potential customers in the long run who value what you have to say.

As an experienced content writer, I understand the delicate balance between SEO and engagement. Want to create content that both ranks and resonates with your audience? Get in touch to discuss your next project.