Remember, in today’s busy lifestyles, everyone needs to skim or read through articles, blog posts and web page content quickly. You can capture the reader’s full attention by producing engaging, compelling text that sells products, services and website memberships.
To create authority content that is relevant for 2023 and years beyond, you must perform proper and detailed research. It is essential to start with research from authoritative sources. You must include updated, correct facts and statistics in your content.
What’s more? We’ll discuss that further in this post!
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What Is Authority Content?
First, let’s see what comes to your mind when you hear authority content. Is it a search engine? Or is it SERP ranking? Many people out there believe that creating authoritative content is all about creating content according to search engines for better SERP ranking. But is it so?
Creating authority content is entirely different from what you think. It focuses on the quality of the content and shows your expertise in the field rather than you saying it.
(Source: Google Images)
For example, we all know Google is the biggest search engine. Did Google say that? No! Google themselves didn’t mention it, but they showed it to their audience by introducing novel and different features.
The main idea here is to show that “Action Speaks Louder Than Words.”
So, when you create authority content, you shouldn’t say you are providing the best information. But people should understand it by reading your content. And when people choose you over your competitors, you know you’ve got the job done.
While the quality of the content matters, the consistency with which you produce your content also is essential. You can choose to create 12 new blogs and 12 repurposed blogs in a year, but that should be steadily shared in a consistent manner.
Authority content should not contain any mistakes and have trustworthy information backed by data. This content can give you a leading spot in your field, making audiences flock to your website.
Overall, the main aim of authority content is to consistently create and distribute valuable information to their audience that should build awareness and engagement among them.
What Does It Do?
Through authoritative writing and creating an authority content, you can expect to help yourself in different ways:
Demonstrates Your Expert Knowledge in The Field
You build your authority when you focus on one thing and try to excel in it. Let’s say you are a copywriter. You are expected to write on different topics, but your strong point is writing about finance. Soon you switch to a business where you only have to write about finance-related topics.
You’ll put all your knowledge into your writing and back it up with relevant data. If you do well and your audience likes you, you can also publish your own books for them. Here you are demonstrating your expertise not by telling but by giving out works attracting more audience towards your content.
Empowers Your Audience
There is no doubt that creating content is for your audience. On the other hand, creating authority content is specifically for the needs of your audience, which also provides them with a solution. By getting access to authoritative content, your audience will feel powerful with a feeling that they know that they are reading the correct information, which is easily understandable to them.
Uplifts Your Content Authority
Nowadays, creating content is about more than just writing a blog just for the sake of it. Now, the content you create should have the power to attract more people to your site and business. And this is only possible when you create authority content.
There is no doubt that creating content is for your audience. On the other hand, creating authority content is specifically for the needs of your audience, which also provides them with a solution. By getting access to authoritative content, your audience will feel powerful with a feeling that they know that they are reading the correct information, which is easily understandable to them.
The more informational and reliable content you create, the more people will rely on your content. Once your audience believes you hold authority, they will share it, and you’ll get the attention you need.
Important Elements of Authority Content
While the marketing team of your company can help in advertising your products and services, it is the writers who can attract more readers to your website. The more engaging, informational, and authentic your content, your website has more chances of gaining organic traffic.
It is the duty of a writer to create uncomplicated and easily readable content so that the readers can easily understand what message your website is trying to convey.
Here are four important elements that writers should make a note of.
Trust: Trust is crucial as it shows that your website is reliable. The more informative and accurate information you provide, the more audience you will get. Therefore, make sure that the information you are providing is always backed by some relevant proof and data.
Quality: Apart from trust, the quality of the content is something that matters a lot. You can produce ten blogs, but will it be helpful if they don’t have the right quality? No! Therefore, building content authority SEO is about quality and not just quantity. If your content is of high quality, it will engage the readers for a longer time.
