For any website or blog, the need for lots of well written content cannot be overstated for its ability to attract and keep readers returning. But there are components of content that are just as important as quality writing and these have as much or more impact on getting people to your site. The other main component is ensuring that your content is SEO friendly. In fact this component is so important that it warrants you to even go back and rewrite your existing content so that it is also SEO friendly.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the Internet marketing strategy that smart websites employ to ensure that their site’s content gets priority placement on search engines. Optimal search engine placement is critical because when someone does a search there hundreds of pages of articles and sites returned and the person searching will only likely look at the first few pages. So you definitely want your site or content to come up in the first few pages. This is why SEO is so important.

So how do you create SEO friendly content and get front page notice by Google and the other top search engines? Here are the key features your articles needs to have:

Have high quality content

Part of the factors for moving articles and sites up on search engines is if the site has content that is highly rated for its information and quality. Focus on delivering articles that make a great impression. Put lots of images on your posts and when you can, add bullet points and indentations that give you article some style. Try and use a variety of tools in your articles including italics, bold and underline and even add some colored text to make an emphasis.

You should also read through your articles after spellcheck to eliminate any remaining typos. And, when possible add the author’s name and one sentence bio, because this contributes to the validity and quality of the post.

It’s all about the keywords

Keywords tell search engines about the content of the article on your site. Their job is to alert the search engine that you have something that will be of interest to anyone searching for the keyword terms you have listed. So it is important to use keywords that are popular but also you want to come up with a unique or less used keywords, so if someone searches that exact term the odds are greater you site will be called up. There are many strategies for effectively using keywords, but the thing to keep in mind is that Google and other search engines understand that there are those trying to game the system. If they catch you doing it they will penalize you. So focus on being creative rather than slick.

Do not plagiarize from other sites

Search engines like Google check content that is on a website for originality and if it finds that the content is copied from another site, it will not rank the offending site. So your content needs to be uniquely written and not just copied and pasted. This does not mean you have to have original topics for your articles, just that the way they are written needs to be unique. This will work towards improving your ranking on search engines.

Your website must load fast

We live in a time where speed matters and your website and its pages should load fast. The average user will simply not wait if your site takes too long and this will negatively impact your rankings.