What is “good content”? Technical vs Human SEO Analysis

People often ask, "What makes good content? How can I determine if my content is good?"

The Path to Good Content: How far can technical analysis take you?

It's all well and good to have your SEO consultant tell you to get good content on your pages, but how do you measure such a thing? Unless you've got a literary bent, it's likely you'll have to source content from outside your company – and even then, you need to be able to judge just how much that content is benefiting your business.

This issue was brought up on a post at Moz, where Eric Enge addressed the use of term frequency analysis to analyse content. Moz authors frequently have a valuable take on the industry, but this particular post advocated a purely technical approach to content. It brought up the question for us: can good content really be examined just in a technical way?

Technical or human?

The question comes about because of the nature of the search industry. Search engines run off an algorithm, and the SEO sector has taken the search engines' lead. Even though the business the search engines deal in (bringing people what they want) is very human, the work involved is dry. It's mathematical.

Even when it comes to content, the search engines and SEO experts have to reduce the information involved down into technical details. There have to be bits of data that can be measured. Intangible things like aesthetics just aren't quantifiable.

The human side

The above is more true historically than it is now. While the search engines still operate through algorithms, and much technical work is needed to meet the ranking requirements, algorithms have changed so much that it is possible to create good content and appeal through a more human approach.

Let's put it this way. The search engines have worked hard over the last 20 years to provide search results that satisfy human needs. Crafting your content to appeal to humans is not unlikely to appeal to search engines too.

Isn't the technical approach the only option?

That said, the 'human approach' is very subjective. What appeals to you might not appeal to your customers, and working out the difference can be a time-consuming enterprise. It's tempting to think that there's a magical equation out there that will solve all of your content problems.

That's where the aforementioned Moz post comes in. Enge seems to overemphasis the usefulness of term frequency in analysing content quality. Certainly, these kinds of analyses are useful in giving you ideas about content, but they're not a solve-all. The danger of Enge's approach is that site owners will grab at whatever elements seem to work for top-ranking pages and Frankenstein some content that won't suit their audience at all.

Is the technical approach useful for content? Yes. Is it the ultimate solution? Unfortunately, no.

So, how do I know if my content is good? What's the answer?

Sadly, there aren't any answers. Every so often, someone in SEO comes up with a new technique to drastically improve content, but one has yet to prove a panacea to every site owner's problems. As the Moz blogs themselves prove, the answer to having good content is to put your best content out there and see where it gets you. You can refine from there. Just remember, a good website and content isn't all about SEO. Make sure your website is fine tuned and useable.