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Web Content Mass + Keyword Optimization + Links = SEO
By Joel Walsh (c) 2005

How does web content really affect SEO? It's often said that
the answer is simply that content does not affect SEO very
much – it's all about more technical issues. Yet a website's
content still plays an enormous and fairly direct role in
search engine ranking.

Of course, the whole goal of the search engines' ranking schemes
is precisely to deliver good, relevant content to users. The
mechanism for how search engines select and reward good, relevant
content is essentially just a technical issue, though admittedly
an extremely important technical issue.

But even in purely technical, mechanistic, terms, web content
affects search engine rankings three ways:

1. inbound links

2. website mass

3. keyword optimization


1.  Web Content and Inbound Links

Inbound links are the number-one factor in getting search engine
rankings. They also yield plenty of traffic on their own. The
importance of links is what has led many people to say that
content is no longer important. But those people forget that
content really does play a big role in getting links in the
first place:

• At the very least, good content will make potential link
  partners more comfortable with linking to your site. No one
  wants to link to a link farm, splog, junk site, or even just
  an unprofessional-looking site.

• Lots of good content gives other webmasters (and particularly
  bloggers) a reason to link to your site spontaneously without
  being asked.

• You can allow other websites to post your content in exchange
  for a link back to your site.

2.  Web Content Mass

More web pages of content = more search engine traffic

Here's why:

   1. Adding pages to your site is like putting out extra nets
      to catch surfers.

   2. Search engines see bigger websites as more prestigious
      and reliable.

   3. The more content you have, the more reasons you give other
      webmasters, particularly bloggers, to link to your site
      spontaneously, without being asked.

3. Web Content Keyword Optimization

Keyword optimization used to be the most important step in SEO.
Now it matters little in ranking for highly competitive keywords.

Still, keyword optimization can really help you get traffic from
searches not on competitive keywords. While you may never rank
number 1 for "finance," you may still show up tops for a search
on "household finance rent federal tax deductions" if you have
that phrase somewhere in your content. Such non-competitive
searches make up a very large proportion of total web searches.

Web Content Keyword Optimization Checklist:

There are four legs to keyword optimization:

• Research/selection
• Density
• Prominence
• Stemming/Variation


Keyword Research and Selection

You need to identify keywords searched on by your target
audience. Use tools such as those offered by WordTracker and
Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture).

There are two big pitfalls to avoid:

• "Negative keywords" that look relevant but are not really
   searched on by your target market. For instance, "website
   copy" is a synonym for "website content," but most people
   searching on "website copy" are looking for software that
   copies an entire website to the hard drive for offline
   browsing.

• Impossibly competitive keywords that you have no realistic
  chance of ranking high for them. How do you know if a keyword
  is impossibly competitive? One rough measure is to look at the
  PageRank of the webpages currently ranking in the top three for
  that keyword. If the PageRank of those pages is much higher
  than the PageRank your site will likely have in the future,
  you will probably never outrank those pages.

A pay-per-click campaign with Google Adwords or Yahoo! Search
Marketing will help you to find which keywords really are
searched on by your target audience.

Keyword Density

Keywords appear in the content the right number of times for
search engines to recognize the page as relevant, but not so
often that it looks like keyword stuffing. The longer the
content, the more times the keyword should appear.

Keyword Prominence

Keywords appear in just the right positions within your web
pages for search engines to recognize them as relevant. The
page title, headings, and first lines of the page are often
considered the most prominent positions.

Keyword Stemming/Keyword Variation

• Using variations of the keyword will help ensure web pages
  appear relevant to the next generation of more sophisticated
  search engine algorithms.

• In the meantime, variations of popular keywords help your
  site appear for the "non-standard" searches on variations of
  the keyword.

There are three main types of keyword variations:

• Word-stem variations. A stem of a word is its base. For
  instance, "optimize" is the stem of "optimized." Other
  stem variations of "optimize" include "optimizing,"
  "optimizer," and "optimization." You can also shuffle the
  component words of multiple-word keywords. Variations of
  "website content" would be "web site content", "web content",
  "content for websites", and "site content".

• Synonyms (such as "web page content", "internet content",
  or "writing for the web" for "website content").

• Related terms (such as "internet", "SEO" or "web page").

For many people, the SEO side of content feels like a moot point.
You need to create content for your visitors even if no search
engine spider ever notices. But there is a case to be made that
an extra page of content is good not just for visitors but
search engine spiders, too. Every website budget, both of money
and time, is finite. If you're ever choosing whether to invest
in another link to please search engines or another page of
content to please your visitors, don't forget: search engines
still like content, too.
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Joel Walsh is a writer and owner of UpMarket Content, a website
content provider. Request a no-cost, no-obligation proposal for
your website content (http://www.UpMarketContent.com/website-content)
: http://www.UpMarketContent.com/website-content
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