Content is not king

A little background in case you are new here or maybe researching for your companies planned move into search marketing.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a very broadly used term for obtaining traffic from organic search (Goggle and alike search engine results page ‘SERP’). I am not a fan of the term as for one it is not very intuitive and second has been associated with lowbrow techniques, including SPAMMING & illicit link building. Furthermore the industry is flooded with consultants that perform no more then the most basic of techniques while charging a premium service, as with any technological area clients are often made to be baffled with technology jargon. While the other side of the coin is filled with ‘cheap’ SEO firms performing link spamming low grade content marketing and other dangerous practises that will hurt your brand in the future.

The most deleterious part to the phrase being ‘optimisation’, giving the persona that it is a add on service to a site instead of the site being built around or developed from day one with organic traffic in mind. It pains me to think that the term is so widely used now, that alas we shall be stuck with it forever. What would I prefer the term to be? Maybe on-line brand marketing or even website marketing is a better term.

Why is SEO so important?

You are probably already aware of the reasoning behind why SEO is important; it comes from the fact that Google or a similar search initiates nearly all purchases. Even when your analytic data shows your brand to be a major search term that is often initiated first by a generic search term, or an off-line or on-line media campaign. Someone will search ‘home wool insulation’ find that Higgins Insulation provided what they were looking for, and their next search the buying qualified search they will then type in Higgins Insulation or similar producing the brand searches within your analytic data.

Because of the way search works it is more likely a person is going to land on an inner page than your sites home page, old thinking was site flow and home pages, this thinking or structure does not hold true for the modern site. When we think site structure and flow we have to consider the majority of our traffic will be initiated by a Google search, and then to a deep page within the website, this changes our entire flow in the traditional website design and development thinking.

Content is not king!

It has been a fashion of late to fill sites with content mainly on the advice of SEO’ s and spruiking the terms ‘content is king’, although on face value this is true and with search algorithms being text based if we do not have content we do not have search engine exposure, but the thinking that write amazing content and you will rank is faulted thinking.

The internet is full of websites that have awesome content and great services that will never be discovered on Google

We would like to think the team over at Mountain View (Google HQ) are doing such a fantastic job that all you need to do is write amazing content and the algorithm will work that out, and your content will rise to the top of the search results and thus provide you with sale making traffic. Unfortunately this could not be further from the truth.

It becomes not what is the best content, but what is the best-marketed content that becomes Google front page gold.

Search algorithms use a number of pointers to decide what is relevant copy to serve up to the web searcher; these pointers are also largely influenced by links pointing to a content page. (Web sites are not optimised pages are although a site needs to have search optimisation at the core of its development) With links being a major contributing factor to what is on the first page of Google. It becomes not what is the best content, but what is the best-marketed content that becomes Google front page gold. This is the core reason why some really ordinary content often takes up the first places on the SERP pages. In essence it is a popularity contest, and having the right people in your corner to make sure your content actually does make it to the top of the search results.

Another common misconception is ‘I will use social media such as Digg or Stumbleupon to market my awesome content and thus be on the front page of Google’ Here we have an even more of a popularity contest, unless you are or know someone who is a ‘power user’ (someone who has influence and when they submit content it has a high chance of going viral’ if not it will be almost impossible for your content to gain any worthwhile exposure.

Our final problem with content comes from poorly laid out and designed content, this content we are noticing is becoming rampant on many a site. Many new clients we are working with have much of this content from previous ‘cheap’ often-outsourced SEO companies. Many of the companies we have seen and addressing this issue with are not small businesses, many are large Australian brands.

Recently while talking to a CEO he said “I know we are receiving good traffic it just does not seem to turn into enquiries” He was right they were receiving a very healthy traffic flow and he was also right in it was not converting. The site in question was full of poor content, although targeted around the niche of their business it was badly laid out, had poor grammar and in this case an Australian brand with American English. This all worked together to produce a severely high bounce rate and limited sales.

The SEO conclusion

It is not enough to just add targeted content to a site and expect the Dollars, Pounds and Euro to roll in; site structure and core capability for organic search needs to be addressed. Every piece of content added needs to be written and designed as though it shall be the front page of the site, every page is a landing page and should be considered ‘in the sites flow’, every page needs to address the searchers needs and wants.

A strong linking strategy needs to be implemented, not the cheap buying of links. You may think now that the cheap outsourced SEO firm that you have engaged that is performing amazing link building and your brand is romping up the ranks is a gift from above.

However how is this going to affect your brand in the future? We know Google do not like paid link building and will ban your site from the search indexes if you are found out this is a cold hard fact, currently it does not happen that often but this will also change as their technology becomes even smarter.

How will today’s SEO affect your brand tomorrow?

You site might be fine right now but how will today’s SEO affect your brand tomorrow, this is a very important question. There is a very good reason good brands pay good money for SEO it is not just about ranking it is about brand protection, it is also the fact that these good companies also address SEO as marketing not optimisation and address all aspects of on-line marketing from social media to press releases and everything in between.

It is not enough to contract a firm to perform website optimisation, you need an on-line marketing agency, someone who understands on-line and off-line strategic and tactical marketing. SEO companies have been popular and a shift in the market hurt traditional marketing agencies, but the next decade will see the rebirth of the marketing agency into a fully rounded off-line and on-line agency. SEO is marketing and it makes sense to contract people who understand this. Furthermore brand will and is starting to play a far greater role in on-line search this again requires the company that understands how and why brands work.

If you are researching for your company that is about to venture into SEO, I have to be biased and say talk to us at We Brand, if you are currently engaged in the services of an SEO firm and some of my cautions have you worried, I also implore you to contact us and we can perform an SEO audit and risk assessment making sure your brand will be safe for today and tomorrow.

Apart from us whom else would I recommend in the SEO market? There are a few firms that could be said to be respectable players in the on-line brand marketing world these would be. SEOMoz (USA), Distilled (UK), ThinkProspect (AUS) No doubt there are many other respectable firms these just represent some companies I know are doing great things for the industry as a whole.

If you have anything to add or feel I have glossed over any aspects feel free to leave a comment.