From SEO Content to Useful Content: Google’s New Transition That Bloggers Need to Make
Don’t create useful content for SEO
You could hardly have missed it, useful content is what Google now asks of you.
In recent months, Google has launched several updates that reward sites with useful content and reduce the amount of SEO content on Google.
A large number of sites have already experienced what happens when Google re-evaluates their content.
After September/October 2023, I spoke to website owners and saw graphs in SEO tools where 80% drops in SEO traffic were no exception. This makes it clear that useful content has become a new pillar in SEO.
But how does useful content compare to SEO content?
How do you do it?
And most importantly, how do you justify the investment?
SEO content versus useful content
It’s worth pointing out that useful content is different from the type of content we usually create for SEO.
For convenience, let’s call it SEO content. A lot of SEO content (to say the least) doesn’t always require the most effort.
In my experience, some texts are necessary online to get a higher ranking for certain keywords and attract SEO traffic as quickly as possible.
Content marketers are often still preoccupied with content, especially the higher levels of management who see content as something functional.
It’s not a future-proof starting point
The fact that we create content for SEO in this way is not a future-proof starting point. This has to do with the fact that everything common about the most common search terms has already been said on the internet.
I always call it the apple pie effect: you can write your own recipe and think you have unique content, but deep down it all boils down to the same thing (apples, sultanas, cinnamon, and pastry).
This is not only difficult for Google, but it’s also not ideal for users. Just search for something random on Google and you’ll see 10 sites that are mutually substitutable and interchangeable: textual content with the same content written to rank for the same keyword.
It’s about new content, added value and effort
Google is looking for useful content. Content that has received time, effort, and attention.
Content that adds value to the World Wide Web, that offers added value compared to other sites in the search results. And where the content comes from people with first-hand knowledge and experience.
Google calls the latter: EEAT. It stands for experience, Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Sources with knowledge and experience, are known online as substantive authorities and therefore trustworthy.
Anyone who, in addition to the useful content guidelines, also consults the Guidelines for Search Quality Evaluators, a Google manual on page quality, will see that the word ‘effort’ appears no less than 99 times in the text.
Google also wants us to make an effort with our content.
Just a quick observation: can Google measure effort?
Of course, Google can’t measure how much time and effort you put into creating your content, but sites that go beyond the obvious textual information will immediately stand out.
Think of a different substantive message. But it can also involve other forms of content, such as videos, short snippets, quotes, or a useful tool.
These are all signs that time and effort have been spent on content. Therefore, it’s the sites with content that you don’t create for SEO that Google looks at to get a higher showing.
As a side note: EEAT is not an author bio
It’s worth pointing out that complying with EEAT guidelines is not the same as just putting the author’s bio on your content or creating an author page, a misunderstanding I often hear. These may be signs of EEAT, but of course that doesn’t “make” you EEAT.
What matters is that the author and/or sender is recognized by Google as a reliable source.
It is therefore necessary for both the organization (sender) and the experts/authors to work on their online presence.
Don’t create useful content for SEO
If you want to start with useful content, I’d like to give you the tip not to create it for SEO. This sounds contradictory, but I’d like to explain.
Less and less traffic from Google
There are several issues at play, apart from the intense struggle in which we all try to rank for the same search terms on websites. For example, we know that Google is increasingly “cutting” more SEO traffic.
According to SparkToro’s latest research, for every 1,000 searches, 374 people are still redirected to websites.
Nothing new in itself, of course, we’ve known (and felt) for years that Google is increasingly turning off the tap. But at some point, this puts pressure on the business case for creating website content for SEO.
AI overview
So the question is what the arrival of AI overviews will mean for SEO traffic.
AI overviews are the phenomenon where Google itself creates answers in search results with its own AI. Below is an example:
One possible consequence is that the sites mentioned in this answer will have a higher CTR, while sites outside this one will have an even lower CTR than is currently the case.
But for now, this is still largely a matter of watching the coffee grounds. It’s worth bearing in mind that this could be the umpteenth time that sites lose SEO traffic and that the business case could become even more pressurized.
Warning!
I’m definitely not talking about the complete disappearance of SEO traffic, I’m talking about the balance between investment and the possible decline in the number of visitors.
Do you still need to create content?
You may wonder why you would still create content if there is less and less traffic… Very simple: there is still traffic and without content, you can’t communicate with your potential customer online, on any channel.
Useful content: look beyond your website
I would therefore urge you to look beyond the textual content of your website from now on. In part, this has to do with justifying the investment associated with useful content (see below), but there are still a few things at stake.
This way we all become more visual. Personally, I trust a video where I see someone with the product more than a text-only website.
But most importantly, there are many more opportunities to become visible on Google than just your website and associated pages.
YouTube videos are not new, but I see them in search results much more often than before. Short videos from YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Insta are also increasingly visible on Google.
I’ve seen with clients that there are search terms for which it’s easier to rank with a YouTube video or short film than with a web page, but that’s beside the point.
The puzzle: where are the opportunities?
If we put it all together, we’ll see:
Google wants to show websites with useful content that shows effort and EEAT
New elements are appearing on Google, such as short videos
For some search terms, it’s easier to rank with a YouTube video or short film than with your website
Many sites say the same thing and are therefore substitutable, competition is intense
Fewer and fewer clicks go to websites, so we have to adopt a broader approach than textual content on your site
If you put these pieces of the puzzle together, it becomes clear where the opportunities lie. For me, it’s in the area of experts, videos, and other platforms that rank on Google.
