Is your site an SEO junkyard? I was reading in an older article this week about ways your site is an SEO junkyard, and it truly got me thinking.
In the sites that I have built, businesses that I have started, and people I've consulted with, everyone is concerned with being found on the web. I get it: Being found in search means more business, more customers, more revenue. Who wouldn't want that?
The problem is that, in doing that, we often begin to create a space that is only made to be found on the web. That means, once visitors are getting there, they find a mess of content and garbage, and have a terrible time.
So, to add to the click-bait-y junkyard of SEO, here is the only secret you'll ever need to know about SEO.
The Secret: Add Value
Think about your customers. Care for them when they are on your site. Design and develop and write for them.
When you do this, your users are going to both desire to convert more (whether this is buying or subscribing or however you design it) AND search engines will care more about you.
This is especially true with Google's changes around their search algorithm and mobile indexing. Google is not interested in a page full of keywords; they are interested in content users care about.
Write For People, Not Search Engines
Maybe you've seen a page with Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet and other fun Latin text on it. This is simply a placeholder that fills a page, so a web developer or web designer can see what your page looks like with content.
A site filled with keywords that has no meaningful content is just placeholder text. It's the equivalent of the old SEO trick where you would hide commonly searched word in your header or content (I once knew a church that used words related to pornography hidden in this way to help drive visitors). It provides nothing for the user.
When you are writing, write to describe. Write to communicate to your users the message they need to hear. Use your keywords, but make sure that it is adding value to your user.