When we showed you how to rank for local search and improve your Google My Business listing, we listed client testimonials and reviews as one of the most valuable ways of boosting the trustworthiness of your brand. In this article, we will show you that reviews are useful in yet another way. We will explain how important it is to collect user generated content for SEO.
Why Display User Generated Content on Your Website?
If you want to benefit from user generated content for SEO, you must collect it, curate it and display it on your website. If you worry about taking up valuable real estate on your web pages, we have some good news for you.
User generated content will also determine visitors to make a purchase. According to a study conducted by ecommerce marketing platform Yotpo, user generated content boosted conversion rate:
- From 2.07% to 6.37% for clothing and accessories
- From 2.29% to 6.96% for health and beauty brands
- From 2.62% to 4.73% for electronics.
Make Sure You Use the Right User Generated Content for SEO
Before we show you how to take advantage of user generated content for SEO, a word of warning. Not all kinds of content created by website visitors, social media followers and clients is useful and helpful.
You will get your fair share of spam comments, negative reviews and inappropriate photos and videos on your website, Google My Business page and social media pages. This is why you must constantly monitor what users post/ share on your digital properties, remove malicious content and reply to negative comments.
These being said, here are some effective ways to boost your SEO with user generated content:
1. Identify New Long Tail Keywords
Keyword research is the first step in your SEO strategy. It takes time, attention and careful analysis. And you may still miss several useful keywords. Thus, we believe that this is the most important way in which you can rely on user generated content for SEO.
Your clients’ comments and reviews contain a lot of long tail keywords. These are the words they usually type in when they are looking for products and services. And for this reason only you should take the time to read the reviews your business gets on various online platforms.
2. You Get Original Content for Free
Google loves new, original content on websites. And this is what you get if you allow users to post comments on your blog posts or import tweets or Facebook posts made by your followers.
With proper curation, user generated content represents a constant flow of new content for your website. Since Google indexes this type of content, you may get new visitors starting from a simple comment left by a user on a post.
3. You Website Is Optimised for Voice Search
Voice search relies on natural language. This is the way people speak freely, when they do not make a conscious effort to write a text. If you look at comments on your site, they have this kind of flow.
No one cares about selecting special, polished words. They just write whatever they want to say in the most direct way. Thus, you can benefit from user generated content for SEO in the context of the growing number of consumers who use digital assistants.
4. Your Domain Authority Increases
Domain authority is a ranking score that indicates how high a website will rank on search engine page results. There are several factors that influence domain authority, such as reliability, user intent and social sharing.
User generated content helps boost your domain authority, because it gives you scores for all these factors. It is reliable, because it comes from an independent source, and it matches user intent because it focuses on actual products and services other consumers are looking for.
5. Social Media Can Boost SEO
Although there are no clear ranking factors tying SEO with social media engagement, a lively activity on your social media pages has a positive impact. One way it can do this is by increasing the exposure of your business name to new audiences, as they are aware of the interactions between their friends and your company.
In this way, you will be able to attract new followers who will be curious to discover more content on your blog and, later on, become your customers. And this is yet another way in which your brand can benefit from user generated content for SEO.