I’m a big fan of the approach where you create video content in collaboration with experts. This allows you to kill several birds with one stone.
Warning!
This is a different approach to when you have your textual content checked by experts before publication.
Above all, you will receive confirmation that what you have created based on online research is not incorrect. In my experience, anyone who gives the expert the floor gets something different in return.
The focus expert has a solid foundation
You have many more options by recording the conversation with the video expert. You can publish the video on YouTube and thus rank on both YouTube and Google.
You can publish shorts to your social channels with interesting and substantive content to get in touch with your target group. These shorts, in turn, can also be ranked on Google. You can even publish the audio, the spoken word, as a podcast if you consider how you record in advance.
You can then use the transcript as input for the textual content you publish on your site. Because let’s be honest: you still need it.
Of course, you can enrich your website with videos that indicate “effort”. And it’s important: if visitors watch the videos on your page and spend time on them, these can be positive signals for NavBoost, one of Google’s important signals.
Finally, the last point: how much attention will you get if Google decides to show your YouTube video as additional information in the AI overviews? In the image below you can see that a video by Gordon Ramsay is prominently displayed.
Faster with AI tools
It may seem like a lot of work, but it’s not so bad if you approach it intelligently. Most of the work is making the video.
This could be a serious 15–30 minute interview with an expert, but it could also be something else.
My first clients are making short films of no more than 60 seconds, in which the product expert briefly and powerfully tells them something about things the viewer wants to know.
Once you have the video, you can proceed quickly and intelligently with the help of AI.
AI helps you transcribe the spoken word very quickly, and a tool like Descript now does this incredibly well too. You can then use the transcription itself (or with the help of ChatGPT or Claude ) to create a good substantive textual article for your website.
This way, you put the AI to work on your own content, rather than living (and therefore ruminating) on what the AI creates for you. You can then optimize the article for search engines.
Re-use excerpts
You can select the shorts yourself after a long video, or you can enlist the help of an AI tool like OPUS. This tool quickly creates and subtitles various excerpts that you can reuse.
Not everything is usable, but there are always 4–5 interesting snippets. A great extra, especially if you also think about which snippets you can create with Descript.
That way you come full circle quickly. But how do you collaborate with experts? How do you make time for it in your busy schedule?
Getting the expert moving
One important aspect is to get the expert moving. In my experience, when they help create content for SEO, their willingness is usually minimal. It’s often a must.
The moment they give an interview that you can use as a podcast and from which you can reuse extracts on LinkedIn or other social networks, for example, it’s a different story.
Now the expert has access to content in which they stand out, literally. Since I started working in this way, no specialist has ever said: “I don’t have time”, “I can do it next month” or “It’s still in my inbox”.
Of course, they can use this content to work on their own personal brand and innovative leadership.
Trap: the content
It’s crucial not to talk about your products or services in the content, but about things that concern the reader and viewer of your content.
In my experience, this is especially a trap if you invite product managers as experts. How can you ensure that you talk about things that interest your target group and potential customers? I work with the QPAFFCGMIM model.
This structure can help you create new perspectives that match what the recipient wants to know. QPAFFCGMIM stands for Questions, Problems, Alternatives, Fears, Frustrations, Concerns, Goals, Myths, Interests and Misunderstandings.
How it works
Let’s talk about something as understandable as relationship therapy. If you write something about it without talking to a specialist, you’ll probably explain what it is, when it’s useful, how it’s offered, and what you’ll learn. You can ask for verification from a specialist who will confirm that everything you say is correct.
If you do this together with an expert, you’ll have the chance to gain new insights. Let the specialist talk about concrete cases in which therapy didn’t help and concrete cases in which it did.
About concrete situations in which a relationship could no longer be saved and concrete situations in which you are still on the right track. This can be related to fears and worries that the seeker has.
Perhaps the expert can also tell you something about the personality and character of the clients.
Are there certain character traits that prevent success? And which character traits or attitudes are useful if you want to get started?
This could be in line with the doubts your target group has before booking a session.
Finally, the expert will be able to share cases — anonymously — which is inspiring for Google searchers looking for a solution to their problem on Google.
Just listen to the series of podcasts by Esther Perel, psychotherapist and New York Times best-selling author, a goldmine of valuable content overflowing with EEAT…
It requires a different mindset and a different process
You’ve already realized that this method requires a different approach to what you’re used to when it comes to SEO.
In this approach, you don’t quickly create a few obvious texts based on keywords but start from your target customer’s QPAFFCGMIs. If you want to, you can of course always optimize the content with keywords when publishing.
Another difference is that you don’t create the content for SEO but for all organic channels together: social media, YouTube, your website, a podcast, etc.
Create a central content department
If you want to do a good job creating relevant content, this means that ideally there should be a separate content department to take care of it.
This department knows the target customer inside and out, is in close contact with the channel experts, and knows what’s going on and what’s needed in terms of content, content, and themes.
This central content department creates the necessary content that is immediately useful thanks to this working method and delivers it to the channel specialists who can build a good foundation.
The good thing is that in this approach you don’t calculate the investment in a single channel, but in the total result of all the channels together.
This approach makes the investment much more bearable, lays the foundations for EEAT, and means that you have content that is truly relevant to your target customer and that your organic raison d’être is broader than just Google…
Because let’s be honest: unfortunately Google offers a door-to-door guarantee.