Industry: Human resources solutions
Content: News content, in-line images & pull quotes
Highlights: Updated content strategy increased organic traffic 35 percent
A successful SEO strategy is more than keywords and web content. These days, you need to have the full package to get a spot in Google search results and – more importantly – get your target audience to visit your website.
High-quality content writing is the new norm. That means no keyword stuffing, no stitching resources together unless you add an original layer of analysis or a fresh angle and definitely no thin content. People don’t want to waste their clicks on sites that offer little value. They don’t have time for content that doesn’t answer their questions. And because searchers are Google’s customers, Google won’t reward those approaches with web visibility either.
You need to have the information people want, in formats they prefer, using the voice they find most accessible … and it has to look good.
The content marketing triple-threat
One of our clients recently updated its content strategy to reflect the evolving web marketing standards. The HR solutions company had been publishing news content consistently, but understood that in addition to the information and voice, web users increasingly care about the way articles look. We upgraded the strategy to add:
- In-line images (Pictures, graphs and illustrations within the body of the article)
- Pull quotes to highlight important information
- A more academic tone in the writing
The winning combination of visuals, refined content style and useful information meets readers’ heightened expectations of the sites they visit online.
Updated content strategy brings more visits, more qualified visitors
The impact was noticeable within just a few months of launching the new-and-improved strategy. The HR solutions company is now getting 35 percent more organic traffic to its news stories. Not only that, but:
- 40 percent of the traffic to the website enters through news content
- Visitors spend about 10 seconds longer on news articles than other pages
- The exit rate from news content pages is below the site average
These results are a two-pronged success. It means the company is bringing in more of its target audience with the content it’s publishing, which increases brand awareness and provides a bigger pool of potential customers. However, the rising engagement metrics imply the audience is also very interested in the content and are more qualified to start. The more qualified the visitor, the greater the chance they’ll convert into a warm lead and eventually a sale.
Is your content optimized for users AND search crawlers?
By making content strategy improvements to the sound and look of the articles it was publishing, the HR company greatly increased its potential for online ROI.
Marketers should take note as they look at their own websites. Are articles optimized for users just as much as they are for crawlers? Could you make it more visually appealing to readers? Is there a way to make sure prospects find the information they need? Even small strategic changes can have a major impact on the bottom line and demonstrate broader business value.
For more about content writing strategies that drive results, check out these related resources:
