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05.19.09 Content Development Can Directly Impact Link Building  By
Stephen PittsMaybe you have heard some of the cliches about content: If you build it they will come! Content is King! Really? Yes, it is true. However, what most of the people that use these and other cliches about content development and link acquisition fail to share the details about what content development can directly impact link building. Great content is valuable to others and users and webmasters will link to content that is useful, but in a case of which came first, the chicken or the egg, how do these users and webmasters find your great content to link to, if they cannot find it? Thinking outside of the box is extremely important to get momentum rolling for a website to start ranking and being found and this is especially important for link development. So, where do you start? Well, thinking outside of the box is extremely difficult, however, defining what the box is can be a great first step. Defining the box might be different for you than others because of the category or vertical you are in and what your competitors are doing. The second, and most difficult, is to do what isn't being done. I know it sounds simple, but it can be the most difficult. This is one of the biggest reasons that businesses look to consultants to get advice about what they are not doing or didn't even realize they could or should rather than doing it yourself.
OK, back to the the topic… I have broken up the idea of content development for building links into two very broad categories, on-site and off-site. On-site contains some ideas around developing content on your site or domain, but actually, it is what you have direct control over. Off-site, on the other hand, is content that is published somewhere else, simply, you don't have direct control over it and might be more difficult to manage for optimal user and ranking benefits. On-Site Content Development Since on-site content development you have full control over, it doesn't carry as much weighted value, but has the most long-term benefit. Below are outlets to develop content that can attract inbound links. You may have heard of them previously, but how you approach them can have a huge impact in their success. Potential value assessments will also be covered to set the expectations for cost and benefit. Resource Documentation Do you know what you are talking about? This is a very valid thing for a search engine to try to understand about your site before sending their users to your site. The reason? Because they want to send the user to the most relevant page because this makes a happy user and a happy user is a returning user. So, how do the search engines determine that you know what you are talking about? Content. Plain and simple. Building a catalog of information that is relevant to a user will do two things, attract search engine attention and user attention. Search engines send users and users send users, so the way to best accomplish this is by having enough content on pages that you want users to find. If this does not account for the aesthetics you are trying to deliver, my suggestion is to include this information in an easy to find place (global navigation is a great place for an entry to this information). Remember, a good rule of thumb to consider is "every page is a landing page," so, if a user landed on any page within your site, would they know where they are and are they able to easily navigate to any other area. Quality content is quite often overlooked when engineering a site for SEO. Test your site, if you don't have the budget, get a couple of friends that don't regularly visit your site and solicit their feedback. The other thing, difficult to do but valuable none the less, is to look at each page of your site and ask yourself the question, "if this wasn't my site, would I link to this page?" If the answer is no, then rethink it! Continue reading this article. About the Author: In-house SEO for a private travel company with great success. Has been influential in developing and building a niche travel directory and search engine. I enjoy learning and sharing information on my blog, SEOPittfall.com to others in an effort to build relevant, content driven websites with the user in mind. | ||||||||
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