Web Content (mass + Keywords) + Links = Seo
By Joel Walsh, Fri Dec 23rd
Of course, the whole goal of the search engines' ranking schemesis precisely to deliver good, relevant content to users. Themechanism for how search engines select and reward good,relevant content is essentially just a technical issue, thoughadmittedly an extremely important technical issue.
But even in purely technical, mechanistic, terms, web contentaffects search engine rankings three ways:
1. inbound links
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2. website mass
3. keyword optimization
1. Web Content and Inbound Links
Inbound links are the number-one factor in getting search enginerankings. They also yield plenty of traffic on their own. Theimportance of links is what has led many people to say thatcontent is no longer important. But those people forget thatcontent really does play a big role in getting links in thefirst place:
* At the very least, good content will make potential linkpartners more comfortable with linking to your site. No onewants to link to a link farm, splog, junk site, or even just anunprofessional-looking site. * Lots of good content gives otherwebmasters (and particularly bloggers) a reason to link to yoursite spontaneously without being asked.
* You can allow other websites to post your content in exchangefor a link back to your site.
2. Web Content Mass
More web pages of content = more search engine traffic
Here's why:
1. Adding pages to your site is like putting out extra nets tocatch surfers. 2. Search engines see bigger websites as moreprestigious and reliable. 3. The more content you have, the morereasons you give other webmasters, particularly bloggers, tolink 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 competitivekeywords.
Still, keyword optimization can really help you get traffic fromsearches not on competitive keywords. While you may never ranknumber 1 for "finance," you may still show up tops for a searchon "household finance rent federal tax deductions" if you havethat phrase somewhere in your content. Such non-competitivesearches 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 targetaudience. Use tools such as those offered by WordTracker andYahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture).
There are two big pitfalls to avoid:
* "Negative keywords" that look relevant but are not reallysearched 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 entirewebsite to the hard drive for offline browsing.
* Impossibly competitive keywords that you have no realisticchance of ranking high for them. How do you know if a keyword isimpossibly competitive? One rough measure is to look at thePageRank of the webpages currently ranking in the top three forthat keyword. If the PageRank of those pages is much higher thanthe PageRank your site will likely have in the future, you willprobably never outrank those pages.
A pay-per-click campaign with Google of Yahoo! SearchMarketing will help you to find which keywords really aresearched on by your target audience.
Keyword Density
Keywords appear in the content the right number of times forsearch engines to recognize the page as relevant, but not sooften that it looks like keyword stuffing. The longer thecontent, the more times the keyword should appear.
Keyword Prominence
Keywords appear in just the right positions within your webpages for search engines to recognize them as relevant. The pagetitle, headings, and first lines of the page are oftenconsidered the most prominent positions.
Keyword Stemming/Keyword Variation
* Using variations of the keyword will help ensure web pagesappear relevant to the next generation of more sophisticatedsearch engine algorithms.
* In the meantime, variations of popular keywords helps yoursite appear for the "non-standard" searches on variations of thekeyword.
There are three main types of keyword variations:
* Word-stem variations. A stem of a word is its base. Forinstance, "optimize" is the stem of "optimized." Other stemvariations of "optimize" include "optimizing," "optimizer," and"optimization." You can also shuffle the component words ofmultiple-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 mootpoint. You need content for your visitors even if no searchengine spider ever notices. But every website budget, both ofmoney and time, is finite. If you're ever choosing whether toinvest in another link to please search engines or another pageof content to please your visitors, don't forget: search enginesstill like content, too.
About the author:Joel Walsh is a writer and owner of UpMarket Content, a websitecontent provider. Request a no-cost, no-obligation proposal foryour website content:http://www.UpMarketContent.com/website-content [Requested anchortext: "website content"]
