In Search Engine Optimization, Content Matters

This search engine optimization tip is brought to you by the Austin SEO Guy -- search engine wisdom for Austin, Texas companies.


Get ready. Get set. Scramble!

It seems every time I turn around, someone is clamoring about the latest and greatest SEO strategy. Some of these strategies have their merits. Others are a waste of time. And some do more harm than good.

Some website owners constantly scramble to follow what they believe is the latest Holy Grail of search engine visibility.

I say let them spin their wheels. Because in truth, the more things change, the more they stay the same. For example, there's one thing search engines have always favored and will always favor -- websites with plenty of original, quality content.

Quality Content Matters
Your website needs quality content. Even if you do everything else right, your website will perform poorly if it lacks quality content. It will perform poorly in the search engines, and it will perform poorly with visitors.

Search Engines Love Topical Content
When you have a lot of content on your site, you give search engine spiders plenty of material with which to evaluate your site. And if that material centers around a particular topic, or topics, the search engines will have no trouble connecting your site with corresponding search phrases.

People Love Quality Content
Know who else likes quality content? The reader. You know, that person you want to buy your product or service. Kind of important, wouldn't you say?

Content Matters
Content tells search engines what your site is about. Content helps people find your site. Content keeps readers on your site. Content turns readers into customers, believers and promoters of your company.

Content matters.

-The Austin SEO Guy

SEO and the Sound of One Hand Clapping

This search engine optimization tip is brought to you by the Austin SEO Guy -- search engine wisdom for Austin, Texas companies.

A Zen master once spoke of the "sound of one hand clapping." Here's how I would equate that famous expression to search engine optimization:

An SEO program that lacks onsite conversion is like one hand clapping ... sure there's motion taking place, but there's nothing being produced.

In other words, when you use SEO to drive traffic to a website that does not convert visitors into customers, you are clapping with one hand. But to produce something, you must also use the other hand. You must focus on your website conversion tactics.

"That's obvious," you say. "Why waste my with such a no-brainer?"

Here's why.

I can't tell you the number of times I've heard somebody say something like: "Our SEO program is not producing any leads." ... Or ... "We get good search engine ranking, but it's not producing sales."

These people are clapping with one hand and trying to produce a sound. They are overlooking something significant. Search engine visibility does not generate leads or sales. Search engine visibility can generate website traffic, but then it's up to the website (and the people behind it) to generate the leads and sales.

In other words, SEO is the start of something ... not the end of it. It is one hand clapping.

Avoid search engine blindness. Don't focus on SEO to the point of ignoring your onsite lead generation. Keep the big picture in mind. Always consider how things work together in synergy. Clap with two hands.

That is the lesson for today, Grasshopper. Go in peace.

-The Austin SEO Guy