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GOOGLE'S GOOD
WRITING CONTENT FILTER by Joel Walsh
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The web pages actually at the top of
Google have only one thing clearly in common: good writing. Don't let the usual
SEO sacred cows and bugbears, such as PageRank, frames, and JavaScript,
distract you from the importance of good content.
I was recently
struck by the fact that the top-ranking web pages on Google are consistently
much better written than the vast majority of what one reads on the web. Yet
traditional SEO wisdom has little to say about good writing. Does Google, the
world's wealthiest media company, really only display web pages that meet
arcane technical criteria? Does Google, like so many website owners, really get
so caught up in the process of the algorithm that it misses the whole point?
Apparently not.
Most Common On-the-Page Website Content
Success Factors
Whatever the technical mechanism, Google is doing a
pretty good job of identifying websites with good content and rewarding them
with high rankings.
I looked at Google's top five pages for the five
most searched-on keywords, as identified by WordTracker on June 27, 2005.
Typically, the top five pages receive an overwhelming majority of the traffic
delivered by Google.
The web pages that contained written content (a
small but significant portion were image galleries) all shared the following
features:
Updating: frequent updating of content, at least once
every few weeks, and more often, once a week or more.
Spelling and
grammar: few or no errors. No page had more than three misspelled words or
four grammatical errors. Note: spelling and grammar errors were identified by
using Microsoft Word's check feature, and then ruling out words marked as
misspellings that are either proper names or new words that are simply not in
the dictionary. Does Google use SpellCheck? I can already hear the scoffing on
the other side of this computer screen. Before you dismiss the idea completely,
keep in mind that no one really does know what the 100 factors in Google's
algorithm are. But whether the mechanism is SpellCheck or a better shot at link
popularity thanks to great credibility, or something else entirely, the results
remain the same.
Paragraphs: primarily brief (1-4 sentences).
Few or no long blocks of text.
Lists: both bulleted and numbered,
form a large part of the text.
Sentence length: mostly brief
(10 words or fewer). Medium-length and long sentences are sprinkled throughout
the text rather than clumped together.
Contextual relevance:
text contains numerous terms related to the keyword, as well as stem variations
of the keyword. The page may contain the keyword itself few times or not at
all.
SEO "Do's" and "Don'ts"
A hard look at the
results slaughters a number of SEO bugbears and sacred cows.
PageRank. The median PageRank was 4. One page had a PageRank of 0.
Of course, this might simply be yet another demonstration that the little
PageRank number you get in your browser window is not what Google's algo is
using. But if you're one of those people who attaches an overriding value to
that little number, this is food for thought.
Frames. The top
two web pages listed for the most searched-on keyword employ frames. Frames may
still be a bad web design idea from a usability standpoint, and they may ruin
your search engine rankings if your site's linking system depends on them. But
there are worse ways you could shoot yourself in the foot.
JavaScript-formatted internal links. Most of the websites use
JavaScript for their internal page links. Again, that's not the best web design
practice, but there are worse things you could do.
Keyword
optimization. Except for two pages, keyword optimization was conspicuous by
its absence. In more than half the web pages, the keyword did not appear more
than three times, meaning a very low density. Many of the pages did not contain
the keyword at all. That may just demonstrate the power of anchor text in
inbound links. It also may demonstrate that Google takes a site's entire
content into account when categorizing it and deciding what page to display.
Sub-headings. On most pages, sub-headings were either absent or
in the form of images rather than text. That's a very bad design practice, and
particularly cruel to blind users. But again, Google is more forgiving.
Links: Most of the web pages contained ten or more links; many
contain over 30, in defiance of the SEO bugbears about "link popularity
bleeding." Moreover, nearly all the pages contained a significant number of
non-relevant links. On many pages, non-relevant links outnumbered relevant
ones. Of course, it's not clear what benefit the website owners hope to get
from placing irrelevant links on pages. It has been a proven way of lowering
conversion rates and losing visitors. But Google doesn't seem to care if your
website makes money.
Originality: a significant number of pages
contained content copied from other websites. In all cases, the content was
professionally written content apparently distributed on a free-reprint basis.
Note: the reprint content did not consist of content feeds. However, no website
consisted solely of free-reprint content. There was always at least a
significant portion of original content, usually the majority of the page.
Recommendations
Make sure a professional writer, or at least
someone who can tell good writing from bad, is creating your site's content,
particularly in the case of a search-engine optimization campaign. If you are
an SEO, make sure you get a pro to do the content. A shocking number of SEOs
write incredibly badly. I've even had clients whose websites got fewer
conversions or page views after their SEOs got through with them, even when
they got a sharp uptick in unique visitors. Most visitors simply hit the "back"
button when confronted with the unpalatable text, so the increased traffic is
just wasted bandwidth.
If you write your own content, make sure that
it passes through the hands of a skilled copyeditor or writer before going
online.
Update your content often. It's important both to add new
pages and update existing pages. If you can't afford original content, use
free-reprint content.
Distribute your content to other websites on a
free-reprint basis. This will help your website get links in exchange for the
right to publish the content. It will also help spread your message and enhance
your visibility. Fears of a "duplicate content penalty" for free-reprint
content (as opposed to duplication of content within a single website) are
unjustified.
In short, if you have a mature website that is already
indexed and getting traffic, you should consider making sure the bulk of your
investment in your website is devoted to its content, rather than graphic
design, old-school search-engine optimization, or linking campaigns.
About the Author:
Joel Walsh is the owner, founder and
head-writer of UpMarket Content. To read more about website content best
practices, get a consultation with Mr. Walsh, or get a sample page for your
site at no charge, go to the SEO website content page:
http://www.upmarketcontent.com/website-content/#seo
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