What Makes Content High Quality? Breaking Down High-Quality Content

You’ve undoubtly heard people say, “make sure your content is high-quality” or “high-quality content is the key to SEO success.”

It’s one of those things that so many marketers throw around, but what does it actually mean?

As someone who’s very guilty of using that phrase,  I’m here today to make amends — I’m going to tell you what it takes to make content “high-quality.”

8 traits that make content high-quality

What makes content high-quality may vary from marketer to marketer, but I think there are a few baseline things that indicate your content is good quality:

1. It hits search intent

Good quality content hits the search intent for whatever keyword, prompt, or topic you’re targeting. You create content that covers all the information your audience needs to ensure your post is the one-stop-shop for information.

Seems like a no-brainer, right?

You’d be surprised how many times I’ve conducted a search on a topic, went to a page, and found it had nothing I was looking for — it didn’t answer my question.

Now, granted, AI changes that a bit since it can pull from multiple sources versus me checking an individual source.

However, it’s still important to hit search intent to get cited or mentioned. That means making sure you’re, at bare minimum, covering the necesssary angles on a topic to rank or get cited.

2. It balances quality and depth

Balancing quality and depth is critical for high-quality content because it ensures that you’re covering the topic in enough detail, but not diving so deep that the quality gets lost.

Let me explain.

When we talk about high-quality content, a lot of people interpret that as in-depth content, meaning they really have to dive super deep into a topic to boost the quality of the piece.

But here’s the thing — depth ≠ quality.

Just because you cover a topic thoroughly doesn’t mean your content is high-quality. I’m a strong believer that if you go too far, you’re actually ruining the quality of your content. Instead of keyword stuffing, you’re information stuffing.

A great example I love to use to explain this concept is the topic “how to change a tire.” So, imagine you’re writing a blog post about this topic. A good page would include information like:

• Steps to change a tire [written content and a video]
• Tools you’ll want to have to change a tire
• Signs that you might not be able to change the tire yourself (no tools, sidewall bulges, stripped lug nuts, etc.)
• Who you can contact if you can’t change a flat tire

But, imagine you’re stuck on believing that depth = quality. So to make the content more in-depth, you’re now adding the following sections to the page:

• Why flat tires happen
• How to dispose of your tire once you’ve changed it
• How to change a tire for a Honda
• How to change a tire for a Toyota
• How to change a tire for a Ford ( I could keep going)
• Best tires to get for replacement
• Who’s better: Triple A or a local towing company?

Now you’ve got a piece of content that’s just bloated with information, which ultimately dilutes the quality of the content.

Think of it like this — if you have a flat tire, do you really care about why flat tires happen or the best tires for replacement?

Probably not.

What you really care about is figuring out if you can change the tire yourself and how to change it. And then, if you can’t, figuring out what the next steps are.

So, all of that to say, don’t bloat your content in the pursuit of trying to make it higher quality. The quality of content comes from covering the right and most relevant information in enough detail that the person reading it (or the engine citing it) can get the answers needed.

3. It incorporates data

Good, high-quality content incorporates data to help support claims and backup what you’re saying. Data puts numbers behind the concepts and ideas you’re sharing, which brings validity to content.

At least 79% of companies already use statistical data or research findings within their content.

Now keep in mind, you’re not always going to be able to find data to support your content — some topics just aren’t built for it. That doesn’t automatically make your content low-quality, though.

This is really a situation of, if there’s data out there to support your content, use it!

Not only is data incorporation great for getting citations and mentions, but it helps build trust and authority, too. If you’re using real numbers to back up what you’re saying, it builds your content’s credibility.

So, what kind of data should you include?

Statistical data (like in the beginning of this section) is the most common (and often easiest) option. You can pull data from other pages and link back to it to support your content.

Another option is to do original research. With this option, you can get original data from your own explorations or surveys you conduct. This option is great for AI engines, too, as it allows you to provide data it can’t find anywhere else.

4. It considers the reader

An important feature of high-quality content is that it considers the reader. Thinking about who is reading your content enables you to tailor your content to meet your audiences’ needs.

This is in a similar vein to matching search intent. As I’ve said, matching search intent means you’re covering, at a minimum, the information your audience wants when they conduct a search.

So, what does it mean to consider the reader?

To me, considering the reader means thinking about what you can do to your content to make it truly helpful and useful to your audience.

Pretend that you’re a travel agency and you’re writing a blog post about how to pack for a week long trip. If you were considering the reader, what is something that would be really helpful and useful for them?

