Volumes have been written about the techniques to achieve the top search result rankings. Hundreds of websites and businesses have been developed promising to get your website to the top spot. We receive emails weekly here promoting different services that will get our sites to the top of the first page in Google or Bing search results. Every whitehat technique (and a few blackhat ones) are proposed or hinted at or retained as “secrets.”
A while back, with the release of Google’s Panda update, we were reminded of one constant in the world of SEO; quality content is the stalwart component. Great content is really the superhero of SEO.
SEO Success means Great Content
After listening for years about backlink strategies and keyword densities or article spinning, we are nearly admonished by the managers within the search engine companies; just provide quality writing that is relevant to your site and to Internet user’s searches. That’s all.
There is no doubt that there are other important factors to consider in the creation of a great website or blog. Tags and internal links and various “spider friendly” techniques can enhance search engine ranking and help your site be crawled more successfully and “found.” But it is content that provides value to site visitors that is recognized by the search engines and cherished by your visitors. It is meaningful, relevant content that was important five years ago and is important today.
The Right Writer
Find a professional writer who understands how to write good content or web copy. It may be a feature writer, a copywriter or an experienced blog writer. Find a writer who understands that good writing is 90% research and 10% writing. In that way, your articles or blog posts bring fresh, informative information to your site visitors. If you sell a product or service, well written product descriptions or associated articles aid the search engines and build interest in your prospective customers.
If you write your own content or blog posts, understand this approach. Stick to the central topic of your website or blog. Use words that are central to the topic or purpose of the site and link to other articles within your site that discuss the same or a related topic. Stay away from paragraph-long sentences. Use bullet-points when you are selling something. Spend lots of time researching the topic you are writing about unless you are a true subject-matter expert already. Avoid paragraphs that seem never-ending.
It’s Just Content Folks
All of this qualifies as the number one SEO whitehat “trick.” Just great content. Sit down now and either find a great writer or spend some real time developing good content or blog posts. In the time you would have spent searching for the right backlink artist or article spinner, you could be on your way to content that everybody agrees is worth reading.
© 2011 K Richard Douglas