In SEO we tend to assume the answer is "because our content ranked first" and I don't think that's necessarily the case. If the top 3 results are not compelling, will they get as many clicks as the 4th result, which will then start to surpass those "optimized" articles by virtue of its engagement?
And even if users click on your article, if your users spend less time on the page than it takes to microwave leftover pizza, that’s not a lot of time to be convinced to sign up or make a purchase.
Don't We Want to Keep Them Reading?
I would argue yes, because even if the first article doesn't lead to a conversion, if they like it and read another, and another, and another, won't that lead to more loyalty and awareness?
I think "why should someone read my content" is a question most SEO strategies fail to answer from the getgo, because we often assume someone will read it if and only if it answers their question as quickly as possible.
That can be a great strategy for transactional search intent, when your customers are so hungry they don’t care about warm pizza.
But informational, high and medium-funnel content should not be cold pizza, in my opinion. I think most audiences will prefer warm pizza if they’re trying it for the first time.
With most SEO strategies, we're introducing new users to your brand that is unfamiliar to them--that's why I think it's so important to measure how long someone spends reading your page.
How long should someone spend on your blog page?
In my experience, it's good to aim for around 40-60 seconds. If someone is spending more time than that, I think they're either carefully reading the article (perhaps to repurpose its content) or they just happened to leave their screen idle.
Any less and I feel like someone either wasn't interested in my content, or was distracted by an offer. The latter is actually a pretty common goal of SEO strategies, in my experience.
The goal of those strategies is "just get someone on the page and who cares if they liked the content--as long as they see what we're really advertising" which is often a rewards program, special sale promotion, etc.
I think that can work if you're a big company offering a good deal on a product people recognize and regularly buy, but small and medium-sized businesses who don't have that household name yet need to work a little harder to prove they have good pizza, so to speak.
Always Start With "Why" [You want Them to Read Your Content]
If the answer is visibility or to cast a wide net, sure just throw some content out there and see who it reaches.
If the answer is brand awareness, loyalty, problem-solving, consumer journey, etc. let's make the content interesting...
And that starts with understanding how to implicitly justify to your readers why they should read your article.
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