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.
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In the SEO business we often go on about the importance of building your inbound links. Not without good reason admittedly. This is where you’ll get your PageRank, your site strength and help your website get ranked. But what’s the point in linking to a half-cocked website?

It is a difficult one though. There’s always a temptation to get your site on Google’s radar and get those first links set up; nothing wrong with that at all. But before you embark on a full blown link building odyssey, you need to get your house in order.
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As I’ve said before, all websites are just a collection of inter-connecting pages. Each page is optimised independently to achieve its own rankings and perform a certain duty. However, just because each page is, fundamentally speaking, unique it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be looking for consistency.

If your design completely changed from one page to the next your site would resemble an online patchwork quilt. There would be no identifiable theme and users might think better of venturing any further. The same though can be true of your content.

Maintaining a continuous theme right throughout your site, and any other online/offline literature can help bridge gaps.
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So often you hear people saying that they’ve got some content, links and a reasonable site structure but still aren’t getting any decent rankings. You look a little deeper into their site and often you’ll find that their content comprises of a couple of sentences, they have a few generic links and the site is barely optimised.

Now that’s fine if you have no aspirations to get a ranking on Google. If you are happy to promote your site elsewhere and get dribs and drabs through search, then the bare minimum is probably alright. However, if you want to get to the first page of any search engine, you’re going to have to be a little more concerted in your efforts.
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Content is probably one of the few constants across all sites. However, the one thing that is far from constant is the quality of said content.

Some people are able to get it just right. They reach out to their audience, provide them with clear instructions and information before convincing them to convert. Others though do not.

I’m not going to lie to you though, writing content isn’t easy. If it was, we’d all be professional Copywriters right? So knowing what is and what isn’t acceptable is probably the best place to start before trying some yourself.
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SEO is a funny old thing. Some elements will work better than others; some changes you make will see you climb the ranks others will see no effect at all or, worse still, a drop.

To see a drop in direct response to SEO work is extremely rare though. Unless you have somehow broken the rules of Google, maybe by getting a bad link, or have ruined your content, any change should be beneficial.

Let’s take your link profile as a good example. If you employ ethical link building practices then there can be no damage done to your site’s ranking. Of course if you do stray over onto the dark side and buy a link, get involved in a link farm or start inter-linking with some dodgy characters, then you might do more damage than good.
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Quite often you’ll find that you have a ranking for a term you aren’t even targeting. While it is related to your page’s content, it perhaps isn’t what you’re going after. But, as long as you are getting good rankings for your main keywords, this provides an invaluable bonus.

This usually comes about because you have a strong site, certainly in terms of links and overall authority. Somewhere in your content you may have used the phrase or word that you have earned a ranking for, Google then picks this up, recognises it within the context of your content and assigns you a ranking on that basis.

This is an important lesson for any copywriter. Whilst you want to make sure your keywords are used and prominent, you have to anchor them in some kind of context. This means using phrases that are related to the core message of the page.
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Occasionally you’ll receive feedback on your website and its various elements. Sometimes it’ll be complimentary, often it will be tainted with a little constructive criticism.

Whilst nobody wants to be told that they’re doing something wrong and we all enjoy positive comments; criticism is often one of the most important pieces of feedback you’ll receive. Whilst you might want to bury your head in the sand and hope that problems just sort themselves out, the reality is that nothing is ever perfect and you need to seek to improve constantly.

So if somebody phones your customer services and says that your checkout isn’t working properly, they can’t find the product they’re looking for or to enquire further about certain aspects as the content isn’t clear enough - take action!
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It’s a difficult one this. On the one hand you have the understanding that solid links will provide authority and help you rank better. On the other, there’s a desire to have everything on your site perfectly optimised. Meta, headers, scripts, tags, links and content; get that right and you have to be on to a winner.

Of course the easy answer is to do both. If you have perfect SEO, then you should have a pretty decent ranking at the end. For me though, on site SEO has to take precedence if time and resources are at a premium.
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When you come to optimise a website invariably a lot of your efforts will go into creating some first rate content. Playing such a vital role in your SEO efforts and visitor communication, you will have to ensure that you get it right.

The good thing about content is that it is often naturally optimise. You don’t need to worry about deliberately forcing in dozens of unsightly keywords so as to appease the Google gods. When you come to write the content for any page you write on subject, therefore you should be using the related terms and phrases anyway.
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