Search Engine Optimization 101 Content, Content, Content

Search Engine Optimization 101 Content, Content, Content

If you are creating a website or working on a site you've already created, the content of the site is one of the most important factors for successful search engine marketing. The pages you create should provide valuable information that references very specific terms and concepts that are unique to your website.

Text is one part of the content that is important for being found in search engines. Search engines usually read and index the first 500 words from each page they successfully crawl. The text within that span of words is one factor that helps to determine your relevance for a particular search term.

If you are successful at weaving your keywords into compelling copy (remember humans are your primary reader) you are more likely to be relevant for keyword searches. Once your site has been up and running for three months, run a report on your log files to determine what keywords people are using to find your site.

You might be surprised if the most popular keywords that do find your site don't match up to keywords you already had in mind and were using. The web is a great educator about how to succeed. Your site might be very popular for search terms that you hadn't thought of when you built it.

When people use search engines, they aren't typing in generic terms that are hard to define and measure like "business" or "software". People use search engines for very specific names and phrases, terms like "Inkjet printer cartridge refills".

You wouldn't have thought to include that specific phrase in your content because it doesn't read very well. But if all those words are located in a web page carefully constructed to highlight keywords that are known to produce traffic, the likelihood that you will appear in a search result for a very specific search improves.

You must be diligent in understanding how people are getting to your site and focus on providing quality content that is geared towards the audience that is trying to find you. Be as specific as you can. You'll improve the quality and quantity of visitors you get from search engines.

It's also important to understand that you cannot trick the search engines. Flooding the engines with multiple versions of the same page, repeating the same term over and over - these tactics will only lead to negative traffic from search engines and the likelihood that your site could be banned from being listed in a search engine.

We mentioned earlier that the text on your website was one part of the content that's important for being found at search engines. Another important part of the equation is your link popularity. By focusing on quality content, your website becomes more likely to have someone naturally link to it without having to request it.
You can read more about link popularity here.
Resources:
Copywriting Articles by Heather Lloyd-Martin
Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool
WordTracker
RankWrite Articles on Copywriting and Search Engine Optimization

Travelling this journey with you...
Frank Tocco