It’s oftentimes a difficult balance for web
site owners. How do you please both visitors and search engines? Well, it’s not
easy, but if you follow certain steps, it isn’t that difficult, either.
So which is more important, to please the visitors or the search engine
spiders? The unequivocal answer is to please the visitors. What good is a site
that attracts spiders but not actual people? And what good is a site that only
attracts some visitors but not search engine spiders? In this post we will go
over writing content that interests and pleases both your readers and the
spiders.
So how do I write content that pleases a
visitor?
First, stick to writing content that is relevant to your
site.That means that if your site is about Rock music, you should not have any
content about dogs, as that only makes your site look bad and repels
visitors.
Second, write content in an easy to understand, conversational
format. Do not use big, fancy words just for the sake of looking smart or
pleasing search engine bots. I can’t count the number of times I’ve visited a
site with content that is so hard to comprehend that I do not wish to ever come
back to that site again. You want to make a good first impression on anyone who
takes the time to look at your site, so make sure your content is easy to
understand.
Third, never ever write content that is long, dull, and
boring. If the point you are trying to get across can be said more concisely in
500 words, than why waste another 300 words droning on and on about the topic?
This is a huge turnoff to potential visitors.
Fourth, make sure that all of
your content is grammatically correct. I know, this is hard because we live in
the instant messenger world, where sentences like “how r u?”, are thought to be
acceptable. However, anyone who is well-educated will appreciate good grammar.
Make your site shine in this department.
Fifth, don’t overuse keywords
and keyword phrases. In other words, don’t make it blatantly obvious to the
reader that you are trying to attract search engine spiders to your site. Make
an effort to make sure that your keywords and keyword phrases flow into the
content of the article. This is easier said than done, but can be accomplished
with a little fine tuning.
But what about search engine spiders? How do I
please them?
Search engine spiders are actually very easy to please,
mucheasier than actual human beings. This is because search engine spiders
aren’t subjective—they don’t care what the subject is about; they just care
about the number keywords and keyword phrases.
The only way you can
possibly displease a search engine spider is by overusing a keyword/keyword
phrase and making your site smell like spam. Search engine spiders are now more
advanced than ever, and so they are better able to ignore sites that are full of
spam. Too many keywords or keyword phrases that are
blatantly there will
hinder your site from being crawled by spiders.
As is mentioned in
another of our newsletters, a keyword density of 1-3% is generally considered to
be good. Any less than 1% is bad and will make it harder for your site to get
listed on search engines; any more than 4% makes your site look like spam. If
you haven’t checked out my other post, keyword density
is basically the
number of keywords or keyword phrases in a piece of content divided by the total
number of words.
Writing content that is good for both people and search
engines is an absolute essential to making your site a
powerhouse. So follow
the rules above and you will be able to write excellent, pleasing content!
Visitor Satisfaction
Last Update: December 24, 2009
Join the Discussion
Write something…