What makes Top Quality Content Win the Search Engine Ranking Game?

The simple answer is… WORDS … Just (Key) Words like Neil Armstrong’s One small step for man, one giant step for mankind statement eternalizing great moments of individual or collective importance. But also words optimized by master story tellers and copy writers for maximum impact, effect and thus attain top 10 rankings in the search engine results pages.

The simplicity of the answer may cause some to underestimate the potent force of words. However, many present and past examples show what the mastery of the art and science of words…just (key) words (albeit carefully crafted words which resonate with audiences could accomplish, e.g.:

Skill with words helped Barrack Obama get elected as President of the United States of America, i.e. if you give credence to the accusations of Hilary Clinton and John McCain his exasperated opponents during the run-up to the 2008 Presidential Elections;
The mastery of that skill also empowered Patrick Duval the original author of “the words…just words” phrase to win the Massachusetts Governor’s race;
It enabled historical personalities like Martin Luther King Jnr (I have a dream), Nelson Mandela (my dream is for a democratic non-racial south Africa in which blacks, whites, coloureds and Indians will peacefully live as one nation) and Mahatma Ghandi (peaceful co-existence of Hindus and Muslims in an India independent from Britain) and some less noble ones like Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf) to inspire masses for diametrically opposed causes.
The gift of the word allowed Mohammed Ali (“Fly like a Butterfly and sting like a bee”) to defeat his opponents in the mind game long before they enter the ring;
The ability coin or articulate words in a song propelled author JK Rowling, Harry Potter Author and her compatriot Susan Boyles into instant global fame;
The historical words of Neil Armstrong (One small step for man, one giant step for mankind) make us remember him more than any other astronaut .
The poignant incantations of some great coaches “Ain’t over till its over” made players steal victory out of the jaws of defeat in the dying moments of memorable games;
They help every successful company (Nike | Just Do It – Johnny Walker | Keep Walking – Apple iPod Shuffle | Small Talk) and entrepreneur to sell tons more products and services than their competition.

Search engines just like real people look constantly for clues to understand the writer’s intent by analyzing the meaning of words used to construct a piece of content. They have to make split second judgements about the meaning, the truthfulness and relevance of any content. They analyse key (idea) phrases used and the congruency between the way they are placed in the header (title tags), descriptions (meta tags), navigation bars, the anchor tags in body text and footers as indicators of what the content is all about.

Finding the formulations which unlock the meaning of things and experiences is not an exact science. If you do not help search engines understand what your page is all about, by doing it correctly, search engines often make colossal mistakes and reward the bad guys and penalize the good guys and your content ends up in the Google Sandbox, which is search engine’s equivalent of sending you off on force labour in the freezing Siberian Gulags.

Hey, as cruel as it may sound … that’s life and it often happens many a time in in real life too.

Don’t we all feel the same way when the girl or the man we covet, the community or company members we try to convince about something really good for the community or company and the customers we want to persuade about our better product or service make the opposite choice which in your eyes (excuse my French) “is just a piece of crap wrapped in vanilla ice cream”?

One way to react to situations like that is to be cynical for the rest of your lives and write-off the world for being stupid, vicious and cruel or to learn how Fortune 500 Companies dominate the search engines, how Paris Hilton manipulates the celebrity press like her lap dog, how Brad Pitt charms the opposite sex or how Tony Robbins drives masses of followers to respond favourably to his Call to Action.

When you choose this type of response you discover very quickly, that its merely a matter of – “WORDS… JUST (KEY) WORDS” – yes you heard me correctly, just words crafted in particular sequence (syntax) and combination (grammar) for maximum comprehension, effect and impact required in that particular context. Maybe one could call it a kind of a hybrid NLP for search engines and real people.

But before we look at the syntax, grammar and lay-out of words…just (key) words, let me first explain why search engine marketing, top research engine results placements and the mastery of the art and science key search terms to produce quality content is important. Here’s why…

According to the respected Target Marketing Magazine the Top Ways in Which Web Sites are Discovered are:

Banner Ads …………………………………….      1%
Targeted Email   ………………………………      1.5%
TV Spots   ………………………………………      1.4%
By Accident     ………………………………….    2.1%
Magazine Ads ………………………………….    4.4%
Word-of-Mouth (Social Media) …………… 20.0%
Random Surfing ……………………………….. 20.0%
Search Engines   ………………………………… 40.0%

Excuse me for going off subject and invoking my parents here – but you will understand why.

