Step by Step Guide to SEO , Checklist # 9

Checklist Point #9 – Content Quality

This is a huge component of modern SEO. If your content is bad, then getting everything else right won’t fix the site.

NOTE: Google can certainly detect bookmarks and social shares, so are able to use them as indicators if it wants to.

The biggest problem that I have found concerning content quality is that webmasters are not very impartial when judging their own. There are a number of things to look out for as you assess the content on your website.  Here is a checklist (in no particular order):

• Has the content been copied and published by other websites? This is a common problem, though setting up Google Authorship for your site should keep your content safer moving forward.  To check whether your content has been stolen, you could use a site like Copyscape http://www.copyscape.com).

See how there are 9 results in Google, each with the identical text. If other sites have stolen your content and used it on their own sites, it is recommended to set up Google authorship immediately, if you haven’t already. 

Factors also to consider are;

• Product reviews unbiased? If you have product reviews on your site, are they unbiased, or positive, positive and more hyped up positives?  You need to share both sides of the story and ALL products have some things that are not perfect.

• More than just a rehash of the merchant site content? On the topic of reviews, is the content just a rehash of what you can find on the merchant site or perhaps Amazon?  Your reviews need to be PERSONAL.  

• Affiliate link disclaimer? If your site is an affiliate site, do you have an affiliate link disclaimer?  Do people on your site know you are not the merchant? This all comes back to the issue of trust.  

• Information duplicated on multiple articles Does the information on one page of your site appear on other pages as well?  In other words, is there an overlap between the content on the various pages of your site?  If so, you need to remove it. 

• Check the Sitemap A sitemap is a great way to check your content.  As you look through the sitemap, are there instances where two pages have very similar filenames or titles?  

Today, this type of keyword-focused content will get your site into trouble, so check through your sitemap to identify possible problems.  You can combine similar articles into one, but make sure you cut the fluff and make these articles the best they can be.