Content MarketingSearch MarketingSocial Media & Influencer Marketing
Why Content for SEO?
Great find by good friend Chris Baggott of Compendium. Although we challenge many of the tactics that SEO companies utilize to gain ranking, there are still thousands of queries in search engines every day by people trying to find your product or service.
The questions vary… so a few pages of great content just isn’t going to cut it anymore. Virtually every company needs to become a publisher nowadays if they hope to both build authority in their industry and take advantage of the variety of searches that people are making.
Why Content For SEO, explores how content is key to search engine visibility. You can also read more on Brafton’s related blog post.
Infographic by Brafton.
Nice infographic, Douglas. I happen to agree with the SEO forecast at the bottom of the graphic, though I’d probably put content and social signals in the same territory. What do you think?
The search engines are going to have to start to look at not only the quality of the content, the neighborhoods, and so on, but they are also going to need to put a lot more weight on the social account quality as well, as we’re certainly already seeing garbage accounts being used to promote content.
Are social signals really going to become more important than the content itself?
Without great content, I don’t think it’s possible to have strong social signals. And I think that folks have struggled to game the weight of an influential social account to this point. If you don’t have strong followers, you’re always going to be a garbage account. I’m optimistic that this ‘human’ problem has replaced the ‘math’ problem of SEO… and it’s nearly impossible to produce a ‘human’ reaction programmatically at this point.
Those signals are highly manipulative, though, aren’t they? I’ve heard from many webmasters/seo folks who, for example, have paid for Likes/Views on YouTube and Facebook, which ultimately led to actual likes/views.
So ultimately, the junk accounts led to actual accounts.
Wouldn’t that be a programmatic human reaction?
I don’t believe they’re as highly manipulative as people think. I can go buy 5,000 views and likes on YouTube, but a) are those YouTube users influential? Probably not. b) Is there a surrounding buzz throughout multiple sites associated with those views? Probably not.
I think it’s highly unlikely – or at least cost prohibitive – that you could somehow game the system and provide enough influencers to turn the dial.
Completely agree with your assessment. The value of great content is found in its ability to attract opinion leaders and educate readers. When content resonates with someone, they’ll share it with their social circles and the multiplier effect begins.
I agree with you Douglas. Manipulative (or programmatic) likes, views, rt’s etc. would be detected by search engines characterising “real” patterns of social signals.
there are very valuable information here
I don’t believe they’re as highly manipulative as people think. I can
go buy 5,000 views and likes on YouTube, but a) are those YouTube users
influential? Probably not. b) Is there a surrounding buzz throughout
multiple sites associated with those views? Probably not.