Why Creating Relevant Content is Related to SEO Success
Content is king. When and where did this profound concept originate? Google, though not the mastermind behind this phrase, references it all over the place. Bill Gates is often given credit for this expression, but merely used it in an essay. The phrase, “content is king,” was coined in 1967 by Sumner Redstone, formerly of Viacom. As CEO of the theater chain, National Amusements, he believed that content would be more important than distribution mechanisms. “Channels of distribution (in varied forms) would always exist, but content would always be essential.”
Why is content king and not queen or prince or some other far removed cousin of the royal family? According to BusinessDictionary.com, content is both information and communication: the sum total of freshness, readability, relevancy, and usefulness of the information presented, and the manner in which it is presented. It is the “glue that makes a website ‘sticky,’ makes visitors return, and keeps them from leaving.” Content is definitely the CEO of the SEO!
Success with SEO is dependent on content that satisfies the needs of audiences. Your content should be optimized not only for search engines, but for humans. It has to be “fresh,” meaning relevant: not out-of-date. You content should be easily readable so that your audience can “make meaning” out of the text, but it also needs to be SEO-friendly.The Google algorithm searches for important words at specific places on your web page or blog post.
Let’s briefly look at SEO.
Research: Prior to beginning your content creation, build a comprehensive list of the search terms your going to use to reach your target market. These are the words and phrases that customers and clients will use to find your products and services. Keyword research takes time; don’t cut corners. What you want to rank for and what your audience actually wants can be two different things. To help with your research, check our previous blog, Why Keyword Research is Critical to Digital Marketing Success.
Write: High-quality content cannot be overstated. The only reason that content exists is to serve prospective customers and clients. They’re looking for solutions, and it’s up to you to provide them. Optimizing your content is a waste of effort if your content quality is inferior.
Incorporate: Once you’ve created your content, incorporate keywords at strategic locations. Don’t overuse them. If you start to realize that you’re overworking them, use alternatives.
Promote: Marketing your content is a vital aspect of SEO. Make sure that your target audience is able to find your content through social media and social networking channels. Google wants social validation from as many resources as possible.
Now that you’ve done your SEO homework, let’s find out why content writing is so important for SEO Success.
- If There is No Content, You Cannot Rank for the Right Keywords
Keywords matter. SEO needs strategic use of keywords and search terms. Your ranking depends on whether you’ve used your keywords or their alternatives in the title of your web page or blog post. You can only fully satisfy Google through the use of the right keywords.
2. Content is Needed for Social Validation
When your content is high-quality and delivers what your people are looking for, they tend to engage through social media and social networking websites. When your audience shares you links on their timelines, Google looks at this as social validation and uses this validation to rank your links.
3. Content Leads to Quality Backlinks
In most cases, people link to your website or blog because they find usefulness in the high-quality content that you’re publishing. Google sees this as validation and its algorithms use this to rank your web pages and blog posts.
4. Content Gives Google Something to Rank
If you don’t have content, what is Google going to rank? In the same manner that Google ranks images and videos, it ranks text. Content writing is so important for your SEO because it is giving Google something to rank and telling Google which keywords and search terms to use to rank your content.
5. Content Contributes to the “Search Task Accomplishment” Factor
The search task accomplishment factor answers the questions that your searchers are posing on Google. As you create content, it’s important to consider what questions are being asked, and are these questions being answered in the most effective way possible. Google’s algorithms will be able to determine if people are able to locate exactly the information they need to accomplish their task on your link. If yes, your rankings will improve. If no your rankings will diminish.
Always keep in mind that content is not only optimized for search engines but for humans. To be successful it has to be relevant and readable. It has to answer questions and provide solutions.
“The only way to win at content marketing is for the reader to say: this was written specifically for me.” @AskJamieTurner
