Anyone who spends any time at all online knows that quality content is important. Many however, do not realize just how important.
The Penguin Update
Google’s Penguin update had many site owners scrambling to determine just what needed to be done in order to keep their sites ranking high on search engine results. This most recent update has a major effect on SEO with regards to content marketing and site articles.
The significance of Google’s latest algorithm update lies in the fact that SEO copywriting, or the practice of writing website copy that both appeals to users but also contains carefully selected keywords seeded naturally throughout in order to help improve the site’s rankings in the SERPs for those keywords, has become an increasingly important element of the content marketing toolbox.
In a nutshell, this simply means that those using content to grab the attention of search engines now also have to ensure that the content they use grabs the attention of readers as well. More than half of all marketers claim that organic search rankings dropped after the update which makes understanding the best practices critical. Optimized digital content is an important part of any SEO plan. Keyword stuffing and other practices are now a thing of the past. Today, Google and other search engines want quality content that adds value to a site.
Quality Content Is the Key
How do you fix this issue? You simply begin posting content on your site that is written with human readers in mind. In other words, you have to be sure that the content on your site is of the highest possible quality. Content is meant to engage visitors and to give them the information that they are seeking. If you ensure that your content is quality, you should have no problems gaining rankings with Google and other search engines.
Without focusing your SEO content writing to meet the needs of search engine algorithms, you are liable to slip in search engine results.
The success of your website will ultimately be proven by the traffic that it receives. If you want a lot of traffic then you need a higher page ranking and you need visitors who are likely to return. Without providing those visitors with quality content, you can expect at least half of them to lose interest in your site quickly. Remember that Search Engine Optimization is critical to receiving the level of traffic that you desire and your content should definitely be a major part of your plan to gain traffic.
The ‘O’ in SEO stands for optimization – and optimizing your website’s content is key to attracting potential customers to your site.
Keeping Your Readers in Mind When Creating Content
Whenever you write content, or have it written for you, you have to ensure that you are keeping your audience in mind. Write for visitors instead of just for SEO purposes. Although you may not be writing strictly for SEO when you do this, you are still going to get the same positive results as if you were. Keywords are still important but what is more important is using those keywords in a natural way. Again, keyword stuffing is dead and gone. Today, you have to plant those keywords into your content in a way that reads well and does not look like you have simply stuck a word in there for search engine crawlers.
Fresh content is also important. Plan to update the content on your site regularly not only to satisfy search engine crawlers but to keep offering your visitors something new and fresh. Every marketer needs to understand the importance of quality content versus just content. Without the emphasis on quality, you are not likely to gain the results that you want.