Forget about Search Engines When Creating Content
"Content is King" – you probably heard this saying with regards to search engine optimization. There is a common sense really. Your website content is a representation of your business and your personality. Your content determines whether you’ll get more traffic and links and, what is most important, whether your visitors will become your customers.
Why do you write new content? Firstly, because you want to attract more readers to your site or blog, and secondly, because you want to get a few more links to your website.
Many webmasters consider new content primarily as a website ranking leverage and focus on creating content only to get potential links. Their websites often have a cheap, freelance content overfilled with keywords and optimized for search engines only because they are interested in adding content only to influence search engines.
Creating new content simply to obtain links cuts both ways. This tactic can work sometimes; sometimes it can totally fail. Some will appreciate your content, few people will link. Content created for search engine optimization purposes only can often seem artificial and may not bring you a link you were looking for. Yes, it can help the website ranking for a while but it won’t be a long lasting success.
Adding new content just because you have to and not because you feel inspired and want to tell something valuable to your readers simply leads to a huge amount of mass junk pages that turn the readers off. And what is more interesting, many webmasters know that web pages with bad content are doomed from the start but they continue and continue churning out those pages hunting after more and more links like a drowning man will catch at a straw.
Well, I personally incline to a different approach to content creation. If you get down to creating new content with no SEO element in your mind and write just because you have something to tell to your readers, your content will gradually and naturally generate links. Why? Because it’s good. A good content will favor the search engine rankings while bad content will hurt it.
The big secret (in fact, it’s not a secret at all, it’s just a common sense) is to write to attract more readers and not links. More readers, more chances to get links. Write quality content for your visitors and you’ll be rewarded. Many will return and link.
Here is the proof. Look at the screenshot from Google Webmaster Tools. There is the statistics on the number of inbound links my articles generated. I didn’t ask anyone to link to these pages. All of the links were obtained naturally and I think it’s quite fair (or maybe I’m flattering myself?).
What I want to suggest is that you forget about search engines and SEO purposes when creating content. Focus on your readers interests. Spend more time to create a unique quality content and the results will not take long to appear. Be honest with yourself, take time and think - would you look after that cherished link if search engines don’t exist at all?
You know I don’t want to blame anyone. We’re all in the Internet marketing and just like in any other business we want to be the number one in our niche. I just want to find a core of sense and pick out SEO tactics that really work among the tactics that only seem to be working.
Please, share your thoughts in comments.
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Tags: Internet Marketing, Link Building Tutorials, Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing
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Filed under: Internet Marketing, SEO, Search Engine Marketing
Hi Julia
I agree in most parts, It is good not think of SEO when you create new content, that means when you are actually writing.
But I think it can be very rewarding to think a little bit about the topics you write about from a SEO point of view.
This means particularly analysing keywords your site is already found for.
Google Webmaster tools gives you statistics about the keywords your site is being found for but was not clicked on.
Why not take one of these keywords and write about this topic.
And as soon as you start writing, I’d recommend your advice to everybody - forget about SEO - think only of great content
Mike
Hi there,
I would like to use your software but it seems too complicated.
Do you have videos for it?
Regards
Jeff
@Jeff,
Yes, we have a video tutorial that demonstrates the work with Fast Blog Finder. Please, see the video on this page:
http://www.fastblogfinder.com/tutorials/how-to-build-backlinks-to-your-site-with-g-lock-blog-finder/
You are absolutely correct! I totally agree and always advise my clients the need to create content for readers and not search engines! It is a huge mistake most seo’s tend to make by thinking they will out smart search engines by creating these so called seo optimized content pages. What they forget is that there are other factors that search engine’s look for such as the visitors time on site, and the visitors navigation through the site. If your content is just full of optimization and lacks original content then most likely your visitors will not stay on your site too long and will simply leave.
I definitely agree that content should always be written for the user and to add value to your site but Mike makes a valid point about using SEO principles (i.e. keyword analysis) to help focus your efforts. Writing decent content takes a lot more time and effort than simply churning out endless variations of the same article. By knowing which topics/keywords are likely to generate the most traffic/revenue you can increase your writing ROI.
But like Mike says, once you’ve identified your topics, forget about SEO and just write with passion.
