Both Google and your website visitors appreciate high quality content. To assess the quality of it, it can really help if you ask the following questions:

Is your content written by experts?

Your readers want to know why they should trust your content. You need to come across as both an expert and an influencer on your topic.

Is your content current?

Predicting the result of the 2015 general election is not relevant after the event. If you content is outdated then you may need to send it to an archive section. However, there may be occasions where you can direct your readers to it, especially if it’s still relevant in some way.

Do you cite references and sources?

If you quote research, then link to that research as it helps your credibility. You may also link to other experts and external sources.

Do you encourage readers to post reviews on Google, Yelp and other review sites?

Google notices brand reputation. Reviews enhance your reputation, so work on getting some.

Do you publish content regularly?

Adding new content on a regular basis pleases Google and means that visitors are liable to come back to see what’s new.

How easy is it for clients to contact you?

Contact information creates trust. Make it easy for people to contact you via email, Skype or phone, and if you have a customer service policy then make it clear and prominent.

Do you strictly edit your content?

Content should be simple, clear and elegant. This means editing for style, grammar and spelling.

Do you have editorial standards?

If your content has several authors, then some consistency of style is needed. For example, do your articles need both headings and subheadings? Do you have policies on how numbers are written? Is it one hundred or 100? It will help to have a stylebook to provide clear direction.

Your website is the public face of your business. The message of high quality content is that your business is professional, reliable, trustworthy and honest.

John Murray

John is every inch the wordsmith and loves a game of Scrabble above all else. With experience writing for newspapers, John’s time at university was spent studying Creative Writing – something which comes across in his love of the pun.