What Is User Generated Content? Use It to Boost SEO

Table of Contents

What Are the Benefits of User Generated Content for SEO?

Best Practices for Boosting SEO With UGC

User generated content is another useful tool for SEO professionals and business owners to boost organic traffic. Get it right, and you can potentially receive a steady flow of traffic from search engines with minimal investment.

Let your community do all the hard work and reap the rewards. It’s a good strategy for those with a low budget, and are looking for new ways to put out content. Search engines will notice and send more traffic your way.

After all, UGC can give you a boost of 29% in conversions, which is something worth striving for.

For example, Hike has a dedicated reviews page, which lists UGC (reviews) from customers, that can show in Google search results:

What Is User Generated Content?

User-Generated Content (UGC) refers to any content that was created by users rather than brands. In the context of boosting SEO, UGC is highly valuable. That’s because search engines prioritize fresh, authentic content.

Here are the top examples of UGC content that you can use to boost your search rankings:

Product reviews: Reviews on product pages help boost SEO by providing fresh and keyword-rich content. They often naturally include long-tail keywords, making the page more relevant for search queries. Additionally, positive reviews also increase trust and improve website metrics that act as positive SEO signals.
Social media posts: When users tag or mention a brand on social media, it creates organic backlinks and social proof. Both of these enhance SEO. You’ll also find that hashtags and mentions in user posts can also help improve keyword targeting.
Forums: Forums are an excellent way to drive traffic to a website. It’s an organic form of UGC that genuinely helps users get answers. You can also use the forums to interact with your audience and improve brand loyalty for your business.
Blog comments: Allowing users to comment on blog posts creates an opportunity for additional and relevant content. These comments often contain keywords, expand the scope of the topic, and provide fresh updates. Again, all of which are important for SEO.
Images or videos: You can encourage your audience to upload images or videos that feature your product. This type of content enriches the website visually, which often leads to more social shares and backlinks. It also provides authentic content that search engines favor.

What Are the Benefits of User Generated Content for SEO?

Are you not sure that adding user generated content is worth the hassle? We’ll share the benefits in this section to help you figure out if it’s something worth prioritizing. You’ll see that the right UGC strategy can lead to massive SEO benefits for your business.

Organic Backlinks and Social Shares

UGC frequently results in organic backlinks and social media shares, which are critical for improving SEO. When users create content that links back to a brand's website, it strengthens domain authority. In this context, it might be in reviews, forum discussions, or blog posts.

Additionally, backlinks from trusted sites are a major ranking factor for search engines, and UGC helps generate them naturally. You can track these backlinks by using the Hike SEO report feature.

Keyword Rich Content

UGC often includes keywords relevant to a brand’s products or services, thereby naturally improving SEO without additional keyword research. You can expect reviews, comments, and discussions to feature specific terms that real users are interested in. You’ll find that this will align with long-tail keyword strategies.

Furthermore, UGC’s diversity of phrasing and vocabulary also makes content more varied and rich. Ultimately, this improves the likelihood of appearing in search results for a wider range of queries.

Building Trust and Credibility

Search engines reward websites that demonstrate authority, trustworthiness, and user satisfaction. Therefore, UGC like reviews and testimonials, provides social proof that a product or service is valued by real people. This does a great job of building credibility for your website.

Additionally, as users create content praising or reviewing a brand, it establishes trust with potential customers. Hence, it will lead to better overall better website metrics such as lower bounce rates and time spent on the website.

Increased Fresh Content

User-generated content provides a constant stream of fresh relevant content for search engine bots to consume. Furthermore, you can use HikeBot to evaluate how UGC improves the SEO of your website.

This might be through comments, reviews, or social posts. Also, fresh content helps sites rank higher for more keywords. It’s especially great for long-tail keyword strategies that might be tricky to target with regular content generation methods.

Cost-Effective Content Creation

UGC serves as a cost-effective way to generate content, thereby reducing the need for expensive content creation campaigns. Furthermore, by encouraging users to contribute their experiences and opinions, brands can consistently publish new and engaging content without significant investment.

Since content volume and variety are crucial for SEO, this ongoing stream of user-generated material helps meet those needs at a low cost. More content means more opportunities for search engines to index the site.

This strategy is especially great for small business owners on a tight budget. However, the game changes from producing high-quality content yourself to policing the quality of the content created by users. This is the biggest time sink you’ll need to consider.

