UGC content has become incredibly popular for a good reason: it’s authentic and honest. Consumers trust peer reviews and real-life experiences far more than traditional ads, making UGC a potent tool for building credibility.
With this type of content, you can drive more traffic to your website, stand out from your competition, improve social proof, and increase conversions.
Let’s have a look at what user-Generated content benefits there are and how it works for SEO.
What UGC Works Best For SEO?
User-generated content (UGC) refers to any content that’s not created by brands, but rather by customers.
Now, the best practice to get high-quality UGC video content for paid advertising is to collaborate with a UGC creator UK.
However, in the case of SEO, it’s best to collect this content also from users who share their experiences, opinions, and insights about your brand or product.
Examples of UGC include reviews, photos, videos, blog posts, testimonials, and social media updates.
Types of UGC that are most relevant to SEO:
- Reviews, testimonials, and ratings on your website and other platforms like Amazon, Yelp, or Google Reviews.
- Videos and Images on your website, platforms above, and social media
- Forums and comments your customers make on your blog, online forums such as Reddit, and large retailers like Amazon..
UGC Benefits for SEO
Increased Engagement and Bounce Rate
Engagement metrics are crucial in understanding how users interact with your website. These include likes, shares, comments, and time spent on a page.
User-generated content naturally improves these metrics by providing relatable and authentic content that resonates with other users. When visitors see real experiences and opinions, they are more likely to engage, comment, and share, increasing overall interaction on your site.
Fresh, authentic, and relevant content
Search engines favor websites that consistently offer fresh and relevant content. Content marketing is an important part of SEO, and UGC helps to support that since it’s an endless source of new material. Your website is continuously updated with fresh content, which is not only new, but also authentic, relevant, and relatable.
That way, UGC helps to satisfy user search intent and tells search engines that your site is active and current, which can positively impact your SEO rankings.
Improved Keyword Rankings
UGC content naturally already includes keywords that are relevant to your products. This is important for three reasons:
- Because they include keywords that are non-branded
- Because the keywords are different from what you may consider including
- Can help your site rank for long-tail keywords
When users leave comments and reviews, they spontaneously use the language of your target audience, which includes keywords that are product-centric. When people search for these keywords in the search engines, your products show up.
Boosted Social Signals
Social signals, such as likes, shares, and comments on social media platforms, are increasingly considered by search engines when determining rankings.
UGC plays a significant role in boosting these social signals. When users create and share content about your brand on social media, it increases your visibility and credibility. This social proof can enhance your SEO performance as search engines view these interactions as indicators of quality and relevance.
How to get reviews?
If you want reviews and testimonials, you have to ask your customers:
- Work with UGC creators to get UGC for your website
- Ask your customers directly to leave reviews after a purchase
- Offer incentives, such as discounts, loyalty points, or entry into a giveaway in return for a review
Tips on showcasing your reviews
- Make sure the customers know what you want them to do; make it clear and easy for them to leave reviews
- Showcase reviews on your product pages, homepage, or dedicated testimonials page.
- Embed social media posts directly to your website
- Create social feeds that display user-generated content from your social channels
