Why User-Centric Content Wins in SEO

If your strategy is still centred around Google's original algorithms, you are probably seeing a drop in ranking and website visitors. It's time to adjust and adapt. Ten major algorithms have been updated and introduced in the past ten years, including:

• Panda – focusing on quality and user experience, launched in 2011
• Penguin – targets low quality content, spam, and manipulative links, launched in 2012
• Exact Match Domain – targets low quality sites and exact match domains, launched in 2012
• Hummingbird – introduces conversational search with voice search, launched in 2013
• Payday – targets spammy sites and queries, launched in 2013
• Pigeon – focuses on local SEO and ranking in organic search results, launched 2014
• Mobilegeddon – a major shift to prioritising mobile websites, launched 2015
• RankBrain – determines how sites are ranked, targeting behavioural metrics, including bounce rates, CTR, and session duration, launched in 2015
• Fred – focuses on user experience targeting websites with low quality content, disruptive pop ups and too many adverts, launched in 2017
• Core Web Vitals – focuses on user experience with more focus on bounce rates, page views, and session duration, launched in 2021

What Google has done in the past ten years is reduce the importance of incorporating the right keywords in your content, but rather focusing on what users are searching for, which is why user-centric content always wins when it comes to SEO.

Tips to Creating User-Centric Content 

There are a number of things to consider when it comes to creating user-centric content, including:

• Useful  content must be useful to your audience, providing a solution to their problem
• Usable – your website must be easy to use, making it simple for users to find the information they are looking for
• Desirable – your website must be professional, providing value 
• Easy to find – website design must be easy to navigate with objects ideally located, enabling your visitors to find what they need seamlessly
• Accessible – ensure you make your website accessible to all visitors, including those with disabilities

Conclusion

Looking at the algorithm updates over the past ten years, it's no surprise to see that user-centric content wins SEO. When you focus on your website visitors, prioritising user experience (UX), you appeal to search engines. Search engines want to provide their users with the best experience and aligning with SEO best practices, along with user-centric content is the best way to achieve this. Give Genie Crawl a call today to find out more.