Their credo was that “luck is something we create for ourselves”. You prepare for your lucky day by grinding out your daily chores to master the foundational skills required for success in life – that included washing the dishes, tidying up your own room and polishing your shoes every evening, because you don’t know who is going to knock on your door tomorrow morning. They said, luck smiles at those who are prepared to seize the moment (carpe diem) when it presents itself. In other words, when you have done your homework correctly and laid the proper foundations, things look easy and others say you are lucky to be able to connect the dots and figure out the winning combinations.

What’s that to do with our topic why keyword rich content and search engine marketing is so crucial? – Guess what! – Everything.

The above statistics should make it a no-brainer to understand where any webmaster (whether lawyer, doctor or tech geek) should focus his/her time and money, namely on mastering and implementing the fundamentals of : (1) how to create or have high quality content created (2) How to learn and optimize or outsource the optimization of the site content through a top SEO firm or consultant and (3) how to master the Social Media Science.

Mastery of these basic skills will enable you to seize the moment for maximum ROI the moment your implementation of the above three critical levers “make you lucky” and a sizeable chunk of the 60% free natural organic search engine and social media traffic embark on the shores of your site. This happens amost automatically once you rank amongst the top 10 sites for a particular search term.

The good news is that Mike Cutts and Google do not really want to sent the “good guys and girls as well as good content” to the Gulags. To the contrary, they want you to rise to the top 10 rankings in their search engine results pages and become visible to visitors looking for truthful, precise and relevant quality information.

The other good news is that most of the top ranked internet marketing companies and guru consultants, who take their internet social responsibility seriously have come to understand that the best way to fight the scourge of fraud and spam on the internet is to educate newbie’s and small businesses alike in search engine optimization techniques so that they do not fall prey to black hat SEO practices. The lifting of the veil on the “ SEO Secrets” perpetuated and peddled for too long by some selfish IM practitioners has levelled the internet playing field.

There has indeed never been a comparable period in IM history where the Net was swamped with so many “f.ree” $1 SEO offers. Take your pick and profit from the lessons whilst the generosity lasts.

For me the only justifiable reason for making money from SEO is through outsourced services, the teaching of SEO and SEO tools. All of these save users time – It saves them time to research and learn – time to apply the knowledge and learn from their mistakes – time saved and leveraged to do more things. Time is money. In my view, there is no justifiable reason for selling basic SEO knowledge as it is the objective requirement – the rules of the game which all content must comply with. Anyone would cry foul if such archaic practices shrouded in secrecy were to apply to the game of baseball, basket ball, tennis, football etc.

Widespread knowledge of basic SEO will level the playing field in order for all content to compete on only the basis of “quality criteria” and popularity of content with users.

Some closing advice – subscribe through your Google Reader for updates on the (key) word themes of interest to you. Develop a daily routine – chore – discipline ( I know we hate that idea) to read and jot down the things that came to mind. Choose the time you want to invest based on the on the league you want to play in. As this quote from an unnamed coach says:

“It takes a 1,000 hours of study to learn a skill, another 2,000 hours to become an expert and 3,000 hours to be one of the best like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Shaq O’Neil, Jimmy Connors, Serena Williams etc”.

Off course it helps if you have talent … but then look around you and in the mirror and ask yourself – how many great talent is still waiting to be discovered or may never be discovered because the person has not developed the routine, the chore, the discipline to tackle any challenge one bite size at a time till the life clock ticks down the 3,000th hour which magically elevates you into that elite club of the Michael Jordan’s and the tiger Wood’s in your chosen field.

If you want to play the web mastering game (that’s what you are if you own a site) – accept no excuses from yourself – study the specific syntax, grammar and lay-out of words ….yes just (key) words in top ranked sites, which search engines expect from webmasters playing the game by the rules to educate, inform and entertain their site visitors and prepare content accordingly.

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