The first quarter of 2024 sent shockwaves through the digital marketing industry, forcing a content development and effectiveness shift. What had worked for years in optimizing search results to drive traffic to client sites may no longer work. Technology giant Google has long held the number-one spot in search, and their March 2024 core update puts humans first. Some digital marketers must now rethink their content development strategy to leverage Google’s updates to stand a chance online.
1. Helpful, People-First Content is Gold
As a consumer, you hope your search results yield helpful, actionable, and accurate results relevant to your query. However, that’s not always been the case, as digital marketers have cracked the code to first-page ranking, regardless of value. Google’s March 2024 core update enhances its “helpful content system,” launched in 2022, which uses multiple systems to compute results.
While it may be tempting to reverse-engineer their systems, marketers’ time is best used to develop quality people-first content. Consider what brings a would-be client to search and what your firm offers that’s helpful and actionable. Complete an expertise audit to outline your industry authority and how that connects to your product or service. For example, when implementing digital marketing for law firms, focusing on practice areas and real-life scenarios where clients may need expertise is crucial.
Review common search queries in your industry and top hits on your current pages, and compare them to your competitors. There may be a lack of information online regarding a high-demand topic, which presents an opportunity for your firm. Take an educational approach to your pieces, and consider the reader’s perspective. If the topic is what to do if you’re in a serious accident, the content should be quickly digestible and actionable. If it’s less urgent, like setting up a will, your content may be more lengthy and nuanced.
2. Quit Playing Games With Your SEO
Reader-focused content will organically do well online, but that hasn’t kept marketers from playing games. How a person navigates your site is just as important as its content. If you’ve leaned into the clickbait and popup trend, your content may lose rank as Google suppresses spam. Keyword stuffing, duplicating content, and using clickbait to score engagement are less likely to work with this update. Google continues to smack down spam attempts, and the sooner marketers quit playing games, the better.
Streamline your content to align with modern user experience best practices and simplify your site and content structure. Pillar content strategy helps marketers be methodical with content development and creates a guide for growth. At the same time, in our commitment to helpful, people-first content, we draft pillars for areas of authority. Hold to your brand voice, elaborating on areas of expertise instead of chiming in out of turn. If your firm is the leader in family law, leverage that to take ownership of key search terms.
Identify keywords and phrases that align with human behaviors. Examine past search history and public data to pinpoint your prioritized terms. Review client satisfaction surveys and online reviews, which can guide your strategy. Many reviewers may state, “I was searching for a divorce attorney,” suggesting that was their search phase. Develop a list of terms to test, tabulating content performance and traffic to refine your search strategy.
3. Earn Points for Originality
The closer you are to the content, the more challenging it is to be original. When you know the topic so well, it’s easy to replicate the same information, sometimes without realizing you’ve done so. Marketers can combat duplication by establishing better content standards and engaging more talented writers. These practices should be followed by both in-house teams and firms supporting clients to ensure content is effective.
Build a team of in-house and external writers who bring variation and creativity to the page. Subject matter experts can offer authority, while general writers can provide a refreshing angle. Stress-test each writer’s abilities to determine what type of work they’re best suited for and align their assignments strategically. If one writer approaches content as a potential client, their pillar will focus more on learning what to do. Conversely, an internal expert may offer general advice and citations referencing case studies or prior successes.
As a marketer, balance the range of original content with a standard of ethical and effective work. Hold all content creators to high grammatical standards but provide guidance and tools to help them be successful. Establish best practices in content structure and reinforce this expectation through editing and offering actionable feedback. Finally, create a policy on how and if artificial intelligence will be used in your organization. While AI can be a helpful tool for creativity, using it to develop content directly invites risk and reduces originality.
Creativity and Adaptability Will Give You an Edge
In a field that’s always been competitive, being human will give you a natural advantage, thanks to Google’s core updates. Focus on delivering high-quality, actionable results to those searching for answers. Protect your brand voice and promise by commanding a quality standard throughout your process. When you do, your content will connect with the audience that needs your expertise with just one click.
