Website Content Is What It's All About

What Is Content

Everyone should know what website content is. Just incase you don't, website content is everything that makes up a site. It is the text, information, pictures, graphics, flash, links, news articles, products, multimedia, files, downloads, site navigation, databases, tables, scripts, and whatever else a site owner combines to create a website.

Content to the search engine optimizer is mainly the text, links, and navigation structure but all components are important. Search engine optimization comes down to how the content is structured, what content is included, how it is written, and how the underlying code is included and is always changing due to the changing search engine algorithms, technologies, and accepted practices.

Anyone who has a website would love to put their products or information on a their site and have the  masses run to them without having to work hard to get them there. This is one place where the cyber world is a lot like the real world. You won't get this for free. It takes work and lots of it or a big bank account. Working hard and doing it right will pay big in the end. Using proper search engine optimization techniques will make the road to success little shorter and less expensive. Now ask your self this fundamental question. Why do you go to a website? I hope you said it has good content. Content is the keyword to remember if you want good rankings. Now, if you have great content and no visitors, well it's probibly how your site is laid out or the type of content you have. This could mean your site needs some simple tweaks or it could mean a complete redesign of the entire site. If you have no visitors and you feel its not your sites content it could come down to how you are submitting your site.

How To Feed Those Crawlers

There is nothing that feeds those cyber crawlers like content. I'm not just talking any content. Visible text and hyperlinks are what the want and need. So give it to them a buffet. If you think you don't have time, well you don't have time not to. I know that is easier said than done. Let me tell you this. If you have the best one off a kind product that everyone needs and you have cornered the market on it, if someone works harder describing a similar product, provides more articles and content on it, using similar keywords than you do, they can turn the not so good in to more business than you. 

So here is the basic to do list:

• Crawlers love keyword and theme related text

• Write all your text, articles, news with keywords in mind.

• Keep content readable

• Your most important keywords should be first

• Use the keywords in your headings

• Keep all text visible and readable

• Use a few keywords in the Alt image tags of pictures and graphics

• Include keywords in the hyperlink text

• Use text based links as much as possible

• Name of your pages should include keywords

• Name any file graphics, pdfs, pictures,... using important keywords

• Put theme related news letters on your site.

• Use the keywords in the site title tag

• Use keywords in the site description

• Put the most relevant keyword phrases first in keyword META tag

• Keep text content as close as possible to the top of the HTML code

Remember search engines only want the most relevant information for the users. Don't use spamming techniques of any kind. Search engines spiders are catching on quickly to the tricks being used to alter search relevancy. Just about anything you come up to alter ranking besides providing good relevant content, is considered spamming. Although some search engine robots can not  detect these techniques most are getting better everyday at spamming detection. Most search engines will not tell you what to do to increase your rankings. The search engines will tell you what not to do. This varies from search engine to search engine but here are the most common things to avoid.

Don't do this with your content:

• Don't spam period

• Never use keywords that are not related to your content or website

• Don't use to many keywords

• Don't just put a bunch of keywords on a page

• Don't use hidden text

• Don't use doorway pages

• Avoid redirects when ever possible

• Don't use frames

• Don't use small text in an effort to hide the text

• Don't use IP cloaking

• Don't bait and switch

• Don't use 1x1 pixel or really small images

• Avoid using to much scripting on web pages

• Avoid dynamic content

• Don't design a Flash only site

• Never use the same keyword more than 3 times in your META Tags

• Avoid image maps

• Aviod graphic only pages

• Don't make link only pages

• Avoid link farms

There have been some pretty creative spam techniques. Some of were once acceptable practice. Eventually the algorithms change to catch these deceptive practices. Sites that once dominated the rankings will find them selves at the bottom of the rankings or they may be removed altogether. It is a simple rule to remember, don't use trickery. Anything, in my opinion, that alters ranking using trickery is spam and will eventually be a part of the engine algoritm.  Any site using these techniques will eventually get caught.  They may get penalized or removed from the search rankings. Sometimes this may even require a new domain.