Creating and Taking Advantage of Online Content

The standard refrain in SEO is that “content is king.”  That might sound cliche, but content really does make or break a site and its search engine rankings.  Good information makes your website sticky, and optimized content tells the search engines what you’re all about.  Creating new content to put online is a critical aspect of your overall content optimization, as it not only freshens  your website’s feel, but keeps the search engine spiders coming back.

So…what are the ways you can leverage content online, especially the content that you can create (or others can for you)?

Industry Publications

Emarketer recently reported on the growth of online B2B magazines.  With print costs up and advertising revenues down, publishing in online formats is becoming the most efficient method of distributing news and information.  The ability for articles and other content to be shared easily amongst friends and colleagues, as well as the potential for going viral, make online publishing a tantalizing method of getting stuff out there (never mind the numerous monetary considerations of print vs. Internet).

If you’re able to publish an article or news item on a trade industry website, find out about the site’s ability to link back to your website, either with a link in the body of the article, or in an author bio that accompanies the article.  Policies on these can vary from site to site, but they can provide not only an awareness of your expertise, but also some good link juice (if the site does not ‘nofollow’ its links).  Be sure to find about about your own ability to distribute or reproduce the article on your website as well.

Articles and Article Archives

Writing your own articles, and then archiving them on your website and submitting them to online archives can also be another good way to put yourself and your content out there.  Articles you write should be archived on your site as much as possible, as these add to the indexable content and provide the robots with information as to what your site is about.  They also add the helpful information that your customers and prospects might be looking for, helping to establish your website as an authority in an industry, and hopefully encourage conversions.  Generally, articles need not be more than 500 to 750 words for you to get your point across either, so you need not worry about having to write any essays on your topic.

Submitting articles to various archives, like eZine Articles and ArticlesBase, can be a good way to gain links back to your website.  However, many of the archives ‘nofollow’ all or part of the links within an article, so you might not get all the link juice you’re hoping for.  Typically, the number of links is also limited.  My suggestion has always been to write the article in an informative and objective tone, leaving any links back to your website for the author’s bio.   This helps to keep the reader from feeling like they’re just reading another sales pitch when all they want is some basic information.

User Generated Content

With the rise of social media, user generated content is fast becoming an important part of SEO.  There are many new questions covering the UGC spectrum, from how to encourage it to how to manage any negative content that may get posted.  Increasingly, sites that encourage reviews of businesses or products show up in search engine results pages.  My colleague Red Rider at Industrial SEM has written a series of posts on a couple aspects of user generated content: customer reviews and FAQs.

It is important to note that review websites (like Yelp or Local.com) might not be appropriate places for all business or industries to be featured, whether due to the customization of services offered, or to ward off cutthroat competitors.  Some clients have recently brought up their concerns that websites such as these don’t meet the non-disclosure or privacy considerations their industries require, due to the specialized nature of their work.  Encouraging customers to review on these sites should be up to the individual businesses and their marketing goals.

Aside from the considerations, taking advantage of user generated content can be quite…advantageous. Reviews are seen favorably by search engines, as they help to establish the trust that others place in your services and products.

Content created for industry publications, articles, or user generated content are all things to be used to help you boost your search engine visibility.  Try it out and see what it does for your site!

PIcture by TracyHunter. Creative Commons.