The text copy of each of your web pages is probably the single most important on-page optimization factor (with the possible exception of the title tag). Text is what allows the search engine to determine the topic of your site and subsequent pages and assign a ranking value for the appropriate search queries.
While some high-powered sites such as nike.com, sony.com or wal-mart.com can rank well for high-traffic keywords without much, or any, optimized on-page copy, most sites can’t. Consequently, it is important that you make room in your site’s design to allow for creating good, quality content.
We often run across potential clients that want optimization without making any changes to the appearance of their website. From a marketing perspective, I understand the desire for strict control over every aspect of a site’s appearance. Unfortunately, there is very little effective optimization that can be done for such sites.
On the other end of the spectrum are the SEOs that don’t understand that the copy of a website isn’t just for obtaining top search engine rankings but is an essential component to the sales process. Good optimization strategies must be combined with good marketing strategies creating pages that can achieve top search engine rankings and improve sale conversion ratios.
Over the next several days I’ll be continuing this thread on writing page content focusing on various necessary aspects to ensure your optimized text is effective in both achieving top rankings and producing sales.
This post is part of a continuing series on the topic of:
Optimizing for Maximum Search Engine Performance
Sub-Topic: Optimizing Your Website Content.