Articlez.com Blog

Everyone finds a quiz interesting and informative, so here’s one you can use to evaluate the present state of your website’s content. Take a minute or two to run through the questions below and see how your site stacks up…

CHECKLIST – Each question is worth 1 point. Give yourself 1 point for every question that you can honestly answer “yes” to. Scoring guidelines are at the end of the quiz.

Website Content Focus 1: Keywords (3)

• Have I properly researched the keyword phrases I want to rank for – or am I just guessing?
• Just how easy will it be to rank for those keywords?
• New sites – go for KW with low amount of competition
• A decent amount of search volume for that KW phrase
• Is the content reflective of the probable intent of the buyer if they use those search terms?(i.e., if they are looking to research a topic, or comparison shopping, or ready to buy, does this page of content match the stage they are at in their buying journey?)

Website Content Focus 2: Headlines (4)

• Is the main target KW in the main headline?
• Is the most important information in the headline towards the beginning? (In case the headline is cut off)?
• Is the headline wording enough to create enough interest and/or intrigue that will capture attention and lure in the reader?
• Do you make use of subheadings after every 1-3 paragraphs?

Website Content Focus 3: Page Content and Layout (18)

• Is your content written naturally?
• Have you over-used your target keywords?
• Are you saying anything new – or just rehashing what others have said?
• Is your content wording 100% unique text?
• Have you used the active voice in your writing?
• Is your page content at least 1,200 words, perhaps even 2,000-2,500 if you want to rank as an authority on that subject?
• Have you framed important questions in your content — and then answered those questions?
• Have you broken up large blocks of text?
• Is your content free from grammar and spelling mistakes?
• Have you stayed away from unnecessary technical terms and jargon?
• Does your webpage use a comfortable font style and size?
• Are ads running on your page at a minimum?
• Is the content “above-the-fold”?
• Have you linked OUT to authority websites, from within your page content?
• Have you used — effectively — images and videos within your content?
• For your images and other visuals, have you optimized the alt text, titles and captions?
• Are images optimized to minimize image file size, so as to speed up page load times?
• Have you linked WITHIN to other important pages inside your website (key landing pages, product or service category pages) where you are trying to send traffic?

Website Content Focus 4: Page Title Tags Meta Descriptions (5)

• Is your page meta description interesting, and eye-catching – to attract a click when it shows up on search results pages?
• Is the meta description unique to each page?
• Do your title tags also effectively encapsulate your page theme?
• Are the titles properly optimized for length, and not duplicate with other pages?
• Is your primary page keyword included in your page title?

Scoring and Results

How did your content rate overall?

Here are some guidelines:

28 or higher: Congrats! Your content rates very high against the competition. Try to get a 30!

25-27: Nice Job! You have a few things to address, but you’ve done a good job so far.

22-24: Passable – but it could be better. Where do you need to make changes?

21 or lower: Oh-Oh… There’s definitely room for improvement here. This needs immediate attention.

What Does “Successful” Content Look Like?