Define: Good Content

[Dan-Petrovic]

I am curious to hear what you guys consider to be the characteristics of good content and in which order if you have a preference.

Here are a few I can think of:

• Informative (you can learn something new)
• Substantial (enough of it and thorough)
• Complete (doesn't give half-baked information or ideas)
• Unique (not regurgitated original content)
• Helpful (practical actionable information)
• Visual (content complemented by media)
• Referenced (claims made are substantiated through citations)
• Entertaining (or otherwise emotional, e.g. surprising, sad, shocking, controversial)
• Formatted (easy to read and follow)
• Timely (right content at the right time, applies for news)
• Professional (writing style, grammar, spelling and sentence structure)

Can you add to this list?

[Thos003]

"quality content = ranks well."

Well that's what Goog keeps telling us. ... so are we talking real world or pixie land?

Honestly, I knew I was stepping into a pile of crap when I put the "Ranks Well" criteria in there. But, it sure makes for a good litmus test. So yes... quality content = ranks well. ...and the vicious circle continues.

[firstconversion]

I guess, as far as SEO goes, all content is written with an action in mind. So whatever increases the action is what I would measure

Bounce rate/time on page is not a good one for me, you could have a great reference piece that people return to over and over but dont stay long or they naturally bounce from it - like the BBC or CNN homepage, continuously checking for news - youd have to be super careful what you measured on that type of site, as you could unintentionally skew what you produce

[firstconversion]

1 part, should be that it grabs you visually straight away - like a glue value, keeps you glued to that page to actually engage with the content - that can be a good headline, or image or typography or any combo

• Actionable!

[KeriMorgret]

We're working on the duplicate posts. I was able to delete some of them, but not all.

Keri

[Dan-Petrovic]

Well, one would assume that quality content = ranks well. It's kind of a loop, isn't it

Demand is a very interesting point!

If there are 200 content pieces on a topic versus only 2 pieces of content and one is really good value would undoubtedly be much higher where there is less such content available.

[Thos003]

I am surprised that as a bunch of SEOs that no one has said SEO friendly.

So can I add:

• Ranks Well.
• Demand Research (Keyword/demand/competition)

Demand researched content also makes for more engaging content, but any of the current list could be classified as engaging. The difficulty with defining "good content" is that it's an opinion. But you've got a great list going. I wonder how individuals would prioritize that list based on their verticals.

[MBayes]

Good Content is specific to what ever would get the site book marked, and that is very specific to the topic and purpose of the site.  Give the visitor the information they were seeking, and you have great content.  It doesn't need to be deep or wide , it just has to tell them what they came to see.

I would be interested in how you all measure great content?  Bounce rate?  Conversions?

[kdaly100]

I read this post and it reminded me of when this actually clicked with me recently.  I have read thousands of words on blogging, writing good content and the list above resonates across the top bloggers that you can read who all beat this drum constantly.  I was recently in the process of putting a guest post together for a blogging forum when after a day I realised that I had put more effort into the guest post than any post that I had for my own blog.  So I **abandoned **the planned submission and used it on my own blog.  I had spent 2-3 hours tweaking, looking for good images, deleting wasted words,  working on all the formating and so on.

A lot of us who are email slaves and quick content junkies should revert back to our English High School class where we spent time on our essays for exams and tests.   I have even applied this logic to forum replies like this.  In the past I would have been much pithier and not as informative (I am being informative I hope !!)

It is worth looking at some of the blogging resources out there Problogger to see that they constantly expound on this topic.  Even guys like Matt cutts say it again and a again about making your content STAND OUT like just thereWe

You may say how do I do this for a product like a Blue Widget.  At first glance this may seem impossible.  But if I am looking to buy a blue widget and am doing research over the web I would like to see

• Product Information in depth
• Reviews
• Some usage of it
• How to use it in different situations.
• A user forum
• Some evidence of good product support
• Some social media juice about it and some fan love

Replace blue widget with website design (my area), cameras, puppy dog collars and so on.

You might say that this sounds like complete overkill but believe me it isn't as the effort will pay off as over time your site will become a rich resource of solid quality information that can't be gotten anywhere else and there will be good payoffs.

There is a well known saying you wont get better by doing the same things every day so work on your blue widget page today then move onto the red widgets and keep going.  Then revisit them all and polish again.

[EGOL]

I use two columns for articles.

Left column is for text with multiple subheadings. (scanable)

Right column is for images, captions, data tables, references, video embeds.

Really important promotions and links to related content on my own site are floated to the left side of the left column or roadblocking it.

This makes for easy scanning and a big stack of images/data/video in the right column gives a rich and substantive look.

[Dan-Petrovic]

Well, I guess a well-formatted content does not always mean scannable. Little eye catching elements, bolding of key terms and colour would aid in the process.

[Partouter]

I wanted to emphasize the scannable aspect in terms of bullet points etc. But, yes, I guess it's the same

[Hurf]

Give Google content it strives/loves to deliver to it's users - the thing that is the core of their whole ethos: RELEVANT content - without that Google users go elsewhere to find it and you miss the opportunity to promote your product or service.

[Dan-Petrovic]

Ah, good point which goes well with "Formatted (easy to read and follow)".

[Partouter]

I agree on that. That's a very important step. Reassurance that they are in the right place before they hit 'back'.

[EGOL]

When the visitor arrives on your content the first goal is to let him know that he is in the right place with a very clear title and then let him know that he is in an interesting place with an interesting graphic above the fold.

Even before he determines if your content is gold or crap the appearance must pull him in.   Then as with a good book you need a "hook" and after that the real quality of the content and the presentation style will have to take over.

Then... if you want the link or the tweet or the like, the impact must be there.  This can be quality of content, substantiveness, engagement, impressiveness.

Bottom line... I think that you must have both academic quality along with aesthetic presentation - without stinking it up with too many ads and side-promotions.  Its a fine balance and hard to know when you have it.

[Partouter]

• scannable (aid people in natural scanning proces)

[Dan-Petrovic]

I consider user driven metrics as a big part of what Google uses to judge quality (citations, links, social buzz). Other stuff would have to be with their understanding of the content itself. I wonder how much of it they are able to figure out?

And when it comes to user motivation to spread and engage I am curious what the elements are and attempt to dissect and analyse what makes up a good piece of content.

[EGOL]

I think of this question in terms of the effect that it will have on the visitor....  Will it motivate the visitor to link, tweet, like, share, email, bookmark.

If it doesn't do that then it isn't very good.