(Source: https://www.seobility.net/en/wiki/Dwell_Time)
Online readers don’t really care if you’re using high-end and sophisticated language. Still, there should be no sentence construction or grammatical errors, and it should match your website’s writing style.
Influence: Trust and influence go hand in hand in the field of content. The more trustworthy your content is, the more you can influence your readers. To influence the readers through your content, mention credible sources, including the correct facts, and use reasonable arguments.
Branding: By writing meaningful content and creating your own label or brand, you will be able to get more readers attention and trust. Your brand will make them follow actions related to your brand, increase your authority and lead to gaining new customers to your website.
Why Do We Think Content Authority Is Important?
You now know that authority can greatly benefit your business growth. But why is it so important? Content authority is not just about pretending to be credible and trustworthy; you must also prove it. When you are credible, it can help you in many ways:
• It can make your content easily found on search engines.
• It can offer new clients for your business.
• It can expand the reach of your audience, leading to more readers.
• Finally, more users will look for your content online.
Authoritative writing is not a difficult deal. You just need to be mindful of how you are going about it. There are certain factors that you should make a note of prior to creating the content you want.
Checklist for A Way To Authority
Before we move on to creating authority content, you should know the major factors contributing to it being an authority. This will help you understand what to include in your authority content when you start creating one.
Core Authority
Core authority comes first and shouldn’t be ignored in any case. Here the idea is to comprehend your target market’s problem and know the solution for them. This can easily be done if you have the required knowledge and skills in your market.
You can rely on those with years of experience working in your field and know the potential problems the clients may face.
At any moment, if you feel that you do not have enough knowledge or are not able to provide solutions to the problems your clients are facing, it’s best to dig a little deeper and learn more about your industry. You can also get someone to work with you who has achieved the most level of expertise in the field.
Knowing more about your industry and your audience is important because you can only prove authority when you have something authoritative to provide.
So, how do you establish long-term core SEO relevance and authority?
• Have a comprehensive knowledge of your industry’s market and know about the problems that occur.
• Have solutions in the form of blog posts, videos, emails, podcasts, and other forms of content. Your audience will know that you understand their challenges and thus will make efforts to explore you more.
Website Authority
The second on the list is website authority. It is an unsaid need to improve your website to give your users a better online experience.
Since Google is so widely available now, before joining any business, the first thing clients will do is Google your business. They usually do this to understand your business and whether you can cater to their needs.
For this reason, you will need to have all forms of the content on your site. These content forms should be put out professionally on your site, showing what possible solutions you can offer.
An “About Us” page can do the job for you. However, it strongly matters how you create it and what content you add to it. If your “About Us” page is simple and plain, it will not serve its purpose. Your audience will simply scroll down and move away from the page.
On the other hand, if your page is written in the form of a compelling story with a journey about how your company came into being and the experiences, it will turn out to be more investing, and your audience will engage with it more.
(Source:https://www.webdew.com/blog/about-us-page-examples, https://www.nngroup.com/articles/about-us-summaries/)
Website authority is basically about how you present the information to your audience. And creating a story is just one part of it.
You can also go for a sleek and professional-looking website where you can divide the content into parts. This will make your website look neat and encourage people to go through it.
(Yellow co. is a good example for a professional looking website)
If people are unable to follow and identify that the information is coming from the same site, then there’s no purpose in creating a large body of informative content.
So, give your website’s design and layout some attention. Invest in it, test it out, and give it an extra finish.
Social Authority
Finally, we have social authority. This proves that you are providing authoritative content. But how is it done?
Usually, any recognized source or your customers will speak out about your business and that you are an expert in the field, and more people should give you a chance.
Case studies and testimonials are great examples of this.
While reading case studies, your audience can come across similar problems they have faced and how it was dealt with.
Let’s say you have a fitness website. A new mom visits your website in the hopes of losing weight in after giving birth. She browses your website and comes across a case study where your existing customer talks about how you helped them lose postpartum weight.
This case study shows that you have the capability to solve the problem the visitor is facing through a third-person view.
