This past week, I had an interesting conversation with a website designer about keywords, SEO, and content. His basic philosophy was mainstream and not necessarily wrong, but it was the belief that adding keywords to content increases readership because Google (and other search engines) will get it in front of the eyes of searchers more often. Makes sense, right? My argument was that content – good quality content that speaks to the reader – does just as well if not better.
Why? Because we as people, as search engine users, determine the keywords. So, if as a blog post author I write an awesome post that hits home with my readership, or even with a trending topic, it’s going to get shared and talked about. It’s meeting people on an emotional level – not a keyword level. That’s not to say it won’t have keywords in it, but they won’t be ‘planted.’ They’ll just happen to be there because of what I wrote.
And the great thing about content that your audience loves is they’ll likely sign up for your list, share it with friends which expands your reach, or keep coming back for more and end up seeing your other offerings. This is great news because a humble conversation rate is only 2%. It’s a safe guesstimate when you’re doing figures. So what it boils down to is a numbers game, not a keywords game.
Being amazing at content that converts is as simple as writing the messages your audience needs and wants to hear.
So break it down like this:
- Listen to what audiences in your industry are talking about. Concerns, needs, wants.
- Pick a topic and address it. Write about it. Incorporate a personal experience to connect with your readers.
- Get involved in the conversations your readers are having about your posts.
- Check out Google Alerts or Mention to monitor activity about your brand so you can get involved right away.
My new friend was interested in this idea and curious to see if it was accurate. If it’s not, I’m going to be buying him a pizza – but I feel pretty good about my odds.
So, what do you think?
Do you write for Google or people? And which do you think is most effective?
