It’s easy to think that marketing is largely just about encouraging people to spend money. However, marketers don’t literally just advertise; they provide information aimed at helping the recipient to overcome whatever problem they are seeking assistance for at the time.
For this reason, you have a duty to make sure your promotional content is accurate. Otherwise, you could violate trust and, as a result, risk losing valuable custom. Here are several things you can do to prevent mistruths from slipping into your SEO material.
Don’t skimp on nailing the basics
Undertaking fact-checking can undoubtedly be a time-draining endeavour. However, this wouldn’t excuse you overlooking the accuracy of such rudimentary details as people’s names, ages and jobs.
That’s because getting these right can actually prepare you for working your way through the bigger stuff, too.
You could sometimes find yourself, with one article, quoting multiple people. In this instance, be sure to reproduce their words faithfully, and avoid placing one person’s words in somebody else’s mouth.
Check, check, and check again!
When a source tells you something they present as factual rather than opinion, it would be good practice for you to investigate the matter yourself.
For example, if you hear that videos are more popular than text when it comes to marketing, it would be ideal if you can find other sources corroborating this claim. You could cite marketing expert Neal Schaffer stating that “80% of people prefer videos over written text”.
Always look for the original source
You might not always be able to find it — if, say, it is a webpage that has since been deleted, leaving you with only a second-hand source to mention as a link.
However, with any statistic or quotation you include in your own content, you should at least state where the fact actually originated. Otherwise, you could end up inadvertently quoting a disreputable source and consequently making your brand look untrustworthy as well.
Interpret information rather than simply regurgitate it
This is another way in which you can make clear to members of your target audience that you are not settling for taking everything you see at face value.
Here’s one scenario for you to usefully imagine: you run a tech repair store and, on its website, regularly post blog articles about recent, industry-specific developments, like rumours of what the next iPhone will be like.
Instead of just relaying what other sources — like tech news websites — say, you could write opinion pieces suggesting what the news might mean for consumers and the wider industry.
Consider using software tools for fact-checking purposes
One such tool you could look at is Grammarly’s Plagiarism Checker, which can indicate portions of text in need of attribution. Meanwhile, corporate SEO plugins like Semrush and Ahrefs can review domains to help you check which of them are deemed reputable.
Still, you might reckon you need a little extra help directly from human hands — in which case, feel free to get in touch with our Darlington-based team of SEO specialists.
