The Importance of Content in SEO

Ever wasted money on marketing that didn’t last? I once spent $15,000 mailing out coupons that barely made a difference for my shop. The lesson I learned was that an online presence is key, and that starts with SEO. 

But what does SEO start with?

You Guessed it: High quality content, which consists of content writing and copywriting.

Why is Content Important for SEO?

Content is important for SEO and online visibility in general because it forms the foundation for a successful marketing strategy. Both people and search engines rely on content, and when you prioritize producing high-quality, helpful content, you naturally address other important SEO elements like search intent and user experience. Why?

Because those elements are what make quality content in the first place.

Are You Chasing SEO Rabbits?

Here’s a list of SEO terms you’re probably familiar with:

• Keywords
• Search Intent
• Backlinks
• Site Speed
• Crawlability
• User-experience

Question: Can you have any one of these without content? Interestingly enough, you can have content without any of these, which might actually be most websites because 96.55% of content on the web gets zero organic search traffic.

Without content there are no words let alone keywords. Nothing to backlink, and no user-experience. 

So, why is content an afterthought? Why is it that you can ask 10 agencies about SEO and they’ll tell you about keywords before the importance of content in SEO?

Well, putting keywords on a page is a heck of a lot more easier than creating valuable content, but the latter is much more effective. Take a look.

To put things into better perspective, here are 5 Reasons that further show the importance of content for SEO.

1. Google Needs Content to Satisfy Its Users

There are around 8.5 billion Google searches every single day, approximately 45% of which are for local intent. If you’re a business owner, you’d want people to find your website on search, make purchases, and help your business grow, right?

But Google is a business too, and If you want to rank, you’re going to need helpful content that Google can use to match those searches with.

The customer satisfaction score of Google users is around 80%. This means that 80% of the time, people are satisfied with what they find on search. There’s a reason for this, and it's because Google has been very successful at putting relevant content on its first page so that users find what they're looking for.

Content is, quite literally, the only means through which Google can satisfy its users.

2. Content is the Only Way Google Can Rank Your Website In The First Place

Website content and SEO go hand in hand, and websites that have active blogs also have more indexed pages. Businesses have a much higher possibility of ranking high on search when they publish content.

The ranking order goes like this:

1. Content is written first
2. The content is crawled (found)
3. Only then it can rank 

Without content, there is nothing to find in the first place.

That's precisely why we value high-quality content at InspiringClicks. Every time we publish content for our clients, we view each article as a possible highway merging to their website.

3. Regular Content Updates Help Search Engines Favor Your Website for Higher Ranking

Google has a “crawl-budget”. This is the number of pages it decides to crawl for a particular site. The number of pages on your website that Google decides to crawl is heavily determined by:

1. The quality of the content published for your website
2. How many regular content updates are made

Regular content updates signal to Google that your site is active and worth checking frequently. As a result, Google learns to prioritize your website. On the other hand, if your website has less active content updates, it can be pushed down in priority. 

Content is important in SEO because it contributes to the overall crawlability of your site, which is necessary for ranking.

4. Investing in Content Instantly Puts You in the Top 20% of Websites

How many businesses create a website and pay little to no attention to content afterwards?

There are nearly 1.10 Billion websites on the Internet and less than 20% of them actively create content. That puts those who invest in content at a great advantage. The advantage is even bigger for industries where competition is heavy, because it means that the threshold for online authority may not be as high as you think.

More visibility and profit for your business could literally be just a click away.

5. SEO Content Can Ignite Your Businesses Entire Marketing Engine

SEO content—when done correctly—automatically includes other crucial aspects that help lead to a successful marketing campaign.

SEO requires content, and content requires:

• audience research
• competitor analysis
• regular publishing
• Updating
• visual assets

Content is extremely important for SEO because when it's done right, it includes all of the features that lead to a successful marketing campaign, and a Return on Investment (ROI).

Website Content and SEO — Two Sides of The Same Coin

Website content and SEO work together.

You can have content, but without SEO strategy, you're not likely to rank for results that are going to get you good returns.

On the other hand, you can optimize your website, but without quality content, you won't rank high on Search Engine Result Pages in the first place.

Not only does content and SEO work together, but by investing in one, you should automatically be getting the other.