Once upon a time, as Marvel hyped their new movie, Avengers: Infinity War, Google released a very cool easter egg. A Google search for “Thanos” would cause the golden glove with the infinity stones to appear in the top right corner of your browser. Once clicked, the fingers snapped, random search results turned to ash and blew away in the virtual cyber-wind. While this is a cool feature, it represents an organic content marketer’s worst nightmare.
If you are trying to rank on Google, a bad content strategy can make you disappear from your audience faster than Thanos’ snap. A bad strategy could be based on great content, but without taking into account recent Google updates, including AI generative search and infinite scroll, it will fail.
The true inevitable question is: What makes content “good” regardless of the whims and wishes of Google?
Marketers, assemble!
Power Stone: A Strong SEO Strategy
As our founder and President, David J Ebner, said in a staff meeting, “Hope is not a content strategy.” He’s right. You could write the most beautiful, insightful, and earnest blog to ever grace the digital landscape, but without a clear strategy in place, it will not be seen. Like Madam Web.
As of March 2024, the Indexed Web consists of an estimated 4.79 billion web pages. This means one search on Google yields more results than any person could ever possibly see. For example, a search for “content strategy” while writing this blog yielded a whopping 3.28 billion results. Something about a needle in a haystack comes to mind, right?
You don’t have to resort to black-hat practices or keyword stuffing to be seen. If you’re an SEO content marketer, just skip down to the next section (You already possess the power stone, my friend). If not, SEO starts with a simple strategy:
- Do keyword research to identify terms customers look for on search engines.
- Identify keywords your specific audience seeks about your product.
- List keywords with the highest search volume.
- From that list, choose those with the lowest keyword difficulty (we call this the lowest hanging fruit)
- Target those keywords in your content calendar throughout the year.
Consistency is key. SEO is a long game, and success or failure takes a long time to measure. If you need help, there are lots of resources out there to help you plan your content.
For example, here is our version of a content calendar you can download for free. No pressure.
Soul Stone: Stories with Heart
At the beginning of March, 2024, Google released a core update in tandem with a spam update. According to Google, this update aimed to prevent “poor user experience” by deprioritizing content that feels “created for search engines instead of people.”
Google’s Director of Product Search, Elizabeth Tucker, said “We expect that the combination of this update and our previous efforts will collectively reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%.”
Unfortunately, colossal quantities of keyword-stuffed mumbo-jumbo out there, written solely for SEO purposes, remain unfit for human eyeballs. Bad content is wildly unhelpful and only frustrates readers.
The remedy for this is good content that tells a story. Compelling stories resonate with readers long after they close a webpage. The existence of Content Workshop is more or less a testament to this idea. Storytelling connects us all at the most fundamental level, and research confirms that an audience remembers a story better than a sterile list of facts.
The best stories (and content):
- Entertain
- Inspire
- Educate
- Convince
If the blog you’re writing is called “Top 5 Cybersecurity Threats You Should Know About in 2024,” don’t wait until the final paragraph to explain what those are. Longer blogs packed with keywords may perform well for SEO, but readers are more likely to leave your page out of frustration before they get their answer. This is why everyone hates recipe blogs.
Use active language. Get to the point. Be helpful.
Mind Stone: AI Involvement
Recently Google added an AI-generative search feature that summarizes the answers to user searches at the top of the results page. Because of this change, SEO might seem like the wrong game to be playing right now, or forming a content strategy might feel like a waste of time. However, Google pulls the summarized answer from within the #1 search result. This makes it more important than ever for your content to be in the top spot.
AI will continue to change the way we generate content and search for information. However, AI could be as helpful as Jarvis or as sinister as Ultron depending on how you use it and the bumper lanes of human oversight you put in place.
You can successfully incorporate AI into your strategy if you use it to generate ideas or structure outlines. You know—to give you some Vision.
AI should never be the sole creator of content. Think of AI as a high school intern. If you asked that intern to write executive management documents or blogs for your website, you would no doubt have to make edits, right? The same is true of AI.
Time Stone: The Google Infinite Scroll
As the creepy dark-dimension-eyed villain from Doctor Strange said, “Time is the true enemy of us all.” Ain’t it though?
Google released an infinite scroll feature that has saved users time but has both benefited and hurt SEO content. Many businesses used to be obsessed with being on the first page. Now, there is no first page. Your audience can infinitely scroll down the page for information, bettering your chances of being seen. Search impressions are at an all-time high.
So, now the question is: how do you stand out and get the click?
Focus on strong titles and meta descriptions to stand out and not get snapped away in the infinite scroll. Make sure your descriptions are clear and interesting. If you were to only see the meta description for a blog you wrote, would you want to read it?
Reality Stone: Targeting Your Audience
Many companies confuse their central message with their brand’s origin story or lead with an in-depth narrative about their products or services.
Dare to tell a different story.
Make your reader the superhero. They face their own problems and challenges. They may be capable of solving it on their own, but they could use some help. Your solution or service can be their superpower. You can help them fight the bad guys and save the day. Tell them that story.
Space Stone: Distribution Multiple Ways
Strategizing doesn’t end with a good piece of content. Your goal should be to publish your content in as many different spaces as possible.
For example, if you have a fantastic blog:
- Pull impactful data into striking social media graphics.
- Post the blog with additional thoughts on LinkedIn.
- Share it in your quarterly newsletter.
- Ask partners to publish teasers about it on their website.
- Distribute your content on a syndication site like The Juice.
The more engaging make your content, the better.
Whatever It Takes
Navigating ever-changing Google updates can be daunting for content marketers. By focusing on a strong SEO strategy, storytelling with heart, incorporating AI wisely, adapting to the Google infinite scroll, targeting your audience effectively, and distributing your content in various ways, you can emerge victorious in the battle for online visibility.
Remember, a well-planned content strategy is the key to defeating the forces of obscurity and achieving digital greatness.
Looking for a sidekick? Let’s team up.
