Digital Marketing Insights

Everyone knows how much reach viral content can have. Once a post, or photo, or any other media content becomes a phenomenon, it spreads like proverbial wildfire across the web with little signs of slowing down. The other thing with content that is trending, though, is that it eventually loses its steam once a new trend comes along. But how does all that affect your website’s search engine optimization, or SEO?

SEO is a prime component of the success of a website or business. Better SEO means higher rankings on search engines, which means more clicks and website traffic. Presumably, viral content means more clicks for your business’s website, and that is absolutely true. But what exactly does that mean, and is it sustainable?

How To Make Viral Content

According to SEO companies such as Dominate With SEO, diverse content is the first step to achieving viral success. A website with a wide array of media ensures a wider reach, as opposed to a website that sticks to blog posts or photographs only.

The thing about a viral post or article is that it has to be appealing to a majority of people. Curating viral content is as simple and as difficult as figuring out that sort of formula. Some people use the term clickbait or linkbait, which sounds corny, but the tactics usually work. A catchy title or link, as well as either humorous, cute, or intriguing media is the key to making it go viral.

How Does Viral Content Help Traffic?

People might assume that because of the nature of viral content, it may only cause a brief increase in website traffic. While this is still a great benefit, it is not what most people desire. The overall goal is usually a sustained increase in traffic to keep your website’s rankings consistently high. Viral content can still do that.

Having content on your site or from your business that goes viral can cause a massive upward spike in traffic to your site. People will be clicking on the post or article, which will hopefully lead back to your website. This turns into users searching out your website on search engines, which will increase your rankings as well. As long as the content stays trending, this huge surge will continue.

However, all content eventually reaches a point where it really is no longer “viral”, and the popularity and traffic level off. This might make you believe that the same will be true of your website’s traffic, but that is not necessarily the case. While the references and clicks of the media will stagnate, in all likelihood, your website’s traffic will continue to grow.

While it may not be as high as it was during the peak of the content’s virality, the fact is that the internet is forever. The piece that went viral will always exist, and its popularity means it will exist in many places. People will continue to discover it and search it out to show others. This means that although the piece will garner fewer clicks, your website is still connected to it and will continue to reap the benefits of the media’s popularity.

The True Benefit of Viral Content

In reality, a piece that is trending will not reap as many benefits in organic search engine results as it will in shares and social media impact. That is not to say it will have no relation to organic searches – it will.

However, in a world largely shaped by social media, the lasting impact on social media is the true test of spreading the word about your business and ensuring its success. Shares on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can get you much farther in business than even a few Google hits. Either way, you are getting clicks and increasing traffic.

The Bottom Line

Viral content has short and long-term benefits when it comes to the success of your website. If you can successfully curate content that is trending, you can watch your website thrive.

Zeke Daldy