Creating original content for SEOIn the midst of the rise of artificial intelligence, it can be the key to positioning and differentiation. However, it can often seem complicated.
How do I start? What can I say that hasn't already been said? The originality of content is becoming one of the great challenges of the third decade of the 21st century.
More is being written than ever before and we have more access to these texts than ever before. Not to mention other formats such as audiovisual products, which have been completely democratised in the age of TikTok. Nowadays, especially in the younger generations, everyone is a video and audio editor.
Is everyone a writer? It seems not. As at the time with the emergence of the smsThe way of writing continues to evolve. Even today, in order to positioning content on Googlecorrect grammar is necessary. And yet the ability to reflect it has been reduced.
It is curious because this process has been carried out at the same time that read more than ever. Also books. Although it may not seem so. At least in Spain.
However, when we go to internet (and also in bookshops), we see that the content is starting to become repetitive, unoriginal and uninteresting. It is enough to read one article on one subject to read them all.
So, if we want to stand out with our SEO contentWe have no choice but to be original. The homogenisation of content is the end of the internet and the reason that TikTok overtakes Google as the primary source of information for young people.
What do we mean by original content?
The first step to create original content for SEO is to be able to define original content. Although by content we can also refer to the audiovisual contentIn this case we are going to focus on the text content.
We understand by original content those texts that provide new information for the user. Texts that are substantially different to the rest of the options we can find on the net. Not only in form, but also in substance.
Of course, there are nuances that we should point out. In some cases, it is not only impossible to provide substantially new information, but it will not be our aim either.
This is where the Creative SEOwhich allows playing with content which is not entirely original, at least in its basis, but which is presented in a different way, with new information and a totally different approach to other options.
The particularities of original content for SEO
When it comes to work SEO content strategies the priority must be to original contentBut we face a major dilemma: How do we combine innovative issues with the intention to search?
When we do the keyword research it's going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to find keywords for original contents that have searches and have not been used.
At the beginning of the internet it might be easier, but it's 2023, already. There is very little left to write. At least in Spanish and English. Maybe if we write for a more minority language we have more possibilities, but unfortunately, in Spanish and English there is much more content written (and, on the positive side, also higher search volumes).
As well as a SEO copywriter -or anyone else- decides to creating original content has to look for other ways to provide information.
There are times, and then we will be very fortunate, when the available information is incomplete or unreliable. In those cases, we will be able to contribute.
However, in many other cases, the only bullet left in the chamber is to pull what is different: our experience.
The EEAT: key to original content
In 2014, Google set out the keys to what he understood good content to be: the EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). In other words, Knowledge, Authority and Trustworthiness.
If we wanted content that would rank, we had to create content that met these three criteria: it had to provide knowledge, come from an authoritative source and be reliable.
For eight years, they were the keys to online content. However, at the end of 2022, we saw a new letter added. We are now talking about EEAT and the knowledge, authority and reliability is added to the experience.
If you think about it, in the end it is also a way of providing that knowledge and that reliability. If you talk to someone about the political situation in Niger, it may be a very prestigious academic who theorises from his or her university office, but you probably give even more credibility to the journalist who has just come from experiencing it firsthand.
Of course, experience does not eliminate the other acronyms. This journalist must be reliable and write in an authoritative medium, but the fact that he or she tells his or her experience in the first person will add value to his or her story. At least for search engines.
It is very easy to understand if we also think of a restaurant. Read the reviews at Google o TripAdvisor will provide us with valuable information that will not appear in the menu or description of the site on your website.
How does this translate? Beyond the blog contentThe more personal the better, the more we find ourselves with a new boom of the reviewsThe results are available on websites and ecommerces to see the real opinions of users. They now add value.
Your experience at the service of content
Thus, when it comes to create original content for SEO your experience on the subject matter will matter. It will matter because it is a unique, personal perspective that no other person in the world shares.
Of course, an AI can simulate an personal experience and I'm sure we'll see more and more of this, but for the moment reality continues to outweigh fiction. When you write, look for what you know and tell it in the most personal way you can.
Surely there is something you have discovered or experienced that you would have loved someone to have told you about in advance. At least if you have that knowledge that you are supposed to have in order to write about something.
An example
Let me give you an illustrative example. A few days ago I started my holiday in Helsinki. I had planned to visit two of the city's islands, located very close to each other. Suommelinaa World Heritage Fortress Island, and Vallisaarian island National Park where a biennial of contemporary art.
Between the two islands there will be a distance of maybe 50 or 100 metres at the closest part. I wondered if it would be possible to go from one island to the other and thus not have to go back to the Port of Helsinki to catch the ferry. The weather was horrible and I only had one sunny day, so I wanted to take the opportunity to see both that day.
I did extensive research in English and Spanish to no avail before I went. The receptionist at my hotel did it in Finnish. We asked the boat drivers and the tourist information from Suommelina. No one knew how to answer us for sure. Everyone thought "surely", but there was no other information.
In the end, the answer was no, and the explanation was simple. Although the ferries belonged to the same company, in order to Suommelinawhere people lived all year round, had a public concession that obliged them to charge a single municipal bus fare. Stop, VallisaariThe National Park, with no permanent inhabitants, was privately operated, which meant that despite being the same distance apart, there was an €18 difference between one ticket and the other.
Likewise, as it was not the same type of ticket or transport concession, it was not possible to combine destinations and go from one island to another.
Done, I found that one experience which is absolutely nowhere to be found, even though it is a European capital, and which I can incorporate into my text.
When the going gets tough
Of course, it is perhaps on a journey that it is easiest to incorporate that personal experience. However, it is perhaps more complicated when talking about bolts or integrated locks.
It may not be in anyone's interest for you to describe the feeling you get when you drive a screw into a wall with a screwdriver. Still, you can always talk about why you chose those screws, the other options you considered, or any personal tricks you use to screw better.
The personal creativity will always be an important part of the process and should not be forgotten. Your "touch" will be what differentiates you from the competition and also from artificial intelligence.
Often it's not even about the content being "better", but about offering a unique and different perspective. We are tired of reading the same thing.
When I read articles in preparation for my trip, they all recommended the same places. Oddly enough, the ones I enjoyed the most did not appear in any of them. That's right, don't forget what everyone is talking aboutbecause the reader (and Google) probably needs to see it too, if only to be told why you prefer a more original and completely different option.
I hope I have helped you to understand how to create original content for SEO. And if you still can't get it, don't worry, you can always hire us to do it for you.
