Web Content Mass + Keyword Optimization
+ Links = SEO
How does web content really
affect SEO? It's often said that the answer is simply that
content does not affect SEO very much-it's all about more
technical issues. Yet a website's content still plays an enormous
and fairly direct role in search engine ranking.
Of course, the whole goal of the search engines' ranking schemes
is precisely to deliver good, relevant content to users. The
mechanism for how search engines select and reward good, relevant
content is essentially just a technical issue, though admittedly
an extremely important technical issue.
But even in purely technical, mechanistic, terms, web content
affects search engine rankings three ways:
I nbound links
W ebsite mass
K eyword optimization
1. Web Content and Inbound Links
Inbound links are the number-one factor in getting search
engine rankings. They also yield plenty of traffic on their
own. The importance of links is what has led many people to
say that content is no longer important. But those people
forget that content really does play a big role in getting
links in the first place:
At the very least, good content will make potential link
partners more comfortable with linking to your site. No
one wants to link to a link farm, splog, junk site, or even
just an unprofessional-looking site.
Lots of good content gives other webmasters (and particularly
bloggers) a reason to link to your site spontaneously without
being asked.
You can allow other websites to post your content in exchange
for a link back to your site.
2. Web Content Mass
More web pages of content = more search engine
traffic
Here’s why: Adding pages to your site is
like putting out extra nets to catch surfers.
Search engines see bigger websites as more prestigious and reliable.
The more content you have, the more reasons you give other webmasters,
particularly bloggers, to link to your site spontaneously, without
being asked.
3.
Web Content Keyword Optimization Keyword optimization used to be the most important
step in SEO. Now it matters little in ranking for highly competitive
keywords.
Still, keyword optimization can really help you get traffic
from searches not on competitive keywords. While you may never
rank number 1 for "finance," you may still show up
tops for a search on "household finance rent federal tax
deductions" if you have that phrase somewhere in your content.
Such non-competitive searches make up a very large proportion
of total web searches.
Web Content Keyword
Optimization Checklist:
There are four legs to keyword optimization:
Research/selection
Density
Prominence
Stemming/Variation
Keyword Research and Selection
You need to identify keywords searched on by
your target audience. Use tools such as those offered by WordTracker
and Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture).
There are two big pitfalls to avoid:
"Negative keywords" that look relevant but are
not really searched on by your target market. For instance,
"website copy" is a synonym for "website
content," but most people searching on "website
copy" are looking for software that copies an entire
website to the hard drive for offline browsing.
Impossibly competitive keywords that you have no realistic
chance of ranking high for them. How do you know if a keyword
is impossibly competitive? One rough measure is to look
at the PageRank of the webpages currently ranking in the
top three for that keyword. If the PageRank of those pages
is much higher than the PageRank your site will likely have
in the future, you will probably never outrank those pages.
A pay-per-click campaign with Google Adwords
of Yahoo! Search Marketing will help you to find which keywords
really are searched on by your target audience.
Keyword Density Keywords appear in the content the right number of
times for search engines to recognize the page as relevant,
but not so often that it looks like keyword stuffing. The longer
the content, the more times the keyword should appear.
Keyword Prominence Keywords appear in just the right positions within
your web pages for search engines to recognize them as relevant.
The page title, headings, and first lines of the page are often
considered the most prominent positions.
Keyword Stemming/Keyword Variation
Using variations of the keyword will help ensure web pages
appear relevant to the next generation of more sophisticated
search engine algorithms.
In the meantime, variations of popular keywords helps
your site appear for the "non-standard" searches
on variations of the keyword.
There are three main types of keyword
variations:
Word-stem variations. A stem of a word is its base. For
instance, "optimize" is the stem of "optimized."
Other stem variations of "optimize" include "optimizing,"
"optimizer," and "optimization." You
can also shuffle the component words of multiple-word keywords.
Variations of “website content” would be “web
site content,” “web content,” “content
for websites,” and “site content”).
Synonyms (such as “web page content,” “internet
content,” or “writing for the web” for
“website content”).
Related terms (such as “internet,” “SEO”
or “web page”).
For many people, the SEO side of content feels like a moot point.
You need to create content for your visitors even if no search
engine spider ever notices. But there is a case to be made that
an extra page of content is good not just for visitors but search
engine spiders, too. Every website budget, both of money and
time, is finite. If you're ever choosing whether to invest in
another link to please search engines or another page of content
to please your visitors, don't forget: search engines still
like content, too.
