Google’s has mission: to organize the world’s information. In support of that, Google wants to guide web users to the highest quality content. Google has lots of standards and guidelines to guide web designers and developers, digital agencies, Bend SEO agency groups, and publishers in creating that content. Since publishers provide the bulk of the content online, Google is always on the prowl for ways to make (and keep) the content quality.

Google’s guidelines include webmaster guidelines, content guidelines, and quality guidelines.

As a Bend SEO agency, let’s look at each and see what they matter to SEO.

Webmaster guidelines outline design, technical and quality guidelines that help create Google-friendly websites. These guidelines make sure your website is giving users the information they’re looking for. Also, they’re there to ensure your website is valuable enough to link to. And finally, these guidelines help ensure your website is accessible.
Content guidelines outline the best practices that help search engines crawl, index, and understand your website and its content. Afterall, search engine optimization or SEO is supported by small elements on and off your website that improve your website’s user experience and performance in search results.
Quality guidelines outline the role of content and why creating quality content matters to SEO. But, let’s clear up a misconception with quality content: There are no hard rules. While cornerstone content has now been added in, more content does not mean it’s better. Let’s look at why and get into the meat of this article.

So, why does quality content matter most, and what is quality content anyway? Well, a user search query about something simple can be explained with content that’s more simple. Simple as that. Additionally, an article analyzing how global warming might impair shark hunting would naturally be longer. What’s more, quality content should be relevant, helpful, and informative to its reader. Now, what defines relevant, helpful, and informative content? That’s relative as well. This is where the quality guidelines come in. Sort of. Google’s content guidelines and SEO starter guides are good at defining what not to do, or what makes poor quality content. But what about what makes it quality?

We can think about the answer to this in an analogy. Let’s say we were house buying. And we were looking at houses where the owners had all prepared to sell quickly. They all had new paint, clean carpet, good landscaping, and they were all staged in a way that made them ready to live in. What makes one more desirable than the next from a buyer’s perspective? The answer is the one that offers more to the buyer. That’s how quality content matters from an SEO perspective to Google.

In a sea of brands, content creators and their SEOs swimming toward quality content that users will consume, those that perform better, for longer, win. It’s really as simple as that. What’s better for longer you’re thinking? That, too, depends. What are your website’s objectives? Sales, clicks, views, reads, shares—a little of all or most of these? The content you create, whether it’s the content on your website, the shopping feed your brand produces, or something else, matters to your end goal. So, what is the pillar of quality content we can take from this?

Your website and all of its channels need to have a purpose and they need to be able to be understood— Bend SEO agency, Savy.

In order to do this, you need to understand user intent. Who are your website users and what do they want from your website and its channels? Once you’re able to understand user, or query, intent, you can begin creating the kinds of information that user is looking for. And also, the one Google is likely to serve more of. Because, at the end of the day, Google is trying to match user intent with result.
I’ve oversimplified much of why quality content matters to SEO. And my hope is that you can dig into the guidelines deeper and begin to work through a content plan that benefits your search position. I’d love to hear from you about what makes quality content from your perspective, in addition to what tools or processes you use.

We’ll see you online and until then, happy content creating.—Savy Agency, a Bend SEO agency and digital marketing agency with offices in Santa Barbara, California.