Content is King – Some SEO Basics

Published: 15th Aug 2008 in Ethical Web Design

One of the first questions many potential clients ask is “how to I get to number 1 in Google?”.

Well, this is a massive question. SEO is a detailed and complex subject in itself relating to technical aspects of web development, semantics and copywriting, not to mention keeping up with the changing ways that search engines track and index sites on the web.

Those of you who have worked with us before have probably, at some time or another, heard us say “content is king”. When it comes to potential clients finding you on search engines and then staying on your site when they get there your content is extremely important. This is where you have the most control of your SEO destiny.

Unless you are hiring a copywriter to do the job for you it is likely that you will write the text content for your own website. And why not? Who knows your business better than you? The skill is in taking this knowledge of your business, industry and market and creating clear, concise and relevant copy that both search engines and website visitors will like.

It sounds complicated but following certain rules will go a long way to helping you get to grips with writing in this way. Here are a few resources that you may find useful.

Rule No 1 – Don’t underestimate the importance of good content
See this Webcredible article:
“Website content – Getting it right for search engines“

Rule No 2 – Write for your audience as well as Google
See this Copyblogger article:
“Seven Copywriting Tips for a Well-Staffed Business Website“

Rule No 3 – Understand how linking affects your search engine position
See this Webcredible article:
“Advanced link building“

As I mentioned earlier there are many other things involved in having a search engine friendly website and much of that relies on the coding and way it is built. Please see our article ‘Standards Design Works!‘ for an example and do contact us if you would like to know more.