The world is shifting its focus to areas of digitization, marketing, and branding. What is common and most integral to all of these is ‘content’. Anything and everything is about content and reach these days. One can have access to any piece of information online with just a click, but not all content will get the same amount of hype and attention. In simple words, only the deserving content optimized for search engines and user intent will receive attention and recognition. 

People come up with new content every day. The numbers, people, and frequencies are on a steady rise, just like the competition to get these pages ranked. If one fails to use the right SEO practices and content making strategies, the probability of your page to rank in the top spots of the search engine results page(SERP) will fall. We at Vividreal have a well-equipped team to aid you with profitable and creative content solutions.

Now let us address the elephant in the room and get started by evaluating some issues that are causing the underperformance of your content. 

What are underperforming content and how to detect them?

To keep it basic and understandable, underperforming content is simply content that fails to gather any momentum, growth, or mobility irrespective of the time and effort invested in it. Some content might perform well or average in its initial phase of publication but this might wither away with course. Therefore we could say that time span is one thing that can determine the potency of the content and why it goes underperforming after a while. With increasing importance to content in SEO, the probability of your work to come up in the SERP will also shift with the quality of content that will generate readership.

There are a few other factors that diminish the worth of content.

Irrelevant and trivial statements and information

For example, if you are targeting a particular audience, say women, then if you pointlessly go on addressing matters exclusively relevant for men, it will be of no use. If one fails to post content that is not relatable and irrelevant for the audience and the contemporary span, the content will reap no good. Try looking into search intents and insights to see what generates more demand. Know your market before delivering.

Plagiarised & Repetitive Content

This is firstly illegal and you may have to face penalties for this. Originality should be maintained or it could sabotage your reputation and work resulting in a drop in your SEO ranking, as search engines can penalize your content for plagiarism. Always check for plagiarism in your content before you publish it. Several tools are readily available to check for plagiarism.

Posting repetitive and mass campaign content can also diminish your worth. For example, the recent ad campaigns run by a few brands like Mamaearth are gathering more controversies than good. This is because so many people talk and post about the same stuff and information everywhere and every time. The audience here starts questioning the credibility and authenticity of these campaigns and the content being propagated.

Wrong time and place of content

The issue addressed and the time of publication is important. If you post content with a tag “best places to visit” in the situation of a pandemic, it is improbable that people will invest their time in reading and planning a visit.

Not doing keyword research

The keywords you used could be either ranking low or might have higher competition, leading to pushback of your content appearing in SERP. Look for tools that provide you with keyword score, calculating difficulty level for your keyword ranking based on the current top-ranked pages. You could say the keyword is the king when it comes to SEO.

Technical fallout from google index 

This could be issues like unexpected no-index tag, incorrect tag, change in the page status, or anything that makes your content restricted to the search engines. Using tools like Google Search Console to detect and eradicate these issues will help notify you if they see any issue with your site. You can then review them yourself and fix the particular URLs with issues.

Disorganized and undisciplined presentation

This will pull off people from reading the content. Muddling up data and unsystematic displays will not effectively convey your ideas. It will look like a jumbled jigsaw puzzle. Always research ways to construct the body of good content and don’t miss out on adding graphical data that will make your content look impressive. Too much graphical data could make it look suffocated, so place it safely.

Dubious headline 

A headline or tagline that is absurd or inappropriate to the lead. This generates black labelling to the content or its maker, which will be a hurdle for further growth. Never underestimate the worth of backlinks, meta titles, descriptions, header tags, and anchor texts.

Repetitive and improper use of sentences, phrases, and words

To sum it up, it is important to keep up an impressive format, good headers, captions, absence of backlinks, and subheadings. Make it crisp, precise, and not clump it up. 

How to improve your content

Set a target

For the kind of content, the audience, the presumed growth, and the frequency in which the contents are to be published. Study the hike time, search intents, and then plan accordingly to get more reach. For example, if your content is leisure related, posting it during the weekend will enable more engagements.    

Track your progress

Monitor your insights frequently. This will also help in analyzing and understanding personal growth. This helps in targeting weaknesses and priorities. Google Search Console can aid you in the task of measuring the traffic as well as the performance of your site. Google Analytics gives insights into what brings users to your site and their activities on your site. You can also see your position on SERP and get help in ranking better.

