content-based SEO

Developing content has become the now method of getting readers from the Internet to your web pages. In the 90’s, traffic was driven through keywords and although these could lead to some horribly inorganic pages, it got the job done and got traffic to your site. Content production has since literally taken over and in the last five years we have seen a gradual shift away from traditional SEO rules and a new look at content from the lens of SEO. Two Key Ways You Can Do SEO the RIGHT Way With Content When the Google search algorithm changed what they were looking for in websites, it hurt a lot of sites because of their methodology. Stuffing unneeded keywords into a site made Google rank their pages higher, but provided little useful information to the users. Eventually, users started shying away from using search engines. If all you got was junk websites then what use were the engines anyway. Google’s game changer made use of the understanding that human beings read differently from machines. As a result, they developed a system by which they could determine if the site was “organic” or artificially generated. With every iteration of Google’s algorithm, the original SEO algorithm scammers have tried to change their tactics to stay ahead of the game, but Google seems to have weeded out the majority of them. Writing For The Audience. The changes in Google’s algorithm led to a change in the attitude of the entire Internet (and e-commerce in general). Before, traffic was a means of getting users to click on a link, end up on your site and be bombarded by advertising in the hopes that they would click something and you’d get paid. This new paradigm calls for a different approach to the reader: treating him/her like a human being. Content Builds A Community. One of the more important uses of content in the modern world is the building of a community. Blogs and websites help to create and foster a community of interaction and sharing that reaches far beyond the boundaries of the wired world. By creating content that people want to discuss, you give them a platform for further interaction and this builds reader loyalty. By integrating proper SEO techniques within your content you expose it to a much wider audience than you would normally. The result is of course more traffic, but traffic that is liable to return. The SEO invites them and the content keeps them there. Case Study: Express Writers Our own company of Express Writers was one of the early adopters of the idea that a high-content website would attract users a lot more than simple SEO by itself. In a brave move in November 2013, we ceased the use of traditional SEO tactics and moved towards using content alone to drive out business. We did away with the buying of social fans and the building and maintenance of keyword list. We went in for the long haul. The Results Today, we are among the top three links from Google for the term “copywriting agency” and have huge placement in the search results that have fluctuated little over the past year. This is wholly through organic content, not by any SEO methodology or plan. We outrank suppliers of copywriting services such as Scripted and Elance and for a company that doesn’t bankroll an advertising fund, we have done very well for ourselves. We maintain our current situation via a series of blog posts (more than 3 per day on every platform we manage), and by launching our new website in January of 2015. We guest blog in order to increase our reach and our post there for December, “10 Ways to Beat the Panda and Penguin in Your Content Strategy” was the top read for that entire month. We presented ourselves as experts and cultivated this persona, and we were able to deliver based on our content production, a testament to our performance as the following graphs show. The User Experience: How Has It Changed? In the past, at the turn of the 2000’s, SEO was about getting users to your site using whatever means was necessary. As we got up to 2010, the game changed and it was about getting users to your site by craftily inserting keywords throughout your content. Now, in a post-2010 world, it’s all about the user experience. Through a series of clever updates, Google has managed to force the hand of website owners and operators to start considering users as more than just throwaway currency and see them as the force that drives their business. It has turned out to be a good move for the average consumer as it nets them more value than the previous methods of SEO. Mobile Content. Content production dedicated to mobile users has already proved to be a major source of incoming traffic. By optimizing a site for mobile usage you get access to a whole new set of users that can benefit from your pages. Content production geared towards mobile users has quite a lot more marketability now and will continue to see popularity as the years go by. Approximately 17.4% of total Internet users are using their mobile devices for access. As these devices get cheaper and more accessible, we should see even more users adopt it as a means of browsing the Internet. Social Media and Content. Social media has been a major game-changer for a lot of companies as regards their content production and promotion. Content promotion through social media has a very wide-ranging audience and because of that it can mean a lot more traffic to a site than regular SEO. It is estimated that over 2 billion people use social networking in one form of another and as long as you can direct your advertising at the correct sector of users you have a ready market for your content. Quality before Quantity. Even though social media will get users to visit … Read more