What are the benefits and challenges of creating interactive content for SEO?

When it's done well, interactive features can trigger greater and more complex thinking, particularly about subject matter that you choose to have the user focus on. Interactivity can help users grasp complicated concepts and ideas, and it can also activate parts of the brain that that are associated with pleasure, joy, and fun. The word "infotainment" — a cross between information and entertainment — is especially relevant here.

Developing interactive content can be more technically challenging and require additional resources compared to static content. Interactive elements may require ongoing maintenance and updates to ensure functionality and avoid frustrating user experiences. This can be a time commitment. While interactivity is great, it shouldn't come at the expense of informative and valuable content. Balancing the interactive elements with in-depth content is crucial for SEO.

Bear in mind that everyone doesn't approach user interfaces (UIs) in the same way. The minute you introduce interactivity into what was previously a linear narrative, you create a potential for unexpected outcomes. A corollary to this is that any content that integrates large quantities of interactive elements needs to be tested with humans because every individual will interact with it differently.

It might be difficult to create interactive content that is beneficial for SEO, but there are strategies that can help. The first step is to choose the appropriate interactive content type for your topic, audience, and goal. Investigate systems and tools that will enable you to produce interactive content with ease and speed while preserving its functionality and quality. Make sure your interactive material is quick to load, responsive, and compatible with all devices, and optimise it for search engines by adding pertinent keywords, titles, meta tags, and descriptions. To boost visitors, interaction, and authority, advertise your interactive material via email, social media, websites, and other platforms.

Remember that content that "branches" based on user choices creates exponentially more possible user journeys than linear content that lacks interactivity. Conceptualization and user testing/QA need to take this idea into account.

While focusing too much on SEO, don't lose focus on what your content actually wants to convey. For example, don't stuff keywords just for the sake of ranking in SERPs.

Adding interactivity just for the sake of adding it can be counter-productive. Always try to look at things from a larger perspective; is the interactivity you're including fun or "delightful" (to use a nearly outdated term) to use? Does it truly "add" something to what you're producing, or does it just make it more convoluted? Try to look at things from a value-add point of view.