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how to determine that an article is good quality?

by hazyl lee
19 replies
Any criteria or special requirements for a good quality content?

As far as i know,
keyword density: 1-2%
800-1000 words is the best
Understandable english, good command of english

Anyone wants to add up? What do you require a writer to write your article usually? Any special requirements besides giving them title, keywords?
#article #determine #good #quality
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by hazyl lee View Post

    Any criteria or special requirements for a good quality content?
    I judge it according to whether or not it fits my own concept of "syndication-quality writing".

    That may sound a little idiosyncratic and subjective, but it's actually very pragmatic: it measures "quality" according to the results.

    The ultimate test of content, after all, is always whether or not other publishers and webmasters like it enough to choose voluntarily to share it with their own readers/visitors/subscribers either by re-publishing it or just by linking to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
    Originally Posted by hazyl lee View Post

    Any criteria or special requirements for a good quality content?

    As far as i know,
    keyword density: 1-2%
    800-1000 words is the best
    Understandable english, good command of english

    Anyone wants to add up? What do you require a writer to write your article usually? Any special requirements besides giving them title, keywords?
    Quality content has nothing to do with density or length. It really doesn't even matter about the English, unless it's so bad that people don't understand it.

    Quality is subjective, of course, but the main thing that separates quality content from drivel is this one thing -

    Do readers get value from it?

    That's what matters. That value varies according to the purposes of the piece, but the main thing is that it provides more value to the reader than the time it took to read it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Karson
      Yep, quality for SEO and quality for reading are two different things.

      What you are saying provides great quality for the spider bots but being able to pull off a properly SEOed article yet keeping it interesting can be tough, especially when you have your one main keyword and then more secondary keywords too.

      Cheers,
      Karson
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    • Profile picture of the author sthomas
      Originally Posted by Tina Golden View Post

      Quality content has nothing to do with density or length. It really doesn't even matter about the English, unless it's so bad that people don't understand it.

      Quality is subjective, of course, but the main thing that separates quality content from drivel is this one thing -

      Do readers get value from it?

      That's what matters. That value varies according to the purposes of the piece, but the main thing is that it provides more value to the reader than the time it took to read it.

      Anyone who believes anything other than this is wasting their time and effort
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  • Profile picture of the author Prashant_W
    Simply put, if it doesn't engage your readers, it sucks.

    Keyword density and length are irrelevant. As for the writer's "command of the language"... If he can't engage a reader, it doesn't matter if he's a grammar police.
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  • Profile picture of the author hazyl lee
    Ok I get wat you all meant here. As long as the contents can engage the readers, and provide value, something that a reader interested and finding it useful, thats it? By how does this help in google ranking? Of course you need to have a good ranking in order to get readers to read your informative content right?
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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      Originally Posted by hazyl lee View Post

      Ok I get wat you all meant here. As long as the contents can engage the readers, and provide value, something that a reader interested and finding it useful, thats it? By how does this help in google ranking? Of course you need to have a good ranking in order to get readers to read your informative content right?
      I imagine that is the case if you rely on search engines as your only source of traffic. But that within itself isn't wise.

      Terra
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by hazyl lee View Post

      Of course you need to have a good ranking in order to get readers to read your informative content right?
      Not necessarily.

      SEO traffic is only one kind of traffic. There are many others.

      In all my own experiences, over the years, with all my different niches, search engine traffic has actually always been the very worst traffic, to be honest: it's the type of traffic of which the lowest proportion opt in and the lowest proportion buy.

      The beauty of article marketing is that it can bypass search engine traffic in favor of something much better.

      Explained in detail here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5035794
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisDouthit
    The article must be helpful to the reader, if someone reads it and then wants to send it to someone else you are on the right track. I would say around 500 words is your best bet for size. I would increase the keyword density to about 3-4% and be sure to link your main keywords in the resource box. Also be sure to include your full URL, however I usually do not link my URL as I would rather save the links for the keywords. However, it is important to at least have your URL in there in case the article gets carried somewhere else and the links do not follow.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danielsk7
    Originally Posted by hazyl lee View Post

    Any criteria or special requirements for a good quality content?
    As far as i know,
    keyword density: 1-2%
    800-1000 words is the best
    Understandable english, good command of english

    Anyone wants to add up? What do you require a writer to write your article usually? Any special requirements besides giving them title, keywords?[/QUOTE]

    As long as the content helps the person reading the article that's all that matters.