Similarly, testimonials act the same way, where your customers will talk about you and how you were a help to them. You can highlight the good testimonials on your site so more people trust you and see you as an authority.
(Source: https://blog.appsumo.com/testimonial-examples/)
There are websites, such as Yelp, where customers look for reliable services. You can ask your customers to leave good reviews for your business so more customers can come to you.
While written testimonials can get the work done, you can also insist your customers to record their testimonials using video testimonial templates. Video testimonials can be more reliable compared to written ones and will successfully attract new traffic to your website.
To demonstrate your social authority, you have to prove that other people already know, prefer, and trust you.
You can also link your website to your social media profiles and be active on it. Create more content for your audience on social media and try to get as many followers as you can. The more followers you have, the more trustworthy you will be seen as.
Steps To Build Authority Content
You now know how important authority content is. So how do you create one? Here are the steps we have mentioned that will help you do so.
Aim To Address Your Audience’s Problems And Give Answers
As we discussed earlier, building authority content is all about catering to your audience’s needs. If you cannot do this, you won’t have much chance to build authority in the market. Audiences usually prefer those who can give them the information they are looking for and end up relying on those brands.
Therefore, make sure that you are able to show that you are providing all the answers your readers are expecting. This way, you can build value and authority while also spreading awareness about your brand.
Google plays a huge role in showing readers which brands could be the most helpful for them when they enter a query. If your brand comes at the top of the SERP, readers will know that you are the best option for them, which is why Google is suggesting you.
For instance, your readers want to know about “link-building tools.” They enter the query, and Google comes up with a list of blogs on link-building tools.
So how do you get your content rank on the first page? You need to use the right keywords, preferably on the metadata.
When readers read through these blogs, they will also browse through the tools these brands have provided, making them a trustworthy source of information.
To make sure you are using the right keywords for your content, conduct keyword research. You can use tools such as Ahrefs to find the keywords that are ranking well and that you can use in your content.
To start with your keyword research on Ahrefs:
Step 1: Open Ahrefs and go to “Keyword Explorer”
Step 2: Enter the keyword you want to do a research on and hit the search icon
You will see multiple ranking keywords as well as other related keywords you can use in your niche.
If you are not very sure about which keywords to use, you can use Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator.
Just type in Google search bar “Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator”
Enter the primary keyword as well as select the country and click on “Find Keywords”
Soon you will get a list of keywords as well as questions you can use to create your content.
You can also use Answer The Public, which will provide you with a question to which most readers are looking for an answer.
Go to “Answer The Public” site.
Enter a topic in your niche. Select the country and language and click on “Search.”
You will see a number of questions your target audience want answers for. You can use these questions to create content around it.
Identify and Track Your Competitors
Before you start creating your content, it is important that you know how your competitors are performing. You should start by analyzing your competitors in your industry by looking at their:
• Blogs that have received the most number of views,
• The influencers associated with the company,
• Their writing style, whether it’s easy to understand
• The list of their most famous posts
• The terms they use
• The kind of audience that is more engaged with their content
Analyzing your competitors cannot be simply done by a simple Google search. Instead, you will have to use different tools to learn about their content in more depth.
You can use Article Insights, which will give you a curated list of your competitors and their content based on the keywords you choose.
You can also access each competitor’s website and scroll through their content to know what kind of content they are creating, the elements they include, and how they make their content engageable.
Make sure you are just analyzing their content to get an idea of what your audience might want. Now put in your unique ideas and creativity and deliver the content that your audience is looking for.
Specify Your Topic
When you are trying to write about your niche in one content form, it can be quite a task. This is because you cannot cover everything about your niche in one blog post, video, or podcast. And even if you do, it will not be very easy to understand, and the information can go all over the place.
So what can you do? Work on one topic under your niche at a time.
Let’s say; for example, you are in the fitness industry. If you write about fitness as a whole, the content can become too generic, and you cannot cover the different topics that come under fitness.