Good article Julia. I think a good measure is to put yourself in your visitors shoes. Would you read the content of just click away? If you wouldn’t read it yourself then you shouldn’t be posting!
It’s easy to get carried away with the “I must post every day” concept and then post junk because time wasn’t available to write quality or you simply weren’t inspired that day.
I do agree with Mike with regard to the thought process leading up to a post. You should have mapped out the posts you are going to make and the theme of the posts should be “targeted” at the keywords you wish to be ranked. Then write quality content around those words and you will hit the jackpot!
Nice article. It is good to be reminded why we write…once we get visitors to our website we need them to actually do something and enjoy being there or SEO is well…in a word…worthless
Jasons last blog post.. Nofollow Search Results…As Pure As The Wind Driven Snow
Hello Julia, I am just catching on to your blog. Liked the article, was wondering how to write exciting content for a comercial market? You have given me somthing to think on, it is hard to find angles that have not been covered.
thanks sean.
This article has given me a new perspective on content. I used to write content because I wanted to share informatioon with my list and visitors but also get links and to improve search engine ranking..
Having read you article, I feel I have been enlightened… Thank you
I wrote an article when I knew nothing about SEO or keywords and it has been my most popular article by far. I agree with your basic concept.
However, I think that keywords are very useful in the article title and in the URL of the article. This minimal effort should not detract from the main goal of quality content. One should opt for a keyword somewhat lower in value if it skews the title too much but a decent keyword should be available that is still good.
I agree with David, I can not hurt not to think of SEO while writing the content, but to think of some basics before you start with your main block of content…
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It also helps to have a big name mention you once right? I doubt I’d even know this blog existed it it weren’t for Jonathan Leger recommending your software.
Hi Julia, excellent post! It’s about creating something of value that your “tribe” will want to read. Gone are the days of stuffing spammy junk into a document. I recommend writing your article as a first draft with the core concept in mind and then refine with your target keywords. After all, we are still using content to show the search engines that our content is relevant to the search engines.
Doesn’t matter if you have good content on a niche commercial site,
who’s going to link to a site about “lawnmower parts” for example?
Your post makes sense. However I find that when a site is in a very competitive area and that it is very commercial in nature it is much more difficult to get links no matter how good of articles you write. Yes it is possible to get people to link to a commercial site with a really good article, but it is much easier when the site is not commercial or has a less commercial aspect to it.
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Hi Julia,
I have always tried to write my content so the search engines would pick them up. Like you said, “Content is king”. That is how I first learned to write content. a lot of times when I finished the content was not really what I was after but, it was full of keywords.
Yesterday I wrote some content and just wrote how I felt on the subject and used some tags that were pretty popular with Google search engines but did not have them in my content. To my surprise when I pulled up the keywords my content was in the list of other content. I discovered that writhing just to us keywords is a waste of time, in my opinion.
Thanks for the article, with it and my discovery yesterday I have learned a pretty valuable lesson!
Quite agree with the article. Content should be written in a natural style that will appeal to the end user. A good natural style will get good natural links that are more important in googles eyes than a load of manufactured links.
definitely right ……
when we create useful content such as tutorial or something similar,
people will link to it or bookmarked without ask.
Hi Julia,
Good post. I agree to a large degree. In that one should think about their own thoughts, language, interests when writing a blog. This makes you appear more ‘human’ to you audience. However, to be a player in the Aggressive Marketing Industry, one also needs to know how to leverage their writing. SEO is one, back links and such, some PPC if you feel you can budget for it. I think what happens is a line forms between writing from the ‘heart’ and to desire to ‘get traffic’ convert, capture, etc. A good model, I think, is to ‘just write’ but edit, within reason, to leverage the traffic available to you.
I normally wouldn’t add a link in the middle of your post but it is quite relevant. I actually wrote about a very simular idea, Ethics in Internet Marketing, http://hubpages.com/hub/Ethics-in-Internet-Marketing-on-hubpages
This was written without any consideration of SEO or driving traffic, I just wrote what I thought. I very much agree Julia, that one just “be themselves” online. This will benefit the longevity of the blog and eventually, people will come.
Cheers,
Jeromy
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There is a happy medium to be found here- you can write good content with an eye to good keywords. I tend to care more about which keywords are in the title and tags and just write the content around those.
