The age-old saying “content is king” is as true as ever today. And yet for many, a major problem remains: how do I continually produce quality content that people will actually read? When it comes to improving SEO for small businesses, White Hat SEO companies continually return to one simple solution: content research.

Content is the backbone of your website. It’s what keeps people coming back to your site. And the quest for high quality content has never been more important than now, especially since online users are harder to please than ever.

Simply put: if users aren’t experiencing quality optimized content on your website, they’ll move onto another, more satisfying outlet faster than you can ask, “what’s wrong with my site?”

So let’s get to the strategic exercise that is content research.

3 Steps to Successful Content Research

Here are a few battle-tested SEO tips related to research and planning for your site’s content:

• Give the people what they want. If your website already has a stable following, you’ve got a leg up on the competition. It wouldn’t hurt, though, to see what makes visitors return. Do a quick check of your most searched keywords – what SEO companies like to call “keyword research” – and plan future content around the results.

• Fill in the gaps. Make it a point to visit your competitor’s website to do content research, focusing specifically on pages that target similar keywords as yours do. Note the content missing from their pages, and take advantage of missed opportunity by creating brand new content. This will steadily increase your website’s domain authority and be sure to attract those search engine spiders.

• Leave them inspired. It sounds cliché, but nothing beats having well-researched, relevant, authoritative content. Remember, it’s the meat your visitors are looking for, so cut the fat and stick to timely topics that resonate with you audience. Visitors should leave your page satiated by their newfound knowledge and inspired to learn more about the company that offered it to them.

Ultimately, all effective SEO starts with content research. It’s the meat that attracts visitors and keeps them coming back to your website.

So utilize content research. Examine keywords visitors are searching for, fill in the content gaps on your competitor’s pages, and leave your visitors inspired with high quality, well-researched content. It’s that easy.