March 19th, 2010 by Susie

The cornerstone of any successful SEO campaign is high quality content; and the reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, whilst Google wants to ensure it gives prominence to the most relevant pages, it must also have stringent quality concerns, which is why its algorithms are built in such a way to recognize spam traits. Secondly, high quality copy is a great way to facilitate good online reputation management, that is to so say, the more your consumer is willing to interact with your associated content, the more likely the consumer is willing to trust your brand or service.

The idea that a quality ideal, in all aspects of marketing including search engine optimization, breeds brand trust is a fairly obvious one, the difficulty, however, arises when attempting to define ‘quality’, especially in regards to the unique demands of a search engine. How do you, therefore, write content that appeals both to the distinct palettes of the search engine and the consumer?

Fresh and Timely Content

Well one aspect of online content where the tastes of search engine and consumer share common ground is in terms of ‘timeliness’. In simple terms, if you’re creating content about e.g. computers, it’s no good writing about last year’s model! As not only will your user be less likely to be interested in this sort of content but it is highly unlikely that Google will allow it anywhere near the first few results pages. This issue regarding timeliness leads to an important search engine optimisation principle: update (and create new) content as often as you can afford.

You Have an Audience!

In the rush to embed as many keywords into your blogs or articles as you can it can become easy to lose site of your audience; if this happens then it is worth remembering that the web is so ubiquitous that your humble content could end up being read by thousands of people. You therefore owe it to these readers to create content that is informative and effective, and as unique as you can possible make it (remember unique copy is always preferred by search engines as well as readers.) The key to successful copy is often research, and it is wise not just to settle on a single source when researching, but look for several blogs about a subject, remembering put your own spin on it.

If you really want to make a connection with your readers through your SEO copywriting, then why not attempt some interaction? This doesn’t have to mean a full-blown social media marketing campaign but can simply mean inviting your readers to post comments or opinions about your blogs or articles.

A Note on Form

The final point is a technical one and good SEO content should be written with an awareness of good writing style; obviously with SEO form always has to accommodate keyword densities, however, there are some universal writing rules that will help to make your content preferred by search engines and your readers alike:

Stick to short paragraphs and sentences

Scan your content before uploading (typos can easily give away SEO pieces)

Have an introduction and a conclusion (which not only makes a blog or article neat but makes writing it that little bit easier.)

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