Good Content for SEO

The most primary function of a search engine is to deliver relevant content for a query. So, if you want your website to rank better, it is must to have proper content in place. You may have a fancy website design full of attractive graphical elements that uses the latest technology, but your SEO efforts will amount to naught if the content is not up to the mark. Remember, search engines do not understand graphics; they only understand text.

There is a sea difference between writing good content and writing good content from a SEO perspective. While a creative writer can make your website content appear elegant, it can be extremely inelegant as far as the search engines are concerned. To impress the search engines' spiders and crawlers, it is necessary to have the right mix of keywords, the right density and the right quantum of words. Avoid keyword 'stuffing'. Many times, people go overboard and try to incorporate keywords in a contrived way. Search engines today are extremely savvy, they realize if a site is being deliberately 'SEO'.  The more natural the language looks, the better your chances for a good ranking.

One of the most important things to remember while writing content is that it should be genuine and original. For almost any keyword today, there are so many websites on the subject that it is extremely tempting (especially for people who do not want to hire a professional) to pick, mix and match content from 4-5 different websites. While this may work in certain cases, it certainly does not pay in the long run. It is better to hire a SEO professional who knows the ropes. Believe it or not, search engines today are smart; they can find out about plagiarism easily and penalize your website for it.

How many words do you need? Remember, the key again is 'natural'. Too little content and you will lose, too much content and the search engines suspect keyword spamming and you lose again. As a rule of thumb, it is best to stick to between 300 to 450 words per page. Choose topics that are relevant. Elaborate and explain concepts. What may seem obvious to you may not be obvious to someone who is not from that field, and it is better to have more per pages than fewer pages any day.

People who surf websites have smaller attention span than people who read. They want to scan copy and pick up the important points quickly. Brevity is the order of the day as far as websites are concerned. Make full use of the other elements on your website. Wherever possible, use anchored text instead of generic links. For example, if you are a web design company and have some articles related to web designing, you can use - Read more web designing articles', with a link to'web designing' rather than 'Read more'. Use short, uncluttered sentences that are simple to understand.

In conclusion, there is a lot of difference between writing good content and wiring good content from a SEO perspective. As content rules as far as search engine optimization is concerned, it is better to concentrate more on excellent content rather than a aesthetically designed website