What’s the Connection between SEO and Content
SEO and content always go hand in hand. You can spend thousands or tens of thousands of pounds on SEO campaigns but without quality, up to date and unique content, you won’t get anywhere. You might but not for long because it doesn’t take long for search engines to “figure out” that your website doesn’t offer enough value to be ranked high in their search results pages. But if you have high quality content and keep on adding it, you can expect huge rewards in terms of both traffic to your website and its ranking in search engine results pages (SERP).
Websites Should be Made for People and Only Then for Search Engines
In the recent years many website owners and SEO providers became so focused on search engines and how to make them like their websites that they completely forgot about those who matter the most – the visitors. Websites are not there for search engines but for people who are above all looking for information. They trust search engines to help them find relevant and valuable information. But if they don’t find what they are looking for on the first two pages of search results, they are highly likely to switch to a rival search engine.
In order to retain web users, search engines are continuing to evolve in order to continue to provide relevant listings and prevent unethical web masters from manipulating their algorithms, web crawlers and other tools for SERP ranking. Why does this matter? Because you will never make it to the first page on Google or other major search engines without quality content. And if you by any chance do, don’t count on staying there in the long run. Rather than focusing on what to do to improve your SERP ranking such as building links, increasing keyword density, etc., you should focus on what can you do to make your website more interesting and appealing to its visitors.
To Win Search Engines, You Need to Win the People and Vice Versa
SEO in large extent depends on backlinks. Search engines use them to determine how popular is your website among web users and rank it accordingly. To “persuade” search engines that your website deserves to be ranked high, purchasing and exchanging links, submitting articles to major directories, posting on forums, etc. won’t do.
In order to get the high quantity of quality backlinks, you need to persuade your website’s visitors to recommend it to their friends and other web users. To be able to do that, you need to offer them unique, original, interesting and up to date content.
Content is an essential SEO ingredient for another reason – winning search engines. As the technology is getting more sophisticated, search engines can often recognise the value of a website long before web users. And if they recognise its value, they will direct visitors to it even if you don’t have a single backlink. No matter how you turn it, content truly is king.