My answer is typically the same: Put quality, relevant content out there as often as you can. Search engines are looking for the best answers to people’s search queries. So it is only logical that you should put time and effort into good, relevant content.
Absolutely not. SEO takes time and a lot of elbow grease. Using a good content management system like WordPress is certainly helpful, and I find that my content is indexed faster. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and search engine rankings aren’t going to get where you need them to be in an instant.
This varies from site to site. The question I always ask myself is: Will somebody that comes to my website be interested in the words I write? Is it relevant to my audience? Think of it like this, say your website is about cars. A relevant article might be about fixing cars or selling cars or perhaps a review of a new model. Of course, this depends on what your involvement is with the topic.
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Now this is a tough one. I think that you should post as often as possible, provided you have good material. Now it is tougher than you think, while you’re going about your daily business a lot of people just don’t have the time to be posting frequently. If you can post once a week that’s great, but if not try for a minimum of once a month. Of course if you are a larger company and have people on staff with the specific duty of content development, then of course you should increase the amount of posts. Look at it this way, if you are a manufacturer of widgets and every week you post articles about widgets. At the end of the year you have added over 100+ links into Google’s index including posts, categories and tags. Your competitor, we will call him Joe’s Widgets, hasn’t posted in a couple of years and has only eight pages of content within the index. I ask you this, who should do better in searches? Duh, right? Although it seems like common sense, people are always trying to take shortcuts, and it just will not work.
Yes, most definitely there are techniques which make your posts more search engine friendly. If you are using WordPress, I recommend using a good SEO plug-in. Most will give you help with the post and will help you improve. You will always want to be careful, not to be keyword stuffing as that is a good way to hurt your site’s rankings. That is where a good plug-in can assist. It will tell you when you’ve used your desired key phrase too often and will be considered keyword stuffing. It will also tell you other things that search engines are looking for, such as inbound and outbound links, headings and other items.
If you put out the best content you can, your search engine rankings WILL improve. If you just try to beat the search engines with tricks and Black Hat SEO, you will not go anywhere, and eventually your site will probably be kicked out of the Index or have your site be severely penalized. Also, consider this: if someone comes to your website because of your SEO work and the content is lousy, you may have gotten them there, but they’re not sticking around, and they’re certainly not going to give you business. However, if they like what you’ve written and find it relevant, your chances to secure them as a customer/client are much improved. And isn’t that the goal of search engine optimization? You want to get them to your site, of course, but posts written solely to improve rankings are never a good idea as they are typically unreadable.
If you need help with your SEO, please feel free to contact us.
In today’s ever-evolving digital landscape, the mantra “SEO: Think Quality, Not Rankings” serves as a crucial reminder that the ultimate goal of search engine optimization is not merely to climb the SERPs but to provide genuine value to your audience. This approach emphasizes the importance of creating high-quality, relevant content that addresses the needs and questions of your target market, rather than resorting to outdated tactics aimed solely at manipulating search rankings. By focusing on delivering a superior user experience, from the richness of the content to the usability of the website, businesses can foster a more meaningful connection with their audience. This strategy not only aligns with the sophisticated algorithms of modern search engines but also builds the foundation for sustainable growth and a loyal customer base in the digital age.
This is especially true if that feedback is unfounded. As I always explain to my clients, always take the high road as this is the long run can turn a possible negative into a positive. [ see blog post entitled: How to deal with negative reviews ]
However, this past weekend I came across a comment on one of the social media sites I manage that was so wrong. In fact, the commenter had this company confused with another one.
Let me give you a little background: The commenter in question was telling people to never use this company as they were horrible and they just fired a guy who was involved in the California wildfires. She said this company fired him, as the fire destroyed his company van while he was trying to save his family. She said this company deserves to go bankrupt and they’re horrible, et cetera et cetera.
Now if this were true I would agree, and in truth I would’ve quit this company, No matter how much they paid me!
BUT, they had this company confused with an East Coast Company with franchises in California. My client is an independent company, with no franchises and only operates in Massachusetts. So this was just a case of confusion, perhaps the company had a name similar or something like that, I never did find out.
So I responded to her that we are not in California and don’t have franchises anywhere. She went in and deleted her comment, and there was no damage done to the company’s reputation.
Now what if I had ignored this comment, as many companies seem to do on social media?
The company would’ve faced the possibility of this goes viral and then losing tons of business. At that point he probably would’ve reacted, but they may have done irreversible damage the reputation, and even faced going out of business for something he did not do.
Can you imagine working so hard to build your business and having it torn down by a viral comment about something you did not do?
The problem with the age in which we live in, is people immediately respond to things on social media. Once something is out there, it’s out there for good. So if you don’t respond to them quickly, you really face an uncertain future. Because your reputation is something you can’t get back once tarnished. This is your most valuable asset and you must do everything you can to protect it.
So as I said, respond to comments as soon as possible. Now, this was over the weekend and it’s not always possible to be at your computer or even your smartphone 24/7. This is why it helps to have another set of eyes and ears paying attention to your social media and web properties.
Bottom Line:
This is why I always stress to use a quality website management company. So, in the event you miss one of these horrible, mistaken comments, there is somebody else that may pick up the ball and run with it and save your business.
