Content is King!
Every industry has it’s buzzwords that could easily become a conference room drinking game. Take a shot every time someone says, ‘outside of the box’, ‘sales funnel’ or ‘brand equity’. In the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) world “Content is King” is a term that has been around from the earliest days of SEO. The ongoing content demands for today’s websites have given rise to specialized content services.
What Makes Content so Royal?
The logic is straightforward. If you don’t have any content (for this blog post we’re referring to copy or text content rather than other forms of content) on your website, your audience will likely struggle to to understand your business, your products and your services and chose you over your competitors. You’ve just lost that marketing joust.
Likewise from Google’s perspective, if Google can’t “read” your site and “learn” your story then you’re making it more difficult for Google to understand exactly what you’re website offers as well. If search engines can’t accurately identify what your site is about, then they won’t be able to best direct interested audiences to your pages. Without visibility and traffic to your pages, you’ll never even get a change to joust your competition. (Apologies here. In the SEO world we talk about Google the company as if it is a life-like entity sitting on a throne “thinking” through what it is going to do next. We realize the search engine can’t read, learn or think but it has come pretty close and so we use these terms to help you understand how it works.)
“Okay, I Need Content What Do I Do?”
Unfortunately, no one knows your story better than you. Don’t try to borrow content from other sites because it shouldn’t fit for you. An old marketing adage is if you can take your headline or story and replace your company name with your competitor’s then you’re not showing how you’re different and unique.
Find those things that tell your story and write about them. There are some guidelines from Google that help you. Each page of your site should be at least 300-500 words (new studies are that longer may be better). If you can’t write at least 500 words on a topic, you probably don’t have a lot to offer on the subject at hand. Content should be written on a clear, specific topic and it should be written for your customer/audience rather than trying to stuff it with keywords in a futile attempt to influence search engines. Find five unique things about your business and make each one of them a page on your site. Next month find three more and do the same. Find, write, publish, repeat.
“Can I have too Much Content?”
Yep! The main way you can have too much content is if you have duplicate content. People used to “build out” their site by restating a lot of the same information over and over again on different pages with only minor differences to increase the number of pages present in search results. Search engines now can simply ignore pages that are essentially duplicates of the same information from the same website.
Also, if your navigation structure makes it hard for anyone to find their way around your site, then they aren’t going to be able to readily find what they are looking for. Put content on your site that will help your customer make a decision or learn more about what you offer, but don’t pad your site with pages that don’t offer much value to your audience.
Long Live the King
Quality content is the first step to a quality site. If you have great articles, resources, images and graphics, then your developer has more material for your site, your SEO team has more to work and optimize but, most importantly, your potential customer has a better chance of understanding your business and why your products and services stand out as most useful for their needs.
From an SEO perspective we advise our clients often on how to position their content in a way that helps them organically get noticed by the search engines. Sometimes strategies as simple as breaking apart an overview article into three separate topics will helps your pages get found and read more often.
If you’re having trouble creating the right content that will help your pages get found and engage your audience best, contact us today about our content services. We can help you crown content as king on your site and help make loyal subjects of your audience.
Related Posts
Why the Competitive Analysis Should Be One of Your First Steps in a Marketing Plan
Why the Competitive Analysis Should Be One of Your First Steps in a Marketing Plan As a marketer, it’s likely that you understand the importance
SEO or PPC – Which Will Be Best for My Business?
We are often asked, “Which is better: SEO or PPC?” This question is usually followed up with, “How quickly can I be #1 in Google?” or,
How To Discover Fast SEO Wins With An SEO Site Audit
How To Discover Fast SEO Wins With An SEO Site Audit [WEBINAR] SEO ROCKET WEBINAR SERIES August 18, 2021 11:00 AM EDT Have you ever
