When Matt Cutts talks about SEO, people tend to listen. He is one of the most important people in the entire Google organisation so if he is giving advice and tips, start paying attention! If you didn’t already known that content was king in the world of websites and SEO, your sites are probably filled with low grade content. This may explain why you don’t rank well in the search engines. The emphasis on good content that offers something of value to the customer has been increased with the introduction of Google Panda, one of the biggest algorithm changes ever made on the search engine site.
Keywords According to Cutts, companies need to be more careful with their keyword research. He suggests that you think about what users will type into a search engine. Even though you sell ‘USB drives’, search engine users may not type ‘USB drives’ into the search box even though that is exactly what they are looking for. They may type in any one of a number of variations of the keyword phrase. Your job is to think of all the possible phrases that relate to your industry and start controlling the market.
Become an Authority No one can accuse Google of not having the best interests of people at heart. Google Panda is dedicated to ensuring that people enjoy a fantastic user experience. Approximately 92% of content marketers say that content creation is effective for SEO purposes. Quite what the other 8% are doing is anyone’s guess! Cutts believes that the most successful sites are the ones that seek to become an authority in their niche. In essence – you need to offer users a compelling reason to return to your site.
In other words, websites that have content written for the search engines rather than the reader will be ruthlessly punished by Google AND visitors to the website. Google Panda is constantly changing to ensure that sites with certain keywords and irrelevant content are pushed further down the rankings where they belong. If you have a site that only contains information about your company and is little more than a brochure, you can forget about keeping people interested. When someone visits your site, they MUST have a reason to return. Provide updates on your industry, interesting pieces of trivia or resources that visitors can use.
Great content will also convert visitors into customers:
- Over 50% of consumers say that blogs have influenced their purchasing decisions online
- Almost 60% of marketers have gained new customers because of blogs
- Approximately 40% of search engine users look at articles and blogs for information about potential purchases
- Over 60% of consumers are more likely to buy goods from companies that have custom content on their websites
So instead of believing that content is nothing more than words on a page, start thinking of ways in which you can make your content worthy of viewership. Make your website an authority in your industry and reap the rewards from search engines and grateful visitors who will soon become customers.
