Many website owners think publishing articles and blog posts is the only way to improve their SEO rankings. 

Little do they know that that is not the case. There are several other ways to drive traffic and boost your website's ranking on search engines. And even over-rank your competitors. 

Although writing appears to be the widest form in driving traffic, there are times you need to present your content in another state to reach your target audience. 

Your audience has been exposed to much different content online, and some are tired of reading long texts. 

And you know, SEO is a game of war. Whoever gets to the first page of Google SERPS gets the massive traffic that leads to conversion. You must present your content in another unique form to get that traffic. 

In this article, I'll be holding you by the hand to reveal other forms of content you can optimize your website for search engines and even dominate Google's front page.

You will also understand the importance of different types of content and the other ranking factors you will be leveraging. 

However, before you jump the line, please permit me to give a fast clarification of how Google ranks content on Google. 

How Does SEO Ranking Work? 

Imagine you are working on a project. You desperately need a book where you can find the information you need. 

You visit a bookshop and explain what you're searching for to the bookseller. Knowing what you are searching for, the book vendor goes inside to bring out various books. He hands over the one that will provide you with lots of information you need and will further help you write your project. 

Although the other books have the same content, the bookseller knows the quantity and quality of the content provided in these books. Hence, he presents you the one he knows will help you immensely. 

Liken the bookseller to SEO and the books to several blogs. So SEO has to do with optimizing your content with specific keywords that people are using to search for the information. Your target audience uses these keywords is searching for information on Google. They are known as a query. If your audience searches for information and Google finds out that your content is relevant, it'll present it to the reader. And as more and more people read the content, Google ranks it as the first. 

However, this does not only apply to written content alone. It does apply to other forms of content, too. 

Below are the top 7 types of content to improve your SEO rankings: 

Infographics 

Have you ever heard of the famous saying: "A picture tells more than 1000 words."?

Yes, this saying is also applicable to infographics. According to SEMRush, "Infographics is the most effective strategy in digital marketing to present data or information in graphic visual form."

An infographic is simply the proper use of charts, graphs, tables, pictures, and other visual elements to pass across a message to your target audience. In other words, Infographics is the addition of images and words that help to give across a complex message easily and creatively to your target audience. 

To pass this message across effectively, you must have a unique, attention-grabbing design that will appeal to your target audience. Imagine you are quickly searching for information online, and you see a picture that explains the key points of what you need. Will you stress yourself reading anybody of the texts to get that information? 

Several companies and business owners love using infographics because of their success in providing information quickly and simply to the target audience. 

Infographics are one of the best ways to build links. An attractive and helpful infographic can help generate massive organic traffic to a website.

Below is an example of infographics.

Video content 

Apart from infographics, another type of content that will improve your SEO ranking is video content. It is a potent type. Your audience will relate more to video than text because:

• First, it saves them the stress of reading long-form blog posts.

•  Also, watching the product owner builds more trust and increases the business owner's credibility.

According to Neil Patel, one of Forbes' top 10 marketers, he writes: "video, if used correctly, can be an extremely powerful form of content and make a significant contribution to your overall SEO strategy, in more ways than one."

Although creating video content might be challenging. But with the help of video creation tools like Renderforest, creating one is no longer an arduous task. It's as simple as recording a live video on your Snapchat, Tiktok, Facebook, and Instagram handles. 

You can use a video creation tool to create a video where you:

• Introduce yourself and the services (or products) that you offer.

• Showcase features and benefits of using your products/services.

• Guide the user on how to use your products. This process can be done through quick tutorials and step-by-step guides.

• Promote your brand image through the use of storytelling.

Now, pay attention to this: creating video content without identifying your goals might make you lose money. Fully-optimized video content will generate a high return on investment. And there are two main goals that your video SEO should achieve: 

• Build links

Your video content should be able to generate a significant number of high-quality links for your website. And that's why you must create a fantastic video, have a broad outreach, and a good video content marketing plan. 

• Generate social shares

Your video content must engage your audience before it can generate adequate social shares. It should educate them and probably make them laugh. So, your content must create an emotional rapport that will trigger them to share it.

Blog posts

This tactic also cannot be left out of the fold. Blog posts are short, informative, and educational articles posted on a blog. They are shorter versions of long-form content. They provide quick answers to the query made by visitors.

Blogging is one of the best ways to improve your SEO ranking. You have myriads of options to write on. You can write how-to guides, reviews, opinion pieces, and lists, and you can also opt for guest blogging. That is, you are writing for other sites within the same industry. That also ranks your content at the top. 

The importance of blog posts cannot be overemphasized. It engages your target audience, improves SEO rankings, attracts new visitors, and grows your brand.

How do you write a blog post? Writing blog posts is not an arduous task. It's as simple as writing a composition on your favorite food. You start with writing a compelling–or captivating–headline, then a strong opening that draws your reader to read the meat of the content, followed by a satisfying conclusion. Then you optimize using the right keywords.

