SEO Content Requires Research Beyond Just Keywords
Author: April Hall
It is always fun to look through opinion sites that provide lighthearted (or perhaps not-so lighthearted) op-ed pieces. Finding out how your favorite blogger feels about the latest presidential election or the rise in gas prices is entertaining, and readers know what they are getting when they visit these opinion sites. What is not so fun is to try to search for information on sites that portend to be reputable, only to find out later that their information was completely bogus. If you want visitors to your site to keep coming back, be sure to do some basic fact checking on the content you provide.
There are so many ways to verify your content prior to posting it live. Of course, most of your research will be done on the internet; which means you will need to check your own sources! Some of the more popular sites such as Wikipedia are public-access sites. Public-access means that anyone with an active account can alter the information available to readers. Does this sound like a site that should be used as your sole reference point? Probably not! Try to stick to serious, recognized sources such as professional journals and major news sites. If you use a personal web site as a reference, check the credentials of the publisher to verify if he or she is reputable.
Another way to keep your content polished and up-to-date, yet accurate, is to refrain from using phrases such as “will provide”, “always”, and those types of verbs. Content development companies have learned to use words such as “should provide”, “usually”, “generally” and verbs that instill a vibe of vague ambiguity. Of course, you never want to be ambiguous about the goods and services you provide, if you have a business website! Further, your web development company should have copywriters who understand when this type of ambiguous language is appropriate and when it is not. However, if you are referring to an idea that you are not completely sure about, it is always best to leave a bit of wiggle room.
The old style of copywriting was to speed-publish as much content as possible, making sure to fill the pages chock full of SEO keywords. The new-and more useful-style of copywriting is to make sure that the content is clean, fresh, and factually sound. You may be surprised at just how easily the keywords flow once you have chosen to value facts over fluff.
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