Adding Quality Content to your website
If you are looking to improve the visibility of your website in the search engines, there are a number of things you can do for yourself before seeking the advice of an SEO expert. The Google algorithm is frequently changing and therefore it can be difficult to keep up to date with the changes, and importantly, how that will impact the rank of your website. You could spend a lot of time ‘chasing’ the latest SEO trend, however, there is a very effective technique you can use instead. The best part of all is that it is relatively straightforward and you can do it yourself! Always remember that search engines are trying to do a job, and that is to match a user query (typed in the search box) to the most relevant website content. Whilst the ranking algorithm will always change, there is one thing that Google is unlikely to change, and that is the importance of good quality content. Therefore keep adding good quality content to your website, it’s as simple as that!
It is probably one of the most underused ways of improving your search engine rankings. There is no doubt that search engines like (and favour) websites that have updated content. This is also true of website visitors. What is your reaction when you visit a site that looks way out of date and the last article is several years old? You probably question the relevance, and worse, you may question whether it is still a viable and operating business, with the result that you look elsewhere. If your site is ‘static’ i.e. never updated, you are condemning it to a lower search engine rank. The best way to keep a site up to date is to have a page that functions like a blog and even better if it has ’blogging type functionality’. Providing your content is interesting you will acquire admirers that may eventually become customers. The things you write about can cover a whole variety of subjects, the key thing to think about is to have relevant information that your visitors would find useful and interesting. You could cover recent news items that are relevant to your business type, hints and tips, contract wins, or new products/services. A particularly useful thing to think about is the range of questions you are often asked by potential customers. You can use each one of these as the basis of an article in which you ‘educate’ your website visitors with very useful information that is relevant to them. Rather than a few sentences, you should look at providing a comprehensive explanation. You will find that in most businesses there are lots of questions that potential customers would like to know the answer to before they make a buying decision. So by educating them, you are helping them to make an informed buying decision. You have a great opportunity to experiment with the content you add and monitor the impact on your ranking. Over time you can fine-tune this as you discover what works best and eventually you will be providing great content for both your visitors and the search engines.
A word of warning though, don’t just add content for the sake of keeping your site updated. It needs to be interesting quality content and not just content based around keywords. Search engines are a lot smarter these days and you are more likely to be penalised for this type of behaviour.
So, by regularly updating your website you are satisfying the needs of both your visitors and the search engines. The ultimate aim is to write content that is compelling and interesting such that it is shared on social media and for people to link to it.
There are of course external influences that will have an impact on the success of your campaign to improve your rankings. It depends on your industry, the level of competition and of course the effort your competitors are putting into SEO. If you have not seen the improvement you had hoped for after following the advice contained in this article, then it may be time to ask for help. Feel free to look at how the activ SEO Services can help your business.
