Is My Content The Most Important SEO Detail? - Semalt Expert



Clients walk into our offices, wondering why their website is not doing as well as they expect even though they have amazing content featured on their websites. At this point, we look at them with a smile on our face and explain that content is not the only important part of Search Engine Optimization. In reality, content is only one piece in the puzzle of SEO. In a nutshell, having great content is important, but at the same time, it is not all that matters.

You've probably heard "content is not king" somewhere, and this is very true. Many times, websites focus on content as though it is the only part of SEO that deserves some attention. Knowing that your website content is important, however, you should understand that creating amazing content wouldn't automatically make your website win in SEO, drive legions of traffic to your website and win the overall SEO game. 

Like a piece in a puzzle, without it, the image is never complete, and having just one piece still puts you far from a complete puzzle. Having just contents most likely means that your stunning content would remain invisible to search engines and your audience.  

At this point, you may be asking questions such as:

Is quality content overrated? And can you neglect quality content to focus on the other parts of SEO? Well, we will be answering these questions as we proceed. 

Does quality content matter?

First things first, it wouldn't be wise if you had poor content on your website. As a piece in the SEO puzzle, it is a very important piece, and misplacing it ruins the entire image.

Without providing your audience with the content they so much desire, none of your SEO efforts would matter by a long shot. To help you understand this, it would be nice to visualize yourself as a searcher on Google. The chances are that you had to use Google to find this article. So after inputting your keywords, you hope to learn how important contents are on your website and several other information you find in this article. So after typing your keywords into the search column on Google, imagine that you ended up with a thin piece of content on the 1st page of SERP. Once you click on it, you realize that it's not the piece you are looking for, so you have no other choice but to leave. If you could do this, then you should know that several other readers would do the same. 

In summary, no one would stay to read worthless content, much less subscribe to newsletters or buy your products. Soon enough, Google will catch on to your website and send it lower on SERP. So yes, although it's true that great content alone isn't enough, it is also true that it would be extremely difficult to rank without it.

The fact remains that in recent years, SEO has become closely related to content marketing because having content your audience craves helps you win on Google.

Have you ever heard of the saying, "to the world you may be just one person however, to a person you may mean the world." In here lies the secret to content success. To get your content to have more meaning, you need to select a niche, figure out what your target audience craves, and create content that they will consume quickly as soon as you publish.

Ways to boost your traffic without depending solely on your content 

Yes, having amazing content can get you a good amount of clicks and help boost your revenue. However, going forward, you will still need to optimize your website for search if you want to be found by Google. 

Having a successful SEO strategy rests on pleasing the audience and using attractive content alongside other SEO strategies. Below, we will be giving you other areas of SEO you should take note of.

Earn quality links for your pages

Networking and building links are important for SEO. Links are instructions or indicators to Google, letting them know that your content is valuable and deserves due attention. Now, let's imagine your ranking for only a few keywords, but you haven't been able to reach the first page of SERP. With solid content on your website, it becomes obvious that something else is the problem, and you should consider earning more links to boost your position on SERP.

Earning links is a tricky slide of their own, but we have three ways you can build quality links:
If you're new to linking, it would be wise that we warn you about just how difficult gaining links can be. The key to success is not to give up. The better the quality of your content, the higher your chances of developing useful links. For more information, check out Semalt for more articles on link building. 

Keep your content updated

Imagine you want to start a blog, but you don't know-how, so you search for ways to start a blog on Google, and you have two great articles, but you're torn on which one to read. One of the topics was written in 2010 and the other a couple of weeks ago. By all indicators, you are more likely to click and read the newer one.

That decision was influenced by how recent or updated the article was because we subconsciously believe that the rules of blogging have changed ever since 2010, and we want accurate and reliable advice. Because the date of the content matters to you, chances are that it matters to every good reasoning internet user. 

Yes, not all content requires to be updated or rewritten after a while. For instance, an article on historical happenings wouldn't need to change anytime soon or ever accept new facts are discovered.  

Google itself isn't known to penalize you unless you write about news and current events. In such situations, Google checks for the latest pieces and ranks them first on SERP. How well the time and age of your article affects your ranking is based on the type of content you have. On a general note, you should update your evergreen content once in a while to keep it fresh.

Get Google to index your site

Getting indexed and ranked are two different things. In simple terms, getting indexed means you showed up for the race, and ranking means you won the race. But to win, you must first show up. The issue then is getting indexed.

To check if your site and the number of pages on your site have been indexed, go to Google's search console and click start now. Copy and paste your domain or URL prefix into its appropriate field. When you're asked to verify that you're the owner of the site, follow the prompts and click continue. Wait for Google to check the URL and then click "request indexing." You can continue clicking the request indexing button each time you publish new content to see if it has been indexed.  

Is content the king of SEO a lie? 

There is no straight forward answer to this question. In reality, content isn't exactly the king of SEO. In order to dominate search engines, your content needs to be:

Conclusion 

It is amazing the many tiny bits and pieces that come together to create the perfect SEO website. Yes, content matters arguably more than some other elements of SEO; however, you will need technical SEO, proper website design, amazing content marketing strategy, and other additions to enable your website and content rank and dominate SEO.

By applying these tips, your content writing skills, as well as overall website performance, will improve. This will mean that your audience, as well as Google, will consider your website to be a more reliable source of information, and you will rank better.

Do you think you will run into any problems as you attempt to write quality web content or implement other aspects of SEO on your own? We are here to help you. By hiring Semalt today, you open up your website to wider possibilities as with the help of our team of experienced professionals, your website is bound to not only improve in SEO dominance but in its overall functions.

We are glad to offer our services, and we look forward to hearing from you. Feel free to take a tour around our site and talk to our staff for clarification or if you encounter any difficulties. Visit us today and let us help you grow your online presence and dominate the internet.