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The Importance Of Content In SEO: A Detailed Guide By Semalt


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Understanding Content  

Many websites desire to be listed among the Google TOP 100 sites. A number of these websites make an attempt at optimizing their websites for search engines. A much fewer number of them truly understand the importance of content in SEO.  

In terms of ranking at the top of search enquiries, the content of your website can be likened to the engine of your car. Your car won't move an inch without an engine, so also will your website not advance in ranking without decent content.  

When your content is of high quality and your other SEO strategies are topnotch, in no time, your website will be at the top of search engine rankings. The reverse is the case if your content and SEO strategies are poor - they can lead to penalties from Google. Once a website is hit by a Google penalty, they usually find it extremely difficult to recover from it.  

Semalt aims to help you understand the value of content in SEO, what content really is, how to create optimized content and all you can do to make sure your content and SEO strategies work hand in hand to give you a spot at the top of search engine enquiries.

Let's explore the world of content and SEO.  

What Is Content? 

At the basic level, content is simply digital information (text, image, video, audio) on your website aimed at enlightening, entertaining or informing your visitors.

How crucial is content in SEO?  

Over 3.5 billion search enquiries are made daily on Google. In an effort to keep their users, Google keeps updating its algorithms to ensure they deliver "useful and relevant results" in the shortest possible time. 

The useful and relevant results in this context are the content of websites all over the internet. They are then ranked in order of usefulness and relevancy to the user making the search.

This shows that your content has to be deemed useful by Google to a user before it can be ranked.

In order to increase the potential of the SEO value of your content, there are some characteristics your content has to possess. They include:  

1. It should be useful and informative: If you own a website for your business, you should include the location, contact information, products/services offered, and hours of operation. If you can, add a blog to keep your customers updated on the latest about your business.  

2. It should be of more value and more useful than other websites in the same niche: If you write about self-help, for instance, make sure that your articles offer better information or a different perspective on self-help than the myriads of articles churned out daily on the same topic.  

3. It should be credible: Your site's credibility can be boosted if you use original research, citations, and links for your site's content. An author biography, reviews, and testimonials from real-life customers will also greatly improve your trustworthiness.  

4. It should be of high quality: Ensure that the content on your site is unique, straight to the point and of topnotch quality. Avoid plagiarism at all cost.  

5. It should be engaging: Bring your website to life by adding quality images and videos. Don't get your visitors distracted by spelling, stylistic or factual errors. Avoid too many ads as well. Keep your visitors engaged by regularly updating them. You can also keep them on your site for longer through comment boxes and/or social media widgets.  

How To Create Content That Is Optimized For Search Engines  

In order to create optimized content, there are a few steps that must be followed.  

Before Creating The Content 

1. Perform keyword research: For best results, you will want to find out what keywords are being searched for the most by your desired audience. A highly reliable keyword research tool like that which Semalt provides will be of immense benefit to do this.  

2. Choose your topic and keywords that support it: It is important to do keyword research first so that your resulting content can be found on search engines. From your research, determine a suitable topic for your content. Ensure that you focus on long-tail keywords. Also, avoid highly competitive keywords with a large number of searches.  

3. Optimize your outline and content format for easy readability: A lot of sites are fighting for the attention of every visitor you have on your website. So you must do your best to keep them glued to your content. One way to do this is by formatting your content for easy readability.

Below are some tips that may be helpful to you:  

a. Break down your content into small chunks. Large paragraphs scare a lot of visitors away. It is best to use about 2-3 sentences per paragraph.

b. As much as possible, insert subheadings and/or images after every 200-300 words to further break up your content.  

4. Insert backlinks in your content: The more credible your site is, the higher it ranks. When you link some words to a relevant and authoritative website, search engines deem your content credible. For best results, limit the words on your link to 6 or less.  

5. Stick to your topic and target keyword: If you want to create the most useful and relevant content on your topic, it is highly imperative you stick to your topic. Also don't try to target a lot of keywords. Ensure you focus on your topic and the keywords that support it.  

After creating your content  

1. Optimize your URL: It is the address of your webpage placed directly at the top of a search result. The way your URL is structured can determine your click-through rate. If your URL is too long or looks mysterious, it may scare off search users from clicking on your website. It is important your URL is readable as click-through-rates indirectly affect your ranking.


2. Optimize your title tag: The title tag is the clickable headline seen directly below the URL. The quality of your title tag can make a user want to click on your site or ignore it. Title tags also help search engines understand what your webpage is about.

Here are some tips that can help you optimize your title tag:

a. Let the title tag directly specify what the content of the page is about.

b. The title tag should be 60 characters or less.

c. Place your target keywords at the beginning.

d. Try not to include many keywords into the title.  


3. Optimize your meta description: The meta description is the short snippet of text from your page that appears under the URL and title tag. The little content seen in your meta description also affects your click-through-rate as what is seen there by users will determine whether they will click on your site or keep scrolling. Here are some tips that can help optimize your meta description:

a. Ensure the meta description is a short and specific general overview of the main content.

b. Make sure the meta description contains less than 160 characters.

c. Place relevant keywords in the meta description (they will be highlighted in the search results).  


How Semalt Can Help  

This may all sound technical and may look like huge work. This is why Semalt has created an automated promotion plan for your business. The essence of creating great content in the first place is to improve your ranking on search engines which will, in turn, lead to success for your business. 

Semalt takes the stress off you and makes your online business successful.  


They offer incredible products and services to ensure your webpages rank highly. These include:

1. AutoSEO: Semalt's AutoSEO promises great results within short terms. This SEO package delivers: website visibility improvement; on-page optimization; link building; keyword research; and web analytics reports. Click here to get started.

2. Full SEO: This involves an advanced set of SEO techniques designed for a much better result. Semalt's Full SEO delivers: internal optimization; website error fixing; content writing; link earning; support and consulting. Take advantage of Semalt's Full SEO here.

3. Web analytics: The Semalt web analytics tools reveal the shortest way to Google TOP10. These tools help to check your website rankings; unveil the visibility of your site on the internet; explore competing websites; identify on-page optimization mistakes; and deliver comprehensive web ranking reports to you. You can get your own free web analytics reports right now.

4. Web development: First impressions matter online as well as in real-life situations. An appealing image helps to get more prospective customers. Semalt ensures your website is highly attractive and user friendly for your clients. Semalt's professional web developers provide: an attractive and functional web design; content management system solutions; increased visibility; smooth plugin integration and API; E-commerce boosting; support and maintenance.

5. Video production: Asides delivering topnotch written content to their clients, Semalt also makes awesome video content to keep you far ahead of the competition.  

Conclusion

Content is king in search engine optimization. Your content has the ability to make your business or break it. With the insight gathered here, you can successfully create engaging content or better still, leave it in the hands of the best in the SEO business - Semalt.