"Content is King." This is not a new saying and certainly not a new concept, yet website owners continually fail to provide visitors and interested parties with fresh, relevant, and new content.
Those same business owners then want to know why their websites don't rank well, or why their web pages aren't converting.
If your website isn't performing well, there may be other factors at play. However, if your content is lacking, know that the lack of rankings likely stems from your site's lacking content.
What Is SEO?
Before you can understand the import of great content, you need first to understand SEO. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of obtaining website traffic via natural, organic, or editorial means. In short, SEO is the process of generating FREE website traffic.
That said, there is a reason why website owners pay for traffic. Gaining natural traffic is by no means easy, and it involves a great deal of strategy, effort, and resources.
In the end, generating organic traffic is not really free, but the results are much more sustainable than paid-for traffic.
For instance, Moz's Beginner's Guide to SEO has been up since December of 2018, and it still ranks in the top three search results. The guide probably took a month to create, but it likely paid for itself ten times over since it was published.
SEO may be an overall process, but it involves several smaller processes to work. For instance, according to Moz's guide, SEO involves keyword research, creating a user-friendly website, gaining backlinks, generating awareness, and yes, keeping your site chockfull of new and relevant content.
In fact, according to one source, content may be the number one contributing factor to a website's rankings, as companies that utilize effective content marketing strategies get 7.8 times more unique visits than those that don't.
So, What's the Deal With Content?
Once you understand the very basics of SEO, it's time to explore why content is so crucial to its success. Below are just a few reasons marketers continue to tout the benefits of content:
SEO Relies on the Strategic Use of Keywords
Although the search engines now place less of an emphasis on keywords than they do the quality and relevance of content, keywords still matter.
How important are keywords? Very. The pages that often rank the best are those that include relevant search terms or alternatives either in the title of the article or in the headers.
Those that ranks second best include search terms and alternatives in the body of the content. That said, if there is no content, there is nowhere to place keywords, thereby making it difficult, if not impossible, for you to rank for specific search terms.
Google Needs Content To Rank
This point may be more obvious than the last, but it needs to be made. If you don't have content, Google has nothing to rank, period.
Content is not just written material, however. Content can be images, videos, infographics, or even social media posts.
This is why it is so important to keep creating new content. The more content you have, the more there is for Google to index and present to searchers.
Content Helps You Obtain Quality Backlinks
As mentioned above, one factor of SEO is obtaining backlinks. According to Google, backlinks are so effective because they are based upon the idea that a link is akin to a vote of confidence, meaning that if a page doesn't get links, it's because it doesn't deserve them.
In yet another guide, Moz explains how websites can earn backlinks. Three of the five tactics the marketing company shares in Chapter 4, Link Building Tactics, involve creating and sharing quality content.
All of Google's Algorithms Focus on Quality Content
Finally, you need quality content because Google says so. Though Google has released various algorithms over the years, each new update has emphasized doing away with spammy, keyword stuffed content and ushering in an internet era of quality, relevant content.
Each algorithm is designed to address new concerns and to improve upon the old way of doing things. For instance, the latest update Fred downranks content that is oversaturated with affiliate links and ads.
Content may not be all of SEO, but it is most of it. If you want to succeed online, you need to be regularly publishing quality, relevant content, end of story.
