CONTENT SEO: THE ART OF WRITING & INDEXING OPTIMIZATION
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One of the most important factors in Google’s search algorithm is the quality and quantity of website content. Why? Because search engines are largely an index of words and phrases; a virtual library of indexed words. Every time you search for something on Google™, you ask the search engine to find the best results for the words you have entered; and if your website has search engine optimized (SEO) content that matches the searches you want to attract, then you will typically receive the visitors you want.
Writing Content for Two Audiences
Most websites are not optimized for search engines because the content is written for only one audience: the customer. The trouble with that is content is read by two sources: customers and search engines. The search engines like Google™ send out spiders to crawl (read) the content of your to website and index it in the search engines. When a potential customer searches the web with search engines, he or she enters in keywords and phrases that will hopefully lead them to your website. Most website content today was not designed with this in mind, nor is it SEO content optimized to lead the customer to you. Content should be well organized, easy-to-read, and fully optimized for searches. This includes seeding keywords and phrases into your content pages, while ideally keeping the content length of each page between 250-600 words.Search Engines Hate Flash®
Since search engines are designed to index words and phrases on a website, it can only index what it can read; and search engines cannot read Flash®! So no matter how sexy and cool a Flash® website may look, chances are that websites written in Flash® are nothing more than a billboard in a corn field, not easy to read. So does this mean you should not use Flash®? No. What it means is that a website can include a Flash® image but should not be written in Flash®. Typically, you should not let somebody who is a wiz with Flash® design your website. That is, unless the Flash® designer can incorporate Flash® as an optimized website design.
Websites Compete on Content
Have you ever noticed that many of the websites that typically score at the top of Google™ search results have a lot of content and content pages? Perhaps even too much content? Well, there is a reason for this, search engines love content! The more content you have the better chance you will match the keywords and phrases that people who use search engines enter. In highly competitive markets in large metropolitan areas (such as New York City), content becomes even more important since the competition is greater than in rural areas and small towns. Ultimately, the amount of content you need depends on your competition. The best way to see this for yourself is to analyze the sites for content in the top results of your desired Google™ searches. The more content your site has, the more opportunities you have to incorporate SEO keywords and phrases for a search engine to index.
Natural Writing versus Keyword Stuffing
Some websites stuff keywords into existing content that was originally written for the customer and not search engines, in order to make the content perform better on search engines. SEO keywords stuffed sites do not read naturally to the customer. In short, they tend to read poorly, turn off customers and result in lower customer conversion rates. Search engines spiders are also getting better at identifying keyword-stuffed websites, so try to avoid this problem where the search engines have a reason to penalize you. When it comes to content writing, you need a balance so that the content reads well for both audiences, which is no small task. The reality is that most people do not have experience or time to write in this manner and should give serious thought to hiring someone who is best suited for this type of work. Most sites with the highest SEO content and search engine results have content that was written as a collaboration between a professional writer/s and an expert SEO consultant.
Writing for Your Audience
These are several serious questions you need to ask yourself before you start writing your website content. Who are your targeted profile customers? Are they highly educated or high school dropouts? What level do they read at, or can they read at all? What is their average attention span online? Remember, you are writing to targeted audiences, not for yourself or in order to impress your peers. This is especially true for professionals. If you are a personal injury attorney specializing in construction accidents, and who graduated with cum laude honors from Harvard, do you really think your writing skills are clear to your prospective clients? What level of writing is best suited for these types of customers? For example, consider an immigration law firm whose content was written at a graduate school level that was translated to Spanish on their website. Is this writing for the audience? The fact of the matter is that most people read at a sixth grade level, yet many poorly performing websites are written at a college reading level or higher.Updating Your Website Content
How many websites have you visited that still have links to search engines and companies that no longer exist? Or how about a company that has not updated their news and blogs for the past six months? What is the first thing that crosses your mind about these websites? Is this company still in business? They might very well be but you wouldn’t know it by their website. Readers are not the only ones who use this, so do search engines. That is why it is very important to make sure your content is always updated and not left to rot on the vine. So important is regular updating of your content that that it is not uncommon to see a 20%-30% increase in search engine traffic after a significant content refresh of a website. So make sure you schedule a thorough SEO content review and update on an annual basis for search engine optimization, and do not let news and blogs go unattended for months at a time.