June 7th, 2010 by Susie

The planning and manufacture of high grade content is central to the vast majority of search engine optimisation campaigns. A SEO company is often obliged to produce a large volume of up-to-date content to add to a site at regular and frequent intervals. As time passes and the campaign gathers pace, it can be more difficult to come up with fresh content, because more and more topics have been explored. Furthermore, the difficulty may be compounded, because diverse approaches or angles may have been exhausted. While emergent industry-relevant news can be a useful source of material, it may be advisable or necessary for more generic articles to be featured from time to time.

Generic articles can be of considerable interest for some users, and they can be regarded positively by the web crawlers of the major search engines. Nevertheless, they can be seen to be somewhat tedious by users who are well-versed in the topic, or who crave a heterogeneous mix. It is important for content providers to break away from writing copious articles in the same tone and format. The trick is to add a bit of variety, while not alienating the target audience. The occasional list can be of assistance because:

• Lists introduce plenty of blank space to a document. Many users welcome space, and are more likely to appreciate contents when presented like this
• Lists break up the pattern of paragraph after paragraph, thus giving the user the notion that something qualitatively different is happening
• Lists can break up chunks of information into smaller sizes, making absorption somewhat easier
• Bullet points attached to a list may give the impression that something has been carefully thought through
• Arguably a list is ideal for the typical net user, who is notorious for their possession of a short attention span. Conventional paragraphs, especially if they contain long paragraphs or lengthy sentences, are capable of boring users

The deployment of lists has to be carefully thought through. If they are inserted into too many articles, they swiftly lose their magic. It makes sense to use them sparingly. If something is being utilised to add diversity to a series of articles, it is obviously foolish to diminish its impact by replacing one standard format with another. While there is certainly no scientific optimum list-article ratio, especially given the importance of appreciating the specific features of an individual site, the preservation of variation is something not to be dismissed.

Another important point to make is that an excess of lists can be detrimental to the level of complexity which the target audience can cope with. For example, complicated ideas are hard to explain in the simple language which a list tends to encourage by its form. If the target audience is particularly sophisticated, the production of numerous lists with straightforward points could be anathema to them. It is important to bear in mind the nature of the specific site under discussion, when thinking about the appropriate balance to aim for. If comments on this topic can be attracted from the site readership, this can only be positive.

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