But if you create multiple contents based on different fitness topics, such as “30 Minutes Workout Routine For Beginners” or “5 Budget Friendly Healthy Pre-Workout Meals,” your audience can easily navigate to the information they are looking for, which will be focused on their problem.
When you are looking to build authority content, you must deliver informational content where you can do in-depth research on the topic. This will ultimately lead to more detailed content that will be convenient for your audience to go through and will also be easily understandable.
There are certain checklists that you need to follow to create in-depth authority content:
• Do not write on a general topic as it will be difficult to find the most accurate information leading you to waste extra time researching.
• Do not create your content around a topic for which you cannot find informative and correct references.
• Make sure to break down your topics into multiple blog posts, if possible.
Once you follow this checklist, you can research the individualized topics more easily, provide actionable content to your audience and give yourself authority among your competitors.
There are several different ways to lead an effective research.
These verified and respected sources of information include the following types of sites:
• Government Sites (.gov). Choose official government websites that provide research results on the topic.
• Education Sites (.edu). Get data from college and university websites that publish results of research studies on the topic.
• “Big Data” Websites. These websites are created for the purpose of providing accurate statistics, graphs and other types of data concerning a specific subject.
• Studies & Clinical Trials. Data and results from clinical studies, case studies and other types of verified research can be found on these sites. They may be the official websites of academic journals or company publications that include reports and white papers.
• Authoritative Websites. These sites provide verified information on your topic that will not create any conflicts of interest. They are good websites for your research since they are owned and operated by valid companies and organizations that are not competitors of our client.
• Recent News. Most of our research for written content is timeless and remains relevant regardless of when you read it. Yet current news content can help with your research. You can perform a search for your topic by visiting Google News. News articles that your search returns may include links to primary sources for locating more information on your topic.
When you use high quality, authority websites for researching your topic, they become ideal links to include in your content.
Write Engaging Content
The next step to building authority content is to write engaging content. If your content is not engaging enough, you won’t be able to hold your audience’s attention for a longer time. To write engaging content, make sure to follow these rules:
Content Titles and Topics
The client briefing for a writing project includes either a general topic for every article or the exact titles. You should remember, clients want articles with eye-catching headlines that attract wide audience interest. They look for titles that compel potential customers or site members to take time to read this content.
Hence, generate enticing titles that capture new volumes of readers. There are many online articles by experts with valuable tips about writing catchy blog titles and headlines that you can refer to.
Setting Content Word Count
Often the client lists the word count they require for each article in the project (Example: 1000-words each). Unless they must fill a specific space on a web page or standard form, most clients can reconsider content length.
Most agree that producing high-quality written content has more value than conforming to producing a certain number of words. You can also perform a web search to determine what the client company’s main competitors are using for word count.
Use extensions like Word Counter Plus to know the number of words in a blog post.
After you install the extension, select the blog post text and right click.
Select Word Counter Plus.
You will then be shown the word count for the blog.
Check their general site content sections and any blog posts for the length of textual content. Then strive to create more clear, concise and informative content.
This is an important aspect of on-page SEO, which is vital to your authority content creation.
Creating the Tone and Angle for Your Content
Your written content should assume the tone of a friendly expert on the topic of your project. You should address your readers directly as though you are engaged in a real-time conversation with them. Although friendly and relaxed in tone, your cornerstone content should offer an abundance of valuable information. Each article is to be written from a second-person viewpoint. Address the reader as “you,” Similarly, when talking about your own company, use “we” “our” and “us.”
Choosing Hyperlinks for Your Article
Informational content should contain at least three hyperlinks per article. Reviews do not have any requirements for hyperlinking. However, you can link to the company page and/or to the product being reviewed, if you like. Website content should contain internal links to other pages of the same site. Your hyperlinks must use anchor text and be placed in your article content.
You can choose to anchor one word or an entire phrase. This anchor text must clearly indicate the type of content that the reader can access by clicking the link.