Grab a drink and watch your competitors fume with anger as your blog ranks higher than theirs.

Long-form content

If you want your blog to get to the first page of Google SERPS, you must cultivate the habit of writing long-form content.

Long-form content is an extended form of blog posts. But the difference is that while a blog post is quick and informative, long-form content covers an in-depth study of a topic and takes a lot of time. 

Google calls any content less than 300 words "thin content" but gives a thumbs up to long content between 700 to 2000 words. Top websites like Hubspot and Neil Patel's get to the top of Google SERPS because of their long-form content and the proper usage of keywords.

So writing content in 300 words or less means you are serving your competitors a chilled beer, begging them to rank more than you.

Now how do you write long-form content?

It's the same process as writing a blog post, but you're digging deep here. The first assignment is to research what your audience is searching for on the web. Those are the keywords. How will you go about this? Use SEO tools like Ubersuggest, SEMRush, AnswerthePublic, and Google Trends. Use these tools to check what your target audience is searching for online. 

Apart from this, go to Reddit. Check what is giving your audience sleepless nights. Go to E-commerce websites like Amazon and Clickbanks. Check the reviews there. If the comment section of your competitors' blog is enabled, go there and check the readers' comments. You can, through that, know what your competitors did not address. 

Do you want more? Go to Youtube, check the viewers' comments, and check what they still aim to find. By now, you would have had lots to address in your content. Gather these pain points and address each of them. Other necessary things you should do include:

• Writing a good headline

• An engaging introduction

• Using simple diction and short sentences.

• Wrapping up the whole content with a conclusion gives the reader 'a sense-of-completeness.' 

Podcasts 

Sing along with me: 'I wanna wish you a merry Xmas, I wanna wish you a merry Xmas.. ." 🎵 🎵 🎵 I so much love music, and I believe you do too. 

So here we are, podcasts! What is a podcast? A podcast is a series of digital audio files made available for visitors to download or listen to through the internet.

Within the past few years, podcasts have gained a lot of attraction because of their ease of consumption. The reason why users prefer it is because they can consume it while engaging in an activity. You know, driving, washing dishes, working, and other similar activities.

Google has included a section for podcasts in SERPS, so it's easier for podcasts and their episodes to appear on it. 

So why create content using podcasts? 

Your visitors can be people who understand better by listening, which allows them to hear your croaky voice. Hey! Please don't stone me... I'm just joking anyway. 

Just like video content, imagine you are writing an article on how to play guitar. You can't satisfy your reader by screaming several verbs and adverbs to describe the guitar's tone. You will want your audience to hear the tone. To create a podcast where you will demonstrate how to play the guitar. That will aid your visitors' understanding of the subject.

But one thing to note here is that it must not be dull. It has to be engaging and create that emotional rapport that will make your listeners want to share. 

To start a podcast series, choose a topic you want to be known for, know your goals, optimize with relevant keywords, and do other necessary things that need to be done. This guide will help you understand how to optimize your podcast to get to the first page of Google SERPS.

Case studies

Research and case studies are another great way to improve your SEO ranking. According to Buzzsumo, content backed by facts can attract millions of shares. 

So what are case studies? Case studies have to do with the in-depth* analysis of a person, group, or event to represent a vast number of people.

People are searching for information backed up by facts. And if you can put in more effort to conduct a study, you've won the hearts of search engines because case studies do get a lot of inbound links. 

The importance of case studies to visitors is that it helps them get new and quick ideas on how to solve the problem they are facing. For example, Mark is struggling to write a high-quality article that gets to the first page of SERPS. He stumbles on a case study on how Mark Scotts, a blogger like him, writes an article that gets to the first page of Google SERPS, using a new method he has never seen nor used. He will pick up the strategy and use it, too! 

Social media content 

One of the ways to drive traffic to your blog and improve its rankings is by sharing your content on social media. Although social media does not directly impact SEO, it can drive massive traffic to your website and improve the SEO ranking. 

I remembered when my friend, Samuel, wrote an article on "How to Cultivate the Habit of Saving Money." After writing it, he realized the content was not ranking. What did he do? He shared the link on several social media platforms with short and enticing content that went straight to the heads of the target audience. He checked it after a few days and saw the article among the Top 10 on Google's first result pages.

So just like my friend, Samuel, after writing (or recording) your content, share it on your several social media platforms. Go to where your target audience is staying. It can be on Reddit or Facebook groups. Write a headline that addresses your audience's pain point, followed by an introduction that will engage them, then provide the solution, but don't finish the words. Provide the link, and they will "slide" into your blog.

Conclusion

By now, I know you're pumped up with this great information at your disposal. But that's not enough... What you should do now is to get your team to create a good marketing plan. Choose a topic you want to be known for online. Know your goals. Then create high-quality content.

Now sit with your legs crossed, sipping the chilled beer that wets your beards, then watch your competitors struggle to rank more than you.