How important is original website content for your Google ranking?

Google and other search engines have a list of factors that impact on where your website will rank among search results. One of the most important and diverse factors is the content you provide. As well as the keywords you use and how much text you provide on each page, the uniqueness of your content is also an important factor. In fact, according to the Google Search Quality Rating Guidelines from 2017, the quality of the main content of a website is the most important factor when establishing its level of quality and hence the location of where it will be ranked in search engine results.

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In other words, the more quality time and effort you put into creating a website, article or blog post, the more you will be seen as an expert in the field, resulting in higher rankings. Plagiarizing or simply adding text via copy and paste from other websites is an absolute no-no if you want your website to be listed on Google – let alone in a prominent place. Publishing new, authentic and original content on a regular basis is the best recipe in terms of search engine optimisation (SEO). But how do you ensure your content is original?

Original content

Let’s face it, unique ideas are hard to find these days. You can’t re-invent the wheel and depending on your business or industry, you may find that the topics you could write about are rather limited. There’s not much that hasn’t been said on the world wide web before. So how can you produce original content? What does this phrase actually entail?

Unfortunately, original content means exactly what it implies; that the stuff you are writing about has never been published in exactly the same way anywhere else on the internet. But there’s no need to despair. Even if you are about to write an article or a blog on a topic that has been produced a million times before, you can still make it original with a few simple steps.

Research keywords

Having a good SEO strategy in place can not only help you create original content; it will also ensure your website appears first in search results because you are providing a solution to people’s problems. In order to do so, you need to know what people are searching for in terms of your industry or business. By performing a keyword search you will come up with a list of terms or phrases people generally search for. Ideally, you will then be able to produce a unique story around these keywords.

Twist it

It’s all about angles. Have a look around at how other writers have dealt with the subject matter, and then take your own twist on it to make it unique. Add your own views or commentaries, find an angle that hasn’t been highlighted, add some new information and be creative when it comes to piecing it all together. Use your own style, for as long as what you write hasn’t been written in the same way before, your content will be regarded as original.

If in doubt, you can search the internet for similar content using sites such as Copyscape. Simply type in the URL of your website that you’d like to have checked for originality and the tool will list any source that might put you at risk of plagiarism or duplication.

Target it

The topic you are going to write about may have already been exploited to the max, but you can take a new spin on it thinking about your audience. Who do you want to target? What do you want the people to do after they read your website, article or blog? Do you simply want to give an overview of a subject, maybe provide an update? Is your goal to simply increase the number of readers or do you have a call to action such as getting your audience to engage with you or purchase your goods and services? Knowing who you write for will help you gain new ideas and give them a personal touch.

If you have any questions about publishing original content for your website, please give us a call today. Here at Energise we specialise in quality website copywriting. Our creative team is happy to provide you with SEO-friendly articles that will help increase your traffic.

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