“Content is king, but SEO is the Ace!”

SEO is the Ace Content is King

SEO Content | Phoenix DS Agency

SEO & Content

“Content is king, but SEO is the Ace!”

A potential client yesterday asked what I thought about two statements,”Content is King” and “SEO is dead”? Figured I’d share my thoughts…

These two statements have been around for a while and though I had never been asked to comment on them before, they do seem to still be having an impact on the internet world. Now it’s easy to look at these two comments and find some truths and falsehoods in the arguments for and against. But as you look at the two it becomes clear that the two statements are rooted together. If content is king, then in the internet world SEO must be dead? If only it was that simple…

“Content is King” or is it?

Let’s make one claim right now, not all content is king. Let’s also say that “great” content is King, good content is a Queen or a Jack, bad content is a three of clubs, and copied content is a joker, looks like a card but has no value. And it’s usually a Joker telling you it has value.

Now what if you have great content but no one finds it, how great is it? Isn’t that the point? To have content that is king and can be found quickly?

That leads to the next question I was asked, what I thought about, “SEO is dead?”

Is SEO dead? Yes and no. The old way of doing SEO; keyword stuffing, a thousand anonymous links, bloated meta keywords, and description tags, is dead. If your SEO company is still doing this then you will not see the results you should be seeing, and hurting your ability to rank high.

The new way of doing things is more in-depth. Great content needs to be SEOed correctly to be king. How is the paragraph structure of your content? How do you structure the coding of your content? How do you title sections? How do you target keywords in your content? What keywords are you using to target? What URL are you using? How deep into your site is your content found? How do you link your content? Do you crosslink within the site? Backlinking? What is the value of those backlinks? From where do your links come to your site? How do links come into your site? What sites are you outlinking too? What keywords are you targeting overall? What long-tail keywords are you targeting? Do you have cornerstone content? Bit weight of photos in your content? Bit weight of graphics in your content? How is ancillary content connected?

That’s just a few for on-page optimization, what about the site as a whole?

How is the site set up? Is the site architecture easy to navigate for search engines? Is the site architecture conducive to spreading linkjuice in a beneficial way? How long are load times for the home page? How long are load times for tier two and tier three levels? Do you have a blog/news section? How does your blog/news section link across to other pages? How often do you post content? Do you have canonical URL tagged links? Do you have sitemaps? Do your sitemaps regenerate every time content is updated? Are there bad reviews about your site? About your company? How is your brand’s reputation?

The Name is the same but what it means now is totally different.

SEO has always stood for “Search Engine Optimization” but what it takes to do that optimization has evolved and become more complex. So is “Search Engine Optimization” dead? No. But the old ways of doing that optimization have gone by the wayside. Replaced by new optimization techniques that may be replaced in the future. So “Search Engine Optimization” is alive and well, and ever-changing…

Would like to hear comments…

About Robert Laraia

Robert Laraia is an expert in internet communications, SEO, lead generation, web design and development, content generation, blogging, and social media management. He has served as a professor at two colleges, won numerous awards, and has consulted for many leading Fortune 500 companies. His resume includes work for JBL, Harman/Kardon, Electrolux, Doubleday, Trek, Nikon, and the national law firm Parker Waichman. As the founder of the specialized boutique firms Phoenix DS I-M Inc., and I-M Law, Robert helps businesses of all sizes reach the forefront of their target markets. This is achieved through exclusive web branding that engages new clients and develops online customer relationships. Robert’s insight provides proven results through cutting-edge knowledge of what works, what doesn’t and how it all works together.