Is Web Content Really that Important? by Jill Whalen

Note from Website Marketing Plan Network publisher Bobette Kyle: In this series on frequently asked search engine optimization questions, Jill Whalen answers common questions about SEO.

If you’re so smart and keep telling everyone that content is king, then…

how come the top pages for the keyword [insert any word here] don’t have lots of visible content?

I do believe that content is king, because that’s what the people who visit your site are looking for. However, content doesn’t necessarily mean 250 words (or whatever) of text. Content means different things for different sites. Content can simply be your product offerings. For instance, sites from well-known brands very often have no visible copy on their home pages, but still rank highly for some very general keywords. This is often due to their strong brand, which brings in tons and tons of natural links to the site.

Branding Gather Links Naturally

Natural links are those that people add to their own websites just because they found them relevant to whatever point they were trying to make. Bloggers do this often, and so do people on forum threads. Let’s face it; well-known brands are talked about a lot, both in real life, and online. It makes perfect sense that if you’re searching for something general like “pizza” that Pizza Hut and Domino’s will show up at the top of the results. It’s not necessary for them to say all over their site that they are all about pizza because that’s a given.

For those of you who don’t have a big brand, you can certainly create a home page that doesn’t describe what you offer in clear words, but you’d better be prepared to put all your faith in a link-building campaign.

Multiple Targeting Methods

Always remember that there are tons of ways to obtain targeted search engine traffic, and the methods I espouse are just one way. They happen to work for my clients and me, and I like them because they focus on making the site better overall. However, every site is unique and you have to decide what the best overall strategy is for YOUR site. There’s no sense in compromising your message for search engine rankings, as you’ll be less apt to convert your visitors into taking your desired action. On the other hand, if you have no visitors, it really doesn’t matter what your message is, now does it!

About the Author

Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally recognized search engine optimization consultant and host of the free weekly High Rankings Advisor search engine marketing newsletter.

She specializes in search engine optimization, SEO consultations and seminars. Jill’s handbook, “The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines” teaches business owners how and where to place relevant keyword phrases on their Web sites so that they make sense to users and gain high rankings in the major search engines

Read more about Jill Whalen.