Over Christmas and New Year I was reading various email newsletters and blogs that I follow. The Google blog is one I follow closely as they frequently give great information on search engines and new product they are launching / upgrading.

Going back to basics on search engine marketing is probably one of the key aspects I have implemented this year. It is really easy to get caught up in link building campaigns or social media marketing. Adding good relevant content on a site is the key to engaging with your site users and potenitally building great inbound links. There was a posting in October on the Google blog about how to generate inbound links into your site through site content.

I am a firm believer that ‘merit based inbound links’ in the future will have a greater weighting in the algorithms than directory or purchased links. So web site owners need to be investing in adding content to their site to make the most of this opportunity.

Adding content is key to growing rankings for any website. Forget trying to re-optimise existing content or tweaking key word denisities on a page.

So how can you grow content on your site:

1. Set up a blog and integrate it into your website – and give commentary and insights into your industry. Ensure you blog on a regular basis, so your passion and commitment grows your credibility.

• Participate in forums in your industry – as this will drive traffic to your site – and will drive traffic to your new content.
• Think laterally about the content that you can upload to the site– it might be your take on an article in an industry publication or that you have launched a new product. What ever you decide is appropriate for your website, I recommend that you look at creating a content plan for the year. So you have a plan of how your site content will grow, rather than haphazardly adding content. That way you can be more focused around the key phrases you want to target.
• Be committed – some clients think that once they have got their site live, it’s the end of the project and they can sit back and wait for the rankings. How wrong can they be? It is the start of the journey, and the clients need to be committed in terms of time and cost (to either invest in a content management system or for a maintenance contract) to grow their presence in the search engine listings.