In this case, a downloadable checklist would be extremely helpful.

Just think about it — if you were trying to figure out what to pack for a trip, how helpful would a checklist be? For most people, it’s an amazing add!

That’s what it looks like to consider the reader.

Considering the reader means thinking, “What could I add to my content to make it more helpful and useful for my audience?” It can be an FAQ section that addresses additional questions others aren’t addressing, adding a video explanation, creating a downloadable checklist, or integrating free tool.

You can achieve having high-quality content by putting your reader first and considering what they need.

5. It uses relatable examples

Good quality content uses relatable examples to help explain ideas or complex concepts. Making content relatable means it’s easier to consume and understand, ultimately allowing it to resonate better with your audience.

I think that using relatable examples to explain concepts is one of the most important tools in your belt that, if you aren’t using it, you’re failing your audience.

Here’s the reality: Stories are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone.

On top of that, 68% of consumers prefer content that tells a story over straightforward advertisement.

And why is that? Because people can relate to stories and examples that reflect their everyday life or something they’re likely to know about.

That’s the key here — it needs to be relatable examples.

I see so many marketers make the mistake of using their own industry for examples. You have to remember that your audience likely doesn’t know a lot about your industry — that’s why they’re coming to you for information or help in the first place!

So, if I’m just using marketing examples to try and explain a concept to my audience, it’s likely not going to resonate. Instead, I rely on examples around food, household tasks, common life experiences (flat tires, like I used above), and other things that are generally experienced and understood by most people.

When you use relatable examples to explain concepts, it’s easier to understand and elevates the quality of your content.

6. It’s well-written

You know how they say to pick and choose your battles? This is a battle I’m picking.

If you want your content to be high-quality, it needs to be well-written. Full-stop.

Well-written content:

• Has good flow from one topic to the next
• Is gramatically sound
• Avoids jargon (only uses when necessary)
• Is well organized and logical
• Has a voice (whether the company’s or individual writer’s)
• Considers the audience

Content that is sloppy, has no flow, and is poorly written will not perform well — people won’t want to read it and AI engines won’t want to cite it.

And I already know the next question you’re going to ask — Is AI content considered well-written content?

Yes and no.

AI can likely give you a grammatically sound piece that has good flow and is organized. You can even set up parameters to ensure it limits use of jargon.

Where it will struggle is the voice and the audience.

You can give an AI engines details about your company’s voice and the audience who is reading your content, but it may struggle to really encapsulate it the way a human can.

That’s why there’s so much emphasis on the human aspect of AI content creation.  Humans need to be involved in the oversight process and ensuring the content is right. If you’re going to use AI, you need to have a human that knows what well-written content looks like, at the helm.

That way, you ensure the content is actually well-written.+

7. It’s not just text

High-quality content isn’t just text-based content. Good quality content leverages things like screenshots, graphics, videos, and interactive elements to enhance the content.

Leveraging these visual elements is beneficial, too – pages with images get 94% more views then those without visuals.

Visuals are critical to good content because they:

• Aid in comprehension: Visuals allow people to process information faster. They can also pair the written concept with the visual one to help them better understand information.
• Build credibility: Things like screenshots help build proof of concept and enable you to showcase exactly what you’re talking about.
• Extend reach: Visuals are easy pull from content and share. It can create a new avenue for you to increase your reach beyond the piece of content.

The key here is using visuals that add value. Having a random picture in the midst of your content won’t serve a purpose. Your visual elements need to be intentional and support your content in order for them to have impact.

8. It’s well structured

Good quality content is well-structured, meaning it’s easily readable and scannable for users and AI engines. Creating high-quality content means make sure it’s easily accessible for others.

Let’s put it this way, nobody (people or AI engines) wants to read a giant paragraph that’s 10 sentences long and goes on forever. Even if the information is super helpful, it’s not accessible.

Creating high-quality content means thinking about how that content is presented to your audience.

It means doing things like:

• Using headings and subheadings to break up content and make it scannable
• Leveraging bulleted and numbered list when appropriate (like right now!)
• Integrating tables to make comparison easier (when needed)
• Having jumplinks to jump to sections easily
• Short paragraphs (2-3 sentences or lines) for easy reading

Go forth and create high-quality content!

And now, the mystery of what “high-quality content” is has been solved for you.

But in all seriousness, the rise of AI has made good quality content even more important — it’s what’s going to get you cited in AI engines.

So, use these concepts I listed above to help you create content that resonates with your audience while also appealing to AI engines!