Following Formatting Rules
Divide the body of your text into subsections. Each of these subsections should have its own appropriate subheading as a Heading 2 (H2) header. If you sub-divide these subsections, you need to use sub-subheadings for this content. Use Heading 3 (H3) headers for sub-subheadings. Be sure to omit any fluff or filler language in your content. This explanation of how to avoid the use of fluff and filler writing may be helpful to you.
If suitable for your content, include a bullet list at some point within the text. Each bulleted item should contain a short phrase or one sentence. If the text for your bullet points is the length of a paragraph of longer, you should change the bullets to subheadings. The only time you should indent your content is when using the auto-indent function for creating a bullet list.
Nope,these are not cool.
Refrain from using numbered lists and always use Arial font, size 11 or Calibri font, size 11. Be sure to select justified alignment for your text. Leave one line space only between paragraphs, subheadings, lists or quoted material. Take care to remove any extra line spacing before submitting your writing project for approval. Using correct line space is a good SEO content writing strategy for reader clarity.
Use a Short and Sweet Writing Style
Our own testing and the studies of others have revealed that clear, short and concise sentences and paragraphs are best. Cornerstone content presented in this manner supports easy reading, comprehension and absorption by the reader.
The current reading skills of the majority of Americans is between a 6th and 8th grade level. For this reason, the use of a short and sweet writing style will result in higher readership for your content.
Website content that is simple and easy to read encourages visitors to stay longer on a site. They are more likely to examine all pages of a website, learning about a brand’s featured products and services. These visitors may become new customers and eventually, loyal clients for a company site. They can increase sales conversion rates as well as the client base for this company.
The Hemingway Editor is also of great help in developing a shorter, more concise writing style with excellent clarity.
Clear, Concise Sentences
We want each sentence of written content to focus directly on a hyper-specific thought. We have found through testing that extended sentences using commas, colons and semicolons can confuse or mislead a reader. This confusion may compel the reader to exit the website without reading further.
The ideal sentence will exclude any punctuation that extends its content beyond one specific stated thought. Our intent is simply to prevent the use of long, confusing run-on sentences. We are not attempting to ban punctuation that extends a sentence when helpful. We just want to limit its use.
Paragraphs Focused on a Single Point
As with sentences, we need paragraphs that concentrate on one idea. This idea is introduced in the first sentence and clearly explained in the remaining sentences of the paragraph. This practice is a good SEO content writing strategy.
Each paragraph should be limited in length to four visual lines. This does not mean four sentences. A paragraph with four visual lines is composed of four lines of text on your computer screen. Four visual lines of text are equal to about two or three sentences or approximately 50 to 60 words.
Following the above stated rules will assist you in creating engaging content that your readers will prefer over others.
Include Your Expert’s Name
If you have been in the field of SEO for a very long time, you will surely know the name, Neil Patel. He is a veteran of SEO, providing practical solutions for all SEO problems.
When you browse the internet to get more information on “What is SEO,” you’ll come across a number of websites. Which one would you choose? One by an unknown writer or one by Neil Patel? Of course, you will choose the latter one. The simple reason is that you trust his content and know he is a professional.
Neil Patel is a great example to show that he has built authority on the web through his content.
Similarly, despite having a well-known name in your team, if you post content under your company name, you might not see the traffic you are looking for. But if you know that your writer is an expert in the field and popular, adding a by-line can be a great option to attract a larger audience who know your author and their works.
The writers are the main pillar of your business as they are the ones that can boost the authority of your content. Their writing represents your business’ expertise, reliability, and the solutions your customers are looking for.
Just like a product review shows the genuinity of a product, a writer’s information shows their experience and knowledge in the field. This gives the audience an idea about how authoritative your content is.
Let Your Content Do the Talking
We understand that you want to provide answers to your audience’s problems, but instructing them is never an option. While you cannot directly speak to your audience face to face, your content has to do the work for you.
