Does Google like your web content?

5 things Google wants from your site’s copy

Remember when all you needed to get people looking at your webpage was a few keywords and some cool images? You know, the good ol’ days when “Ask Jeeves” held all the answers.

My how times have changed.

Let’s face it, these days we’re pretty much at the mercy of Google.

Did you know that 93% of online experiences start with a search engine? Of those searches, Google accounts for more than 75% that occur on computers and over 86% of those on mobile devices.

Simply put, it pays to make Google happy – and great web content is key.

Google uses sophisticated and ever-changing algorithms that reward sites with “good” content and punish sites without it. Besides more techy things like meta tags, backlinks, etc., Google can actually judge whether website content is accurate and helpful, not just stuffed with keywords. Following are five tips to ensure your web copy is good enough for Google.

5 ways to ensure your web copy is Google-friendly

1. Make it original. Like your grade nine history teacher, Google can tell if you’ve copy and pasted your page from elsewhere on the Internet. Paraphrasing is fine, just don’t try to word-for-word it.

2. Keep it close to home. Links to other pages on your site are acceptable, but too many links to other sites could mean you don’t have enough of the answers…or any of them. Good website content doesn’t send you somewhere else. Too many links to other websites tells Google that your content isn’t quite good enough to stand on its own.

3. Find the right keywords and use them correctly. Do your research; target the correct words for your audience and then incorporate some common questions into your writing. This is more pertinent than ever as people increasingly use voice command to conduct searches.

4. Provide enough of the right information. Yes, a picture can be worth a thousand words, but if your webpages are full of images without accompanying descriptions or introductions, Google may not even find them.

5. Make your words make sense. Get to the point, keep it simple and don’t stuff your page with nonsense. Lists of keywords or long-winded, meandering stories confuse your browsers and annoy Google. Remember, actual humans decide what the Google algorithms are looking for, so well-written, informative quality content does matter.

But don’t forget…

Once Google is happy, you must also impress and persuade those people who have found you. Therefore, you need a clean, easy-to-navigate site that informs and encourages browsers to “get in touch today.”

Why not work with an expert copywriter who both knows how to attract clients AND optimize high-quality content for a better Google ranking?

To find out more about our professional web copywriting and other services, click here.