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Why Your Website Needs a Constant Content Focus

It happens more often than we’d like that we complete a content project on a client’s website and get great results, only to have the effects start to wane over a relatively short period of time as nothing was done to follow up on the initial update, build on existing content, or consolidate what we’d already done by using best practices going forward. It’s really frustrating, not to mention an ineffective use of resources for both us and the business in question. In short, not good for anyone. 

Managing your online content and ensuring its optimization should be a constant focus for the team in charge of your online marketing budget. So what are the best practices? And why is content such an important factor?  Spoiler alert – it’s got much more to do with planning, investment, and good old-fashioned hard work than it does with us being mystical online magicians. Disappointing we know, but we do like to wear capes from time to time if that makes you feel any better ;) 

Publishing Quality Content

Businesses need to understand that good quality web copy and blogs do more for their website than simply improving search engine rankings. Great web copy also keeps readers engaged and sells products and services more effectively. The better your website reads and the more informative it is, the more it will increase your company’s image and trust rating, and ultimately generate sales.  There is, of course, a rankings element to it too though…

Google analytics and ranking algorithms have continued to shift priority towards content aspects in recent years and tend to focus on the quality and consistency of your copy, and how useful it is to the reader. This way search engines can provide a better service overall, and at the same time reduce tactics employed by web developers to cheat the system by using clever lines of code or keyword jamming etc to get results. That’s one of the reasons why businesses receive fewer and fewer of those spam emails promising 1st page Google rankings these days. It’s just not an advantage to use those kinds of cheats and quick fixes anymore. If anything, you're more likely to be scored negatively for that by the modern-day Google machine.

The solution? Stop looking for an easy fix and commit to investing in more frequent updates of quality content. Adding more content and regularly updating your site map will certainly help your page to stay current and rank better, as well as allowing you to capitalize on any longtail keywords and phrases that are pertinent to your business. But be sure to make it relevant - there is a big difference between adding valuable content, and adding content for the sake of checking the box – and Google knows it!

Content SEO 

Writing good web copy is just the first step. Inputting it onto your site and ensuring it meets best practices for all the more technical aspects is also important. Bear in mind we’re still talking content SEO here, not the coding and programming principles on which your website is built. Key principles to content SEO include:

  • Content length: There is no magic number for a perfect word count per web page or blog, and part of it will always depend on the topic you are writing about. However, with the focus being placed more and more on quality and relevance to your audience, we’d recommend an absolute minimum of 300-400 words per page to avoid being penalized for having ‘thin content’. 
  • Keywords and keyword densities: Do some keyword research and design your keyword strategy (or have us do it for you!), preferably with a different keyword or keyword phrase for every page. Then ensure each page of your web copy conforms to current keyword density best practices to ensure optimum results. 
  • Meta titles and descriptions: These need to be present (you’d be surprised how often they’re not), the correct length, include your keywords, and act as a suitable call-to-action for users to engage with your content. 
  • Alt tags on images: Alt tags should be properly formatted and include keywords. Having untagged images on your web pages means that Google is unable to identify them, and it also makes your content less accessible if for some reason a browser cannot render an image properly. 
  • Links: Incoming and outgoing hyperlinks from one webpage to another are highly valued by SEO models, and also increase web traffic to your site. 

The Consistency Aspect

A search engine’s primary goal is to find the best information to answer any given query. To that end, users will be directed to what the algorithm determines is the most relevant and up to date content. Websites that have remained inactive or have not been updated recently will not be prioritized as they are not deemed attractive to Google searchers. 

Aside from the SEO aspect, being consistent with content helps to ensure better customer experiences, and will also help your business to build trust, credibility, and an enhanced brand reputation. 

We are happy to help with your web copy updates and content SEO optimization, but we are always very honest and open that the results a) won’t be immediate, and b) will not endure over time if no further action is taken. Put simply, our agency has no desire to spend our time and your money on making things better, only for all of that hard work to go to waste because you feel like you’ve ticked it off your to-do list and can forget about it again for a while. To ensure a consistent content strategy, we recommend:

  • A regular audit for adherence to best practices, and making necessary tweaks and changes accordingly.
  • Adding regular blog posts to your website – on the caveat that they include quality copy and are properly optimized for SEO. 
  • Overhauling your web copy over time - preferably on a repeating cycle to ensure the most up to date information and consistency of information. 

 

Need help or advice with your website content strategy? Feel free to get in touch, we’d love to help you!