Quality content is entirely relative. It depends on the business, the industry, and many other factors. For content to be considered high quality, though, more than anything it has to be relevant to the audience reading it.

However, in my years in content marketing, I also know that there are specific universal benchmarks that define quality content and make it stand out. Last year alone, over 4.4 million blog posts were published daily. Taking the time to make sure you produce high-quality content could spell the difference between getting people to pay attention to what you say and being completely lost in the crowd.

Here are some key traits that define quality content for me:

1. Well-Researched

Well researched content, regardless of whether it’s a lengthy blog post or a brief social media caption, is always more compelling and engaging when it’s based on good data. Now, to get great data, you have to do the research. I’m partial to adding quotes that provide more insight into my posts or a statistic that makes my writing more credible. Make sure you use only reliable sources and that you link to them.

2. Search Engine Optimized

I know they say that people shouldn’t create content solely for search engines, but this should always be a consideration. You’re already making an effort to create quality content. You might as well make sure it contains the key terms to ensure it ranks well so people searching for a similar topic can see it.

3. Relevant

This is very important. No matter how well-crafted your post or article is; no matter how much time you put into creating it, if it’s a subject matter that’s not relevant to your intended audience, it’s not going to be useful or informative for them. This is why I always remind fellow content marketers to make it a point to get to know their audience. Go beyond the demographics and learn more about their interests and hobbies; what they like and don’t like; what their needs and wants are.

Learning as much as you can about your audience will allow you to create content that will resonate with your readers and underscore its quality.

4. Typo-Free

Ensuring that anything you publish is grammatically correct and typo-free should almost go without saying. However, you’d be surprised how many content marketers tend to overlook the little details in their efforts to publish something quickly. Remember though, no matter how fast and consistently you post, if all your audiences see are articles riddled with spelling errors and run-on sentences, it’s going to reflect badly on the overall quality of your content.

Remember, the key thing to keep in mind is that your post has to be relevant, useful, informative, well-written, and thoroughly researched. These for me are the benchmarks of quality content. There are other traits of course, such as length, or page load speed, and reading level—just to name a few. While important considerations for quality, I find that they’re all really more dependent on the audience that you’re trying to reach.

Hope my answer helps! Leave a comment below for questions or send me an email via Leadspanda. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.