(Newswire.net — May 8, 2014) Flower Mound, TEXAS — When it comes to Google search engine ranking or what some refer to as SEO, everything matters and even the little things can contribute to your overall Google ranking. The new “thing” post-Hummingbird, which is the latest algorith from Google, is content marketing. It has become the new buzz-word that everyone is using to explain the “new” factor in search ranking. However, is it a new strategy? We will try and explain and demystify why content marketing is key but not a new concept or technique.
Back in the early days, somewhere in the late 90’s, creating a website was much simpler and the job of getting it to show up on a search was also simpler. However, even then, there were individuals and companies that were already looking for ways to increase their rankings or those of their customers. You may have heard of things like keyword stuffing or meta tagging. These techniques, used by many comanies very successfully for years, simply worked because someone learned how to game the system so to speak.
Fast forward to February 2014, when a new algorithm code-named Hummingbird was released by Google. This was not a new version of the old system, but a brand new one that had vast, sweeping changes. What quickly became appaernt was that Google was heavily wieghting content. But was that really new? Not so much. You see, Google has been saying almost since their inception, that good, quaity content was the best way to get your site more juice (as we like to call it).
So back to our original statement about content being like crack for SEO. It just makes sense that if Google says that great content is of the utmost importance, folks would follow that advice and simply write great content. However, content marketing has one key flaw in our ever-impatient society. It takes time to work properly and it cannot really be cheated. Yup, that means that it is much harder to make a quick buck and that does not sit well with most folks. We are in a now-society in which customers demand results fast.
Content marketing, when done correctly, simply means providing relevant content that is written not for SEO purposes, but instead for the end user. And Google has made that very evident in the way the new algorith works, giving “credit” now for factors based on user interaction and behaviors, not just on flat data such as the number of hits or clicks. For instance, the Hummingbird algorithm appears to factor in both search words with results and who clicked on what, how long they stayed and what they did before and after those behaviors.
For companies who have been using content marketing in essence all along, this shift does not really have much impact. Collette Savoie of Portside Marketing, an SEO company in Flower Mound, Texas says, “We have never liked to employ methods that were not sanctioned by Google. Doing what Google likes works. It just takes longer.” Ms. Savoie is referring to what is known as white hat SEO or SEO that follows the rules. In some cases, others employ what is considered black hat SEO or SEO that is somewhat cheating the system. This is often faster but can get you or the client in trouble with Google.
“Those who have been trying to use faster, less accepted methods of search engine optimization, have seen huge declines in ranking. It is much harder to fake, cheat or fool this new algorithm with the techniques of the past few years. Learning how to be a great content marketer will be paramount now and in the future,” said Ms. Savoie. Portside Marketing has used content marketing as a strategy for over ten years, easily ranking each of their clients and never falling victim to a Google alsorithm update. Ms. Savoie attributes it to following the rules. Whatever the case, content is now king and content marketing is the new buzzword.
So what do you do when it comes to content marketing? Ms. Savoie explained, “What your customer would expect. Excellent content on your website is key, along with a solid blogging strategy and if applicable, adding on social media and press relesases.” Ms. Savoie explained that the content should come off as natural and be what a customer woudl actually read. “There is a lot more that goes into search engine ranking than just content, but if users and customers like your content and engage, Google will like your content as well.” Sounds like a little tip we shall take to heart!