How to Encourage UGC On Your Website

You’ll want to get as much UGC as possible on your website, so you’ll need to make the right strategic decisions. Here are some tips for you to consider, which are applicable in most niches:

Incentive engagement: Offer rewards like discounts, exclusive content, or shout-outs to users who contribute. Gamifying participation with points or badges can also increase motivation.
Create contests and challenges: Launch themed contests or challenges that encourage users to share their stories, images, or videos. You can also highlight winners on your platform to boost visibility. This will also encourage users to participate with better content in the future.
Feature user testimonials and reviews: Encourage customers to leave reviews and testimonials by showcasing them prominently. That’s because positive reviews build credibility and motivate others to contribute their experiences.
Ask for feedback and ideas: Create a section where users can share feedback, suggestions, or innovative ideas for your brand. This gives them a voice and makes them feel involved in shaping the product.
Host interactive events: Virtual events, webinars, or Q&A sessions can prompt users to create content. It’s a good idea to encourage the sharing of takeaways, insights, or highlights.
Create a user forum or community section: Establish a dedicated space for users to discuss topics relevant to your brand. You’ll find that a community forum fosters interaction, and the content generated enriches your site.
Collaborate with influencers: Partner with micro-influencers to generate UGC. Their followers may also contribute, thereby building a more robust content ecosystem.
Simplify the submission process: Make sure that uploading or sharing content is easy and intuitive. You can achieve this by simplifying forms, minimizing steps, and making it mobile-friendly for better user participation.

Best Practices for Boosting SEO With UGC

Do you want to get the top results with UGC content for your search engine result page rankings? Then you’ll need to follow the best practices in this section. Implementing these strategies gives you the best chance to outrank competitors for target keywords in your niche.

Optimize UGC for Keywords

While UGC is inherently valuable for SEO, optimizing it for keywords makes it even more effective. Hence, encourage users to include specific keywords related to your brand, products, or services naturally in their content.

For example, if your company sells eco-friendly products, ask users to describe their experience with your "eco-friendly solutions." This keyword inclusion enhances search engine visibility for relevant queries.

Additionally, ensure UGC is placed on pages that are already optimized for SEO. Adding this manual oversight gives you more control over the outcome of UGC.

Moderate and Manage UGC for Quality

Moderating content is key to ensure UGC positively impacts SEO. That’s because not all user-generated content is helpful, and poor-quality or irrelevant posts could harm your site's ranking.

Therefore, employ a system to approve content before it goes live, thereby ensuring it aligns with your brand and includes keywords naturally.

You’ll also want to flag and remove inappropriate or spammy content that could detract from user experience and search engine rankings. This extra step requires more resources but is worth the effort to avoid ruining your website's SEO.

Encourage User-Generated Blogs or Guest Posts

Allowing users to contribute blog posts or articles related to your products or services can boost SEO significantly. These posts often include natural keyword variations and unique perspectives that align with potential search queries. You’ll discover that user-generated blogs offer fresh and diverse content, which is highly valued by search engines.

Additionally, guest posts can include internal links to improve site structure and help with SEO. Promote this opportunity within your community to involve them in the success of your website. Ideally, you will make this a synergistic process where the contributors receive some kind of reward. This might be a discount or early access to new products or services.

Leverage Social Media for UGC

Social media platforms are powerful for gathering UGC, which can then be repurposed on your website to boost SEO. Hashtags, mentions, and social posts are rich with keywords and brand-related content that search engines love.

Therefore, encourage users to share experiences, photos, or videos about your product. Then, with permission, embed this content onto relevant site pages. Linking back to these social posts can also drive traffic and improve your domain authority.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is UGC a reliable source of keywords for SEO?

Yes, UGC can be a reliable source of long-tail keywords. When users describe their experiences in reviews or social posts, they naturally incorporate keywords that might not be present in your content.

This diversity in keyword usage helps search engines find your pages based on real user queries. Also, UGC keywords are usually more conversational, thereby reflecting how potential customers search for products or services.

How should UGC be moderated for SEO benefits?

UGC should be moderated to ensure quality and relevance. That’s because poorly written, spammy, or irrelevant content can harm SEO. Hence, implement systems for approving content before it goes live, and filter out inappropriate submissions.

You’ll want to end up with high-quality UGC that includes relevant keywords that naturally improve search rankings. This should be done while maintaining user trust and enhancing overall SEO performance.

How Can Social Media UGC Boost SEO?

Social media UGC boosts SEO by increasing brand visibility, driving traffic, and creating backlinks. Therefore, encouraging users to share content using hashtags or mentions generates social signals that search engines recognize.

You can embed social posts on your website and link back to your profiles. This increases domain authority and makes it easier for search engines to rank your site.

Hike SEO

The advantage of UGC highlighted in this article should give you food for thought. You can skyrocket your organic traffic from search engines while boosting brand credibility. Also, you can engage audiences with your website, which boosts website signals that search takes note of when assigning rankings.

Do you want to keep track of how your UGC efforts boost SEO? Then choose Hike SEO for a toolset that can help any business. For example, you can make technical SEO improvements to your web pages with UGC.

So what are you waiting for? Try Hike SEO today for the top search rankings.