Work on what’s lacking

Work on every single aspect that needs improvement, be it vocabulary, speed, styles, typing, etc. Tracking and insights help in self-validation. This will reduce dependency and increase confidence. Platforms like Google search console, Ahref, Moz Link Explorer, etc will help you analyze your page performance through insights.

Look what’s trending and keep learning

Lookup for similar content, especially the one that pops-up on the top priorities, and try to find what makes them so relevant. Keep track of SEO metrics and ranking history of top rank pages and learn ways to make your way to SERP. Similarly, look out for factors that Google prioritizes to rank on the top of the SERP. Search console training available through online platforms (like Google Search Console, Ahref) will help optimize your search appearance and increase organic traffic. To get more informed decisions that will yield more conversions in terms of insights, get services from our Skilled Google Analytics experts.

Promote your content

This is the most important stage. Shed all inhibitions and brand yourselves. Try using all your connections in the best way to uplift and promote your work. Go on and share your content with your connections. Try directing links of your previous articles to the new readers so that they get to read your other works as well.

Appropriate Keywords and headings 

Highlight the integral parts of the content that will catch readers’ attention. Look up synonyms for common words and use them instead. This will help improve the style of your content as well as standardize your work. 

Meta titles should be given proper attention and should sound unique. For this, make use of effective target words, make them in the right size, neither too long nor too short (within 50 to 70 characters), should be meaningful, and most importantly, it should have the right keywords to highlight. 

Never miss out on doing your keyword research. Always look out for the best performing keywords that you missed out by chance and then try to include them in your content. In case you come across keywords that could be put to use for some other content, note them down and save them (you can save keywords in tools like Ahref for future uses). 

Do not stuff keywords, use them only if you have to.

Analyze the SERP for key terms on insights about your content. There are several SEO tools to guide you through this. You can use Google Analytics for this by going to Acquisition > Search Console > Queries or Acquisition > Campaigns > Organic Keywords. 

Lookup for collaborations

Collaborate with leading influencers or people who can boost your engagements and reach. Always look up to the people who are successful in your niche and learn from their success. It could be a great opportunity since it is beneficial for both parties.

Be authentic and original  

Try not to post about data that requires specialization. Posting generalizing information about things say yoga, medicine, fitness, can lead to controversies that will defame your reputation. Try depending on primary data and avail secondary data only from trusted sources. Take time to research and re-check facts.

Include pictorial representations

Try to include graphics, tabular representations, images to convey your points. This will make the work look more attractive, but make sure that these are self-explanatory or else it will go pointless. 

Boost engagements 

Leave behind some catchy plots or questions that will initiate follow-ups or engagements. This will urge people to comment and share your content. You can ask your readers to share their viewpoints on anything you have discussed in your content or leave behind a question that the viewers will attempt to answer. For example, you posted an article on the importance of leisure in the workplace. You can leave behind a comment, “Comment down below on what you do during your work breaks”, “What are your experiences with working nonstop” “ Have you encountered a situation when your body restricts your need to work”, etc.

Be active on Social Media Networks

This will help you track your work, promote it, as well as help in understanding the recent trends and developments in the online as well as offline networks. This will also help in discovering new possibilities online and boost content engagement. For example, Instagram Stories is one such area that provides the option to carry out several interactions like ‘Ask me anything’, ‘Polls’, ‘Countdowns’ etc. 

Be up to date 

Always freshen up your pages and content, keep up with the changes of Google SERP. Also, keep checking out for crawl-ability and indexability. For this, you can access the URL inspection tool and the COVERAGE feature in Google Search Console. Check if your content is open to view or restricted due to any technical reasons. Review index coverage using Google Search Console to confirm if your site’s updations and latest versions have been reflected in their index.

If you need professional SEO Gurus who can deliver the best SEO strategies for you, get in touch with Vividreal and our team will assist you to increase your competence in SERP.

Staying optimistic is constant. Keep working on your content without diminishing your self-worth. Feel free to distance yourself from things you feel will create a burden for your work life. Demarcate personal and professional space. Keep track of your growth, check your insights, build healthy connections, and stay motivated. Will power, freshness, and hard work are necessities for growth.