SEO Blog

The phrase ‘content is king’ often gets bandied around in SEO circles. Not without good reason either. It is pivotal in ensuring that search engines understand what you’re all about, it is a unique identifier and is a link enabler.

However, not all that far away from content is its close neighbour context.

Whilst content provides the bulk, context delivers the value. It is what will get search engines to take your site seriously and help deliver the rankings you deserve for the terms you are going after.

So how can you provide context?

Well, context isn’t just restricted to your on-site content. It is also a vital part of linking, internally and externally.

Any SEO professional will tell you that having links embedded within a related phrase or word will provide more value to the page it leads to. The search engine spiders follow these and use it to contextualise the page they land on. This in turn helps to improve rankings for said keyword.

However, if that keyword or phrase is embedded on a random site surrounded by content with little or no relevance to the link or the page, invariably it won’t be as strong. Google rewards sites for achieving relevant links. This means receiving them from other domains active within your industry.

Obviously your direct competitors are unlikely to shower you with links, but that doesn’t mean that blogs and other sites within your sphere won’t.  Get seen here by Google and watch as your rankings improve.

Links can also be contextualised by the content around them. For example if you’re using the term ‘pet care’ as your embedded text link then you need to make sure that it is surrounded by content that references terms within that field.

Your pet care tag won’t be worth a great deal if the rest of the content is about telephone systems for instance. You might think that you can blinker Google, but all you’re doing is shoving in links that will have far less strength attached to them and therefore provide less value.

Build up your content. Don’t go overboard on the keywords themselves, but ensure that it is at least surrounded by copy focused on the same subject. Do this using synonyms and other related terms or just producing a solid piece of natural content.

This goes for your onsite links too remember. If you want to pass on more link juice, embedded text links are a great way to contextualise a page. When it’s dropped into the middle of a chunk of copy it shows the search engines that you’re trying to point people towards relevant areas of your site. Therefore it recognises that the target page is related to the keyword used to pass you through, which may then reflect in your rankings.

Quality SEO work that helps visitors and gets the search engines attentions is always that which appears most natural. The reason for this is usually the fact that there is a noticeable context to everything.

Content filled with keywords is awkward and spammy. However, copy with keywords, synonyms and relevant text links is contextual. Google will only ever reward the later, so make sure your SEO work is up to scratch and don’t forget context.