Why Content is Critical to SEO – and What to Do About It

Optimizing your website for searchers used to be a matter of using the right keywords in the right places – but times have changed, drastically. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Instead of fretting over keyword density and submitting your website to directories, you have an opportunity to help your clients and increase rankings at the same time.

Search engines want to give searchers the best experience and the best results—showing them the most helpful sites for the terms they are searching for. So instead of artificially creating rankings for keyword terms, you have to prove that you’re a valuable resource. And content is the best way to do it.

Although the search algorithms that make up Google, Yahoo and Bing’s search results are kept under lock and key, a few things are known for sure:

• Search engines love updated websites.
• Search engines love written content.
• Search engines love social activity.

Google, in particular, has made multiple changes to its algorithm in the last several years that make fresh content and social media a must. It’s all part of proving your website is a source of valuable information to searchers.

Old, outdated websites rarely have the information searchers are looking for. Written content gives search engines enough context to classify your site and determine which terms it should rank for. Social activity acts as proof of your usefulness. If your content is getting shared or liked, chances are it’s valuable – and deserves a higher ranking.

When you publish content in the form of blog posts, white papers and resource guides, you are giving the search engines the signals that you’re important to your target market. Your website stays updated, you give the search engines lots of fodder to evaluate you and you give your social media circles something to share and talk about it.

Best of all, content marketing isn’t going to get affected by the next round of search engine updates. If anything, those updates will make your publishing efforts even more effective.

Knowing content is important and executing it well are two different things. Lots of companies are publishing, but not everyone is doing it well.

Here’s how to create content that search engines and social media circles will love:

Be detailed – Your competitors are probably posting content, but that’s okay. You can beat them by being more detailed and helpful. Remember – your prospects aren’t looking for overviews when they go to a search engine. They are looking for answers.

Listen and respond – You can give your searchers exactly what they’re looking for by listening and responding. Subscribing to other blogs, setting up social media alerts and taking a look at your incoming traffic will clue you in to what your target audience is looking for. Then you can provide the content they’re seeking through original blog posts, ebooks and resource guides.

Be consistent – SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to publish content and interact on social media consistently if you want to see results. That means developing a content strategy, creating editorial calendars, publishing schedules and growing your presence on the best social networking sites for your brand. If you can’t stay consistent on your own, outsource the process so you can be sure your content and social media engines are running smoothly—and returning results.

If you want to rank well in any search engine, you need to publish content. By following these guidelines, you can be sure you’re creating the kind of content that gets results.