When you’re developing content as part of your marketing strategy, it takes more than the right keywords and knowledge of your industry to draw search engines’ attention.
You may have subject matter experts doing the writing, but professional editing and proofreading can make your content king of the SEO mountain.
How does the editing and proofreading your content affect its SEO rankings?
Search engine rankings depend on a variety of factors, and you probably already know many of them. But these are the ones an experienced editor and proofreader can help with:
- Credibility. Although grammar and spelling aren’t hard-and-fast Google parameters, Google sees well-written content as having more credibility. Don’t we all immediately think a little less of content that’s riddled with misspellings, inconsistently formatted or hard to read? Thorough editing and proofreading are vital even for short social media posts of a sentence or two.
- User experience. If the first thing your readers see when they visit your blog is a wall of unbroken text, many will nope right out of there, never to return. But if your content is easy to digest, credible and well written on top of being informative, users are more likely to enjoy and share it because they’ll see it as reflecting positively on themselves.
What does superior content look like?
According to Google’s SEO starter guide, great content is:
- Easy to read. For example, it often contains short sentences and a limited number of long words.
- Well organized. It’s broken into short paragraphs with headings that help the reader navigate the text. It may include bulleted lists and bold text so readers can scan it quickly if they’re short on time.
- Fresh and unique. It’s not just copied from other sites or from other pages on your site.
- Geared toward users, not search engines. Readers embrace content that reads naturally rather than sounding like a list of keywords. They also appreciate content that speaks to them at their level. For example, most U.S. adults read at about the eighth-grade level; you’ll want to aim for your specific audience.
How can you edit and proofread to achieve SEO-friendly content?
Creating high-ranking content takes a bit of work. Here are some tips.
- Look for examples to follow. You can take inspiration from sites whose content is well written and effectively structured (but don’t copy). BreakingIntoStartups.com is a terrific candidate.
- Take advantage of tools. These can help:
• Grammar checker.
• Plagiarism checker.
• Keyword density checker.
• Style guide. - Hire a content creation firm. While the tools above are useful for enforcing correctness and consistency, remember that automated grammar checkers are often wrong and style guides take time to learn. A seasoned editor and proofreader are much more knowledgeable and reliable in these areas. If you bring on a content creation firm, you’ll have the help of these professionals, and you won’t even have to do the writing if you don’t want to.
Summary
It won’t do to put all your energy into the complexities of search engine optimization while neglecting the basics of simply excellent writing. By subjecting every piece of your content to competent editing and proofreading, you can add readability and consistency to your foundation of deep knowledge. In turn, you’ll raise your company’s credibility and attract search engines to promote your content.
