Using content curation techniques to deliver a valuable experience to readers and accrue long-term SEO karma is the latest trend sweeping the content marketing sphere as of late. The Huffington Post is just one remarkable success story. Below, you’ll find some stellar content curation tips that’ll get you on the right track and improve your SEO all around.
Narrow Your Focus
Obviously, the goal of content curation is to provide a high-quality buffet of the latest and greatest information to a specific subset of readers. Digital communities and online followings tend to be self-selecting, so this shouldn’t be too tough. Just mind your Google Analytics and pay attention to which content offerings score the highest with your audience. Then, tweak your site as needed.
Diversify Content Types
Mixing videos, image galleries and SlideShare presentations into your typical procession of blog posts and full-length articles helps to flesh out your content profile. Even if certain visitors strictly prefer either video or text, everyone will appreciate a wider array of high-quality content. If you’re going to include infographics, ensure that they’re relevant and valuable.
Curate Consistently
Now more than ever, maintaining a non-stop flow of fresh content to your blog or your primary portfolio website is absolutely critical. In the wake of the game-changing Penguin update from Google, the words “recent” and “relevant” are practically synonymous. Updating your curated collections on a daily basis is a shrewd SEO move for content curators looking to make a splash.
Develop a Sharing Ecosystem
Great content that’s curated to appeal to your core demographic can be made even more effective through a concerted social media sharing effort. Passionate users who link back to your website through Twitter, Facebook and Reddit can ultimately explode your traffic if you make sharing simple, intuitive and hassle-free for them.
Utilize the Latest Software
To find the best content, use sites like Alltop, Feedly and Flipboard. They’ll give you a heads up on the latest news stories and trends that’ll interest your following. For actual content curation, Scoop.it, Bundlr, Pinterest and Storify are excellent platforms that can be used to pull together an eclectic yet harmonious mix of original and shared content.
Rubber, Meet Road
The hardest part of content curation is selecting the right tactics for the job. It’ll take a bit of trial and error with various content curation strategies to perfect your formula. Using Google Alerts to spot trends and guide your curation efforts is never a bad idea. In any event, curation is one long-term trend that’s worth investing in.