A new study conducted by SEMrush is the latest to reveal that more relevant and in-depth forms of content have a much better chance of influencing user behaviour and helping web pages to feature on the first page of Google search engine rankings.
The SEMrush Ranking Factors Study 2017 analysed 600,000 keywords during its research. Findings indicated that direct website traffic was the number one factor for influencing SERPs, while ‘time on site, ‘pages per session’ and ‘bounce rate’ rounded out the top four.
The fact the most influential factors are directly attributed to user behaviour again highlights just how important content marketing is for brands aiming to increase their visibility, engage with audiences and drive positive actions across the web.
SEMrush noted that the bounce rate for the top domains in SERPs was just 49% on average, while users generally click through and visit three pages in total during a single session. In order to achieve greater success with content campaigns, creatives and advertisers must produce articles capable of capturing and retaining the interest of consumers.
Brands should also invest more in longer, editorial formats of written content and engaging visual aids such as images and infographics. The survey showed that webpages ranking near the top of page one for popular keywords have, on average, 45% more of these types of content than those further down in SERPs.
Marketers can optimise content for SEO by conducting an audit to determine the relevance of keywords. This entails establishing which ones are central to a brand’s core message, market, category and products, followed up by adjusting creative for Google’s algorithm.
