effective-seoNot too long ago, you could optimize your website and rank higher with the right keywords. The keyword were used to catch the attention of the “spiders” or Google bots. This would in turn lead to a higher site ranking.
Recent changes in search engine algorithms, especially Google’s, have limited the effectiveness of a keyword-only strategy. To optimize your site now, you must improve your SEO strategy. The old adage “content is king” plays heavily in the new SEO game, and quality content is the foundation that helps your business stand out with the search engines.
People will stay longer on your site when the content is good. Quality content also makes them return to your site, and share your site with others. It’s a powerful way of increasing your PageRank.
If your SEO strategy is built on using keywords alone, and you’re neglecting quality content, you’re missing the mark when it comes to effective SEO and one of the best methods to rank websites higher.
That being said, don’t fall into the “more is better” trap. Five or six quality articles on your site will have better impact that fifty poorly written or poor quality articles.
Quality content bring readers, builds customers and creates happy search engines when they visit your website. Make sure your content has meaning for your visitors. If you give them something useful they can take away (it can be informative or entertaining), they are more likely to come back and to share with others.
Timing of your posts is important also. Even if the quality is good, a hit or miss strategy of sporadic posting will cause Google and other search engines to value your site less because it does not appear fresh.
So, how do search engines determine if you have quality content on your site? There are a number of factors, including whether it is useful to visitors and the amount of work involved (a 500 word article would be more valuable than a 200 word article). Even images, slide shows and videos are checked.
Believe it or not, a website that is poorly constructed, containing misspelled words or long blocks of unbroken text that don’t make sense, will penalize your site.
For effective SEO, make sure the content on your site has been targeted at whatever niche or subject your site is geared toward. Articles about SEO on a site primarily geared toward golf enthusiasts will not help. Search engines will consider that irrelevant content and not the quality content you’re aiming for – no matter how well-written.