    It doesn't necessarily have to be 800-1000 words in order to get the point across however if you choose to go that route make sure it is interesting.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    Originally Posted by hazyl lee View Post

    keyword density: 1-2%
    As long as the words "keyword density" are in your vocabulary you are crippling yourself as a writer. Instead of writing something with a natural flow, you end up with choppy crap that has to be rearranged to fit in "best butt secks website" 3-4 times into an article.

    It's not enjoyable to write and even worse to read.

    Originally Posted by hazyl lee View Post

    800-1000 words is the best
    Depends on what we are talking about here. Word count is a situational thing. For example, Mike Reiss over on ESPNBoston writes great posts on the New England Patriots that are as short as 250 words and as long as 2000. The content is good, and that is the important thing.

    Over on Cracked.com, every article runs at least 2000 words. Wouldn't matter if they are longer or shorter, as long as they are still funny.


    Originally Posted by hazyl lee View Post

    Understandable english, good command of english
    This one should be a subconscious factor if you are writing for the English market. It shouldn't be something you have to think about for each project.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zults
    I think natural flow and correct grammar use is much more important to a high quality article than keyword density. Though I try to keep my KW density at under 3%

    Spun articles = no for me
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  • Profile picture of the author Rose Anderson
    What are you hoping to achieve with the article?

    Do you want the reader to enjoy the article enough to return to your website again and again?

    Do you want them to be so happy to get the information that they sign-up for your newsletter?

    Do you want webmasters to publish your article?

    Do you want them to love your article so much it inspires them to buy your ebook?

    What you want out of the article is part of what determines how valuable the article is to your business. When you hire a writer, it always helps if you let them know how you're planning to use the article.

    In general; it should interesting, informative, or entertaining. When possible... all three.

    Rose
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  • Profile picture of the author Jaymark
    If a writer has been successful at having their articles posted on Ezinearticles and especially if they have achieved the rank of Emerald status, then you can reasonably assured that they create interesting, unique and SEO worthy content which is grammatically correct with no spelling errors.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Jaymark View Post

      If a writer has been successful at having their articles posted on Ezinearticles and especially if they have achieved the rank of Emerald status, then you can reasonably assured that they create interesting, unique and SEO worthy content which is grammatically correct with no spelling errors.
      Oh, how I wish that were true!

      I'm afraid the reality is very different: all one really needs, there, to achieve Diamond status is a decent history of getting articles accepted, with few rejections.

      The "editorial guidelines" criteria, unfortunately, don't require that the articles are interesting at all, and thousands of them (including plenty submitted by Diamond and Platinum authors) are incredibly boring.

      There's absolutely no requirement that they should be "SEO worthy" (thankfully) and many aren't at all (including a lot of mine from which I've earned substantial amounts of gradually increasing passive income without being particularly concerned about SEO!).

      There's absolutely no requirement that they should be unique, either: like those of most professional article marketers, every single one of mine ever submitted there has first been published and indexed on my own site (and then syndicated to several other places, too) before being submitted to EZA.

      There are also huge numbers of articles there which have many grammatical errors. In fact that's a considerable understatement: I'd go so far as to say that it's fairly rare for me to see an article there without any grammatical mistakes. As you'd expect from a company with such a large and varied editorial staff, the standards are not particularly consistently applied. They try, and I think they're improving, and they're distinctly better than any other article directory, for sure, but I'm afraid the picture you paint of the content there is one seen through rather rose-tinted lenses!
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    • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
      Originally Posted by Jaymark View Post

      If a writer has been successful at having their articles posted on Ezinearticles and especially if they have achieved the rank of Emerald status, then you can reasonably assured that they create interesting, unique and SEO worthy content which is grammatically correct with no spelling errors.
      Maybe I'm behind the times, but I regret I've never heard of an "Emerald Status" with EZine Articles.

      Also, just a small correction, but EZine Articles do not, in fact never have, required Unique Content.
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  • Profile picture of the author danr62
    Want to see a good article? Here you go:

    How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get Paid to Change the World : @ProBlogger

    Why is that such an awesome article? Here's just a few reasons:
    1. The headline is extremely catchy. Who wouldn't click on that link?
    2. Look at the first paragraph. Just one short punchy sentance.
    3. He tells an extremely personal story of tragedy that hooks the audience.
    4. He shows how he achieved his dreams while having a disabilty that most people would use as an excuse.
    5. The article is inspiring.
    6. It's useful.
    7. It's not written with the standard SEO rules at all.
    If you want to learn to write engaging articles, follow Jon Morrow around like a hound. Find some other writers that inspire you and follow them as well. Don't settle for SEO fodder.
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