Any discussion about search engine optimization will bring up the topic of content and how important it is for SEO. Novices think that this just pertains to the content on their website, but in order to execute a really good SEO strategy it’s about publishing content elsewhere on the web as well. An SEO link building strategy without content is severely limited. Sure, you can submit your site to directories and pay for association memberships and sponsorships which may help build links but it won’t get you too far. Creating content such as articles, guides, blog posts, press releases, videos, etc. builds your real estate across the web. The more quality content that you produce, the better the chances are that your content will rank for specific keywords or keywords phrases. It’s not as simple as looking at it as a numbers game, since quality always trumps quantity, but without content online visibility is severely limited. In addition to serving link building purposes, content helps to establish a business as a trusted source of information among target audience members. Potential clients and customers want to get to know you before doing business with you. The content that you produce can help sway their decision. If a target audience member is left to choose between two companies, one that is transparent and produces lots of information, or one that doesn’t- who do you think they would choose?
The search engine ranking algorithms now include social data and links that are Shared, Liked, Re-tweeted, +1’d, etc. are weighed more heavily than links that aren’t. And what is it that people Share, Like, Re-Tweet, and +1? Links to content, whether it be a video or an article or a blog post or any other kind of content. The search engines want to provide users with the best possible results. If a link is being shared again and again in social media, it must provide some kind of benefit.
Good, off-site content is the first step to generating website traffic. Once a visitor lands on the site, it’s the on-site content that takes over the job in getting the visitor to convert. On-site content should be updated frequently since the search engines reward sites that are active and produce relevant, timely, original content. Operating a blog is a great way to ensure that the search engines are coming back frequently to index the content.
