It can be hard to be found in online search if you do not have the right content

Having a great website is not enough – you need to be found in online search

Increase Your Search Engine Ranking with Relevant Content

Google states: “One of the most important steps in improving your site’s ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content.Open in new window

So what should you write on your website? Experts agree that you should write ‘from the heart’ of your brand. Authentic content is deemed real, and relevant content; and therefore will be ranked well because it’s not being written to bring traffic to the site: it is the real deal.

The reason for your website is a good starting point. Does it help people make an informed decision or purchase? Or is it a way to display your craft or special skills, like a portfolio? The content (written wording and image descriptions and captions, which is referred to as copy) should reflect the intention of your website.

Please don’t be tempted to copy a manufacturer’s specifications – or (even worse) lift content from another website and paste it into yours – Google will penalise your site, and your rankings will go in reverse! Plus this content probably won’t be authentic and thus will not engage your website visitors, leading to high bounce rates (lost visitors).

Google refers to ‘copy and paste’ from other websites as ‘Scraping’ Open in new window

It is not advisable! Scraped content is just another way of saying ‘stolen’ content.

Here is an excerpt from Google: “Some webmasters use content taken (“scraped”) from other, more reputable sites on the assumption that increasing the volume of pages on their site is a good long-term strategy regardless of the relevance or uniqueness of that content. Purely scraped content, even from high-quality sources, may not provide any added value to your users without additional useful services or content provided by your site; it may also constitute copyright infringement in some cases.

“It’s worthwhile to take the time to create original content that sets your site apart. This will keep your visitors coming back and will provide more useful results for users searching on Google.

Some examples of scraping include:

  • Sites that copy and republish content from other sites without adding any original content or value
  • Sites that copy content from other sites, modify it slightly (for example, by substituting synonyms or using automated techniques), and republish it
  • Sites that reproduce content feeds from other sites without providing some type of unique organisation or benefit to the user
  • Sites dedicated to embedding content such as video, images, or other media from other sites without substantial added value to the user

People ultimately buy products and services for the benefits they offer. Therefore to fully engage your reader you should offer solutions and benefits. Don’t just make a product feature list and expect it to rank well in Google.

For expert content writing you can also use a professional copywriting service, but make sure you use someone who understands writing for the internet and Search Engine Optimisation because copywriting alone is not enough – the writer must understand how Google ranking works when it scans the words and images on a website.

Contact us if you need further information or a hand with your content.