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Although using keywords as much as possible can help with search engine rankings, I agree that one’s writing becomes stilted in doing so. I also agree with your point about trying to attract readers, rather than links. The whole point is to get devoted fans and a following. Without good, natural content, a website is unlikely to last. Of course, some strategic and judicious use of keywords probably won’t hurt . . . .
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Hi Julia,
It is interesting to have another perspective when it comes to creating content. Most of the advice seems to be creating articles with the right keywords, which no doubt compromises the quality of the actual content.
I totally agree that people are for more likely to link to quality content that is of interest and of value to readers. And I can see that is done for informational topics such as SEO.
My problem is applying this to an e-commerce site. It’s not easy to write very long descriptions for products, and probably even harder to get people to link to it.
Or am I mistaken? Any advice greatly appreciated!
I agree - content is supreme. Most internet browsing people are interested in something that adds value to their life.
For me, the tension is between writing something that is appealing but still retains a solid basis of evidence to support the content. And yes I agree with those comment-ers who do keep an eye on their keywords!
Julia,
Excellent advice, I agree for the most part. Content is written for visitors not the engines. I tend to use keywords in the title and sporadically through ought. Although it’s much easier to write for visitors on an niche affilate site than an e-commerce site I think.
Thanks again,
George
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I have a pretty old blog that has over 1,000 pages of indexed content. What I have found is that all of that content is now starting to pay off for me, even years later. For me that is the biggest reason to just focus on content - it will be working for you years later!
Julia, that a great post. I agree…we should all focus on writing helpful and use content that people can use. Your blog is an excellent example of that. Since discovering your site, I’ve learned some things that I never knew about SEO. (Just when you think you know it all right
Hey, I’d like to know two things:
First, in the example you showed with all of the backlinks pointed to your website, are those a result of people pulling in your content using RSS feeds or directly linking to you?
Secondly, when using FAST BLOG FINDER…is there a limit to how many links one should acquire in one day without triggering Google’s algorithms? I am wondering if at some point in your SEO adventures have you done any studies on this? If so, I think it would be a great subject to start.
Personally, I’d like to know if you have any data on it. I know there are tons of websites that offer text links by the dozens…but is it really save to get so many backlinks at one time?
Your thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated and valued.
Let me know.
@Darrell,
>First, in the example you showed with all of the backlinks pointed to your website, are those a result of people pulling in your content using RSS feeds or directly linking to you?
Those links are the results from pulling content using RSS and from linking to our site from other articles on other websites.
>Secondly, when using FAST BLOG FINDER…is there a limit to how many links one should acquire in one day without triggering Google’s algorithms? I am wondering if at some point in your SEO adventures have you done any studies on this? If so, I think it would be a great subject to start.
I would not recommend that you get hundreds of links per day. I’m also using Fast Blog Finder to search for blogs and post comments. I post just a few (3-5) comments per day. The next day or in a few days I check those blogs and find that my comments are approved.
>Personally, I’d like to know if you have any data on it. I know there are tons of websites that offer text links by the dozens…but is it really save to get so many backlinks at one time?
Like I wrote Google didn’t like many links appearing in a short amount of time. I think it’s better to be patient and build links slower but consistently.
Couldn’t agree more with this post. I think that content is not king, but queen (maybe even prince). Links are king. Many of the niche markets I work in - I can get pages to rank with just a handful of good links. So, that frees me up to write good content for the reader, not worrying about SEO ramifications.
The funny thing is - if you do that - you end up with better content from an LSI perspective and as the search engines move in that direction, you will be rewarded even more…
Pretty good article. SEO is worthless if the visitors won’t convert because there’s nothing of interest in the content. Thanks for keeping us focused on the true target.
Hi Julia, interesting article and perspective. But how about a split tactic - you put good quality information on your site that will attract link and put a bit of junk into articles that go in article directories just for the purpose of a linkback?
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Content is king, especially when Google rankings are more determined by anchor text from links to your site than anything else. If you write naturally, your keywords will be there anyway. Just write for people, and think of how to keep the same person coming back to your site. Website traffic is an EXPENSE unless you compel them to do something favourable like buy something, recommend you to someone else, or REMEMBER you so your brand slowly builds up and they think about your site the next time they want something you sell. This doesn’t come from writing gibberish that you think will fool search engines - you just make yourself look foolish