Content relevancy | adding keyword-enriched content


Article by Mathias Levarek Consultant for MSEO.com

Allow me to start this article by mentioning emphatically that NO pejorative connotation was meant by the title of this article. I am just proudly (!) quoting what my son once said when he was 10 ... As I was trying to explain my profession, his feedback had the straightforwardness and purity that young children can deliver: “So, you are kissing up to Google...Is that what you do, Dad?” There it was in black and white! “Google kisser-upper” from my son’s perspective, “international SEO expert” from a professional aspect! Regardless of terminology, this incident didn’t fail to amuse me and inspired me for the kickoff of this article related to adding content “just to please Google”!

Anyway, last week, I was in Amsterdam on business. I just love Amsterdam – a city called by some as “world capital of freedom” - a city where everything works – a city with unbelievable bandwidth - and, aside from being a European cultural treasure, Amsterdam is a nest of talented SEO professionals. I just love Amsterdam (did I just repeat myself?)!

During my stay, I stayed in the De Pijp area on Nicolaas Witsenkade. I rented a beautiful apartment basically 200 meters across the canal from the original Heineken Brewery. The property management company was run by a young, friendly, charismatic fellow whom I befriended while I was there. Over lunch, I offered a free SEO consultation for his website (since it is not http://www.mseo.com that takes care of his SEO campaign, I will not mention the name of his website herewith).

We covered the concept of optimization and spent quite some time discussing the best link-building strategies, but then came the fatal question: “Google rewards websites based on the quality of their content...How do I add content without infringing upon the directness of my website’s architecture?”
Coincidentally enough, earlier that day, someone who had requested an SEO consultation had formulated a similar question: “How do I add content without compromising the quality & straightforwardness of my online message from a marketing perspective?” Wow! Twice in one day! This type of question has become more and more frequent, and I will answer this dilemma by conveying what I advised my new “Dutch acquaintance” (you know, the guy who runs the short-stay apartment rental property management business in Amsterdam). Of course, the advice which I gave him might need to be transposed/adapted to your industry. There are many other ways of addressing the issue related to content, but let’s start with a few basics.

The problem in his case is that people looking for apartments do not want to read much “blah blah blah”...They want straightforward descriptions and, of course, photos photos photos & an easy reservation system...although they might be interested in Dutch culture, a short stay apartment rental site is not where the user wants to find out about the year Van Gogh was born or when did Rembrandt die!! Apartment size, location, description... So, how to add legitimate, quality content to “please Google” without risking to lower the conversion rate/time spent by users on such website?

Here were my 2 main pieces of advice:

1 – Create an “Article” section, something similar to what is featured on our website under the following section: http://www.mseo.com/articles_mathias_levarek.html . (The same could be accomplished with a “Newsletter” section.) The purpose of adding such section is to add quality content on an on-going basis. In this particular case, my new buddy could write an article about the real estate market in Amsterdam since the Euro has come on the marketplace. Another topic could be about special events in Amsterdam, such as “Queen’s Day” (supposedly the ultimate party of all!)...another article could be about the popular conventions in Amsterdam. Such article could speak about how full the city gets and advise tourists if not coming on business to make their reservation way ahead of time, etc., etc., etc. The topics are just an excuse to write legitimate KEYWORD ENRICHED content. In this case, “Amsterdam apartment rental”, “luxury accommodation Amsterdam”, etc. (I didn’t perform a keyword analysis!) will be used emphatically and diligently throughout each article. Legit content will yield to put you on “Google’s good side”.

When adding articles/newsletters to an online section of your site, you may even use such section to increase your link popularity. It does have a fully dual SEO function! Just as an example, type “multilingual markets” on Google from the US. (Search results may vary depending on the IP address of your country.) Anyway, when searching on Google with “multilingual markets”, which is a very general top level keyword, you will see MSEO.com as the first listing. As a second listing, you will see the article which I wrote, titled: “What are the largest & most lucrative online multilingual markets aside from English?”, and then you will see a bunch of websites publishing such article, or, in other terms, creating a strong one-way link effect back to MSEO.com.

The name of the game is to publish an article on your website – wait about 30 days for Google to index such material – after this article has been indexed (and only then), such content will be considered “original property/copy” of your website – then submit this article on all the reliable websites specializing in article publishing. Let Google pick up those articles – articles being published will create a one-way-link effect for your site. Keywords reflected in your article will then emphasize your content relevancy, thus improving your overall rankings. No joke, it works.

One more piece of advice: Try to write the material yourself. I do realize that there are extremely talented copywriters out there, but in my experience, no one can write about your business the way you can...no one has your business at heart the way you do...so, if you can, do not subcontract the copywriting of your articles/newsletters. Of course, article submission can be performed by anyone giving meticulous attention to such task.

2 – In the case of a website offering short-stay apartment rentals in Amsterdam, I also advised my new friend to have a “guest book”. We are talking about 25 apartments. That is a lot of guests...lots of individuals able to post a legit comment.

If a guest book is not adapted to your business, how about a blog? Once again, this is not just from a marketing aspect, but mainly from a dynamic content perspective. Not all businesses are “cut out” to feature a blog/forum/guest book...but if you’re in this case, do not underestimate the value of such ongoing content being posted onto your site.

There are many other creative ways to add content to your website. The 2 aforementioned solutions which I advised my pal are, by far, the utmost basic and efficient ways to circumvent successfully the challenge of search engine friendliness through content relevancy (when your current content is just fine from a marketing perspective).

I am not a technician by trade. I come from an economics and marketing background. I do understand the brilliant thinking of Google behind their innovative content relevancy ranking algorithms. Regrettably, content is not for everyone, at least from an e-marketing standpoint.

My advise is for you to be innovative....do not cut corners...do not subcontract content development unless forced to do so...if subcontracting such task, double/triple/quadruple assure that it is not “plagiarized” content (content already published online and cheaply reformulated). Be tenacious: there is no end to such task. Creating new, relevant, quality content is your responsibility as a website publisher.

In today’s internet context, it is all about content relevancy and one-way-link effect. Happy writing!

Mathias Levarek, Ph.D.
SEO Consultant for http://www.mseo.com

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