Knowing what to write about and when is an important part of making your content marketing process much easier. But I also know that many marketers and business owners feel defeated at the idea of trying to keep up Google algorithms. There’s almost a sense of “if they’re just going to change all of the time, how can I ever keep up? Why should I bother?”
I get it. This is an extremely normal feeling and frustration that even professional SEO consultants and writers experience. But it doesn’t have to be a constant struggle. There are several core foundational elements that every SEO strategy should have — and by focusing on these, you'll be equipped to keep your content at the front of search results even after algorithm changes.
What every SEO strategy needs to do
There are lots of trends, "what works now" articles, fads, and the like all focused on SEO. Ultimately, though, it's very easy to get too much of a good thing and wind up accidentally hurting your SEO more than you help it through overuse of different techniques.
One thing that's very consistent and reliable, though, is E-E-A-T:
- Expertise: Make sure your website and content clearly communicate that you and your team are experts in whatever you're writing about. Give names and bylines on content.
- Experience: Illustrate experience through first-person examples, author bios, and any credentials a credited author has that are relevant to the content.
- Authoritativeness: Build a library of content around the topics you're and expert on and experienced in; this will help to build your authority (in the eyes of search engines) over time.
- Trust: Make sure that your content is really valuable to people — the humans ultimately making purchasing decisions — in order to demonstrate that people can trust what you're saying or selling. Give and get backlinks to other trustworthy websites to reinforce this.
You also need to make sure that your E-E-A-T content:
- Meets a particular search intent and is structured in the right way for that type of query.
- Provides clear, succinct answers to real questions without becoming a mess of FAQ sections scattered around your site.
- Links to other useful content on your own website so that you continue to show people you're someone with comprehensive expertise on a topic. This also makes it easier for search engines to find and rank your content in different results.
That's it. Really. Yes, there are other things that you can do as search trends change (such as using more images, tables, or bullet points; applying schema to certain pages, and the like) but ultimately, these things make up the core foundation of long-lasting SEO.
I've written articles for my clients that have remained at the top of search results for years. These are competitive keywords; we obtained rank before the rollout of AI search and have maintained it afterward (including appearing in the AI Overview and in AI chat results) by sticking to those core principles above.
You don't need to be up to speed on every single SEO change, fad, and technique. You just need to communicate value to people — and that starts with E-E-A-T, moderation, and care.
Every template in the Simple Blogging System is made with E-E-A-T in mind. If you follow the template instructions, you'll have a completely publication-ready piece of content whipped up in an hour or two, no weird AI content quirks or made-up facts to deal with and no stress over whether or not you hit the E-E-A-T principles I've discussed here.