You must make your content do the talking so that your audience feels that they are interacting with you. How do you do that? You can do that by making your content as engaging as you can.
You should add media, statistics, and figures that make it easier for your audience to understand what you are trying to convey. And the most important point is it makes your content conversational.
Using a conversational tone in your content is the best way to engage your audience. Just think you are talking to your audience and start writing your blog.
The best example of these types of blogs is Nester’s. It’s a home decor website, and the writer uses a conversational tone to give ideas. She uses rhetorical questions while adding her own experiences that keep the readers hooked to her content.
Apart from having a conversational tone, make sure that your content is scheduled consistently, you have a natural flow from one subtopic to another, have a pattern to your content, and follow your unique writing style. Add keywords organically in your content that will definitely lead to better and more authoritative content.
Additional Ways to Enhance Your Content Authority
Creating SEO authority content just does not end with the steps mentioned above. There are other ways that can help you in creating it.
• You can start by running a content audit on your website that will allow you to know the gaps and write authoritative content accordingly. To learn more about how you can run a content audit, you can read our article about it.
• Check all kinds of content available in your niche and separate it into different categories. This will help you know which kind of content is the most in demand.
• Figure out your buyer personas and check whether your content matches their needs.
• Work on the page load speed to give your user a faster and better user experience.
• Create your content by following all the possible SEO practices. Check if the metadata is in place – title tag, meta description, and H1. You should also see that the image alt text is relevant to the content and image you’ve added.
• Make sure you add relevant keywords in a natural way. Refrain from stuffing the keywords all across your content, as this might be a bad SEO practice.
• High-quality backlinks are good for your website’s authority and show a healthy link profile. Therefore, when you start getting backlinks, monitor whether or not they are relevant to your niche. You can also do a link audit to find this out.
• When you are done with all the steps, concentrate on creating clear, understandable, and relevant content for your audience.
Let’s Begin To Create Authority Content!
Creating authority content in 2023 and beyond is more crucial than ever in establishing a strong online presence and fostering meaningful connections with your audience. By staying current with industry trends, providing valuable insights, and delivering engaging and informative content, you can position yourself as a trusted authority in your field, gaining the trust and loyalty of your audience while setting yourself apart from the competition.
FAQ
Can you attract links through authority content?
Yes, authority content can attract links. This is highly possible when authority content is combined with attraction content. Attraction content is those that are responsible for bringing visitors to your page. Visitors can read this content as well as share it.
How does authority content help in building credibility?
When your authority content is informational and answers all the questions your audience wants, you are building credibility. This leads to your audience sharing your content with others as well because they trust and respect your content.
What are the different types of authority content?
Website content: Website content is any kind of content found online in the form of audio, text, or visuals. This content should be SEO optimized to attract a more targeted audience. It should be authoritative, where your website should be seen as an expert in the industry, and, most importantly, should offer solutions to the audience’s problems.
Blog posts: Website content is usually static. Therefore to gain traffic, blog posts are used. Blog posts are dynamic in nature. You can write content related to your niche and monitor its performance. If it’s not doing well, you can make changes to it accordingly. These blog posts should be authoritative, of good quality, and SEO optimized with relevant keywords.
Trade articles: Trade articles are those where you show your expertise through articles published on a different website. The aim of this article is to attract potential customers by creating authoritative content and publishing them on platforms where they already are. So if your target audience is active on the Forbes website, you’ll publish your article on its website.
Email content: Email content is found in several formats. These are newsletters, surveys, brochures, one-off emails, autoresponder series, etc. This content is not openly available to the readers and only those who have subscribed to these services.
White papers: A white paper is a detailed and long-form article that addresses the problems of the customers and provides solutions for them. This type of content is common in the B2B industry.
Case studies: Case studies usually show customers what they can expect by reading the situations of other customers in the same condition as theirs.
Last Updated on June 29, 2024 by Gaby
