How Much Content is King??

[oldvintageguy]

My website has approximately 8 main pages, 500 to 600 words each, written only for visitors and not to 'impress' the search engines. The keyword for my website is "buy widgets" and "buy wide widgets" and the premise of my site is ridiculously simple -- like a website on how to make toast In my opinion, adding any more content is total overkill for my visitors.

But, I need to rank higher. I already have awesome links. I guess I need to add more content, huh?

Should I double the size of my 8 pages -- make them 1000 words each instead of 500 words? Or do I need to add more pages?

[packerfan]

Originally Posted by oldvintageguy

My website has approximately 8 main pages, 500 to 600 words each, written only for visitors and not to 'impress' the search engines. The keyword for my website is "buy widgets" and "buy wide widgets" and the premise of my site is ridiculously simple -- like a website on how to make toast In my opinion, adding any more content is total overkill for my visitors.

But, I need to rank higher. I already have awesome links. I guess I need to add more content, huh?

Should I double the size of my 8 pages -- make them 1000 words each instead of 500 words? Or do I need to add more pages?

Just randomly adding content doesn't matte. Go search for Yukon's thread on Silo linking, and then make your website like that. Strategically adding more content can make a huge different. But just adding it to add it, well that doesn't work.

[SEO ibiza]

as packerfan says, it will make no difference whatsoever, 600 words is loads.

you say you have "awesome" links, I would say not awesome enough.

"content" is only king if it makes enough people link to it to rank well.

check this search, https://www.google.com/search?q=some...0&hl=en&num=10

the #1 site is not there by virtue of how many words of written content he has, is he?

[oldvintageguy]

Originally Posted by SEO ibiza

check this search, https://www.google.com/search?q=some...0&hl=en&num=10
the #1 site is not there by virtue of how many words of written content he has, is he?

That's hilarious! Maybe that's the secret -- I'll reduce my website to just one word!

[SEO ibiza]

lol. we have a particular page on a directory on our site that is #1 for a certain phrase, which is not very competitive, but of which there are other sites, and real businesses who would like the term, and it's an empty page.

visitors are greeted with

Not Found
Apologies, but no results were found for the requested archive. Perhaps searching will help find a related post.

page titles and domain authority (decent links) trump written content every time IMO.

[papamo44]

go for 1100 words plus. It really depends how competitive the keyword u are targeting. Get some high pr blog comments those have been helping me more than anything recently

[yukon]

No doubt quality external backlinks are very important with seo, what your missing is, just about anyone can rank a single web page per keyword.

Getting double/triple SERP listings per keyword, is a lot better than trying to rank a single page (per keyword). My point here is, why get only position #1 in the SERPs, when you can own positions #1, #2, & #3 with extra internal page work.

Sure you can get double/triple SERPs from external links, chances are you'll work a lot harder or it will be a lot more expensive than creating a quality structured site (that includes on-page text).

Go after the easy SEO first (on-page), then back it up with quality external links.

A well structured site has a lot more pull in SEO than most people think, that's the reason most people only rank a single page per keyword. IMO, If your going to bother trying to rank a page go all out.

Originally Posted by SEO ibiza

as packerfan says, it will make no difference whatsoever, 600 words is loads.

you say you have "awesome" links, I would say not awesome enough.

"content" is only king if it makes enough people link to it to rank well.

check this search, https://www.google.com/search?q=some...0&hl=en&num=10

the #1 site is not there by virtue of how many words of written content he has, is he?

[SEO ibiza]

heh, what I'm missing? click--> Google search: triple indented listings

Originally Posted by yukon

No doubt quality external backlinks are very important with seo, what your missing is, just about anyone can rank a single web page per keyword.

well to be fair, he did ask how to go upwards, not how to get more listings, i just answered that.

Originally Posted by yukon

Getting double/triple SERP listings per keyword, is a lot better than trying to rank a single page (per keyword). My point here is, why get only position #1 in the SERPs, when you can own positions #1, #2, & #3 with extra internal page work.

Sure you can get double/triple SERPs from external links, chances are you'll work a lot harder or it will be a lot more expensive than creating a quality structured site (that includes on-page text).

Go after the easy SEO first (on-page), then back it up with quality external links.

A well structured site has a lot more pull in SEO than most people think, that's the reason most people only rank a single page per keyword. IMO, If your going to bother trying to rank a page go all out.

lol, yes thanks for your advice

[Frederik Jorgensen]

I've started using 800-1000 words articles and they are working pretty good this far.

[dburk]

Hi oldvintageguy,

I would advise you to keep what you believe to be the perfect amount of content on your website. You don't need to add more content to get more traffic.

Search engines like Google rank pages based on relevance not word count. As was clearly evident by SEO ibiza's "something" example is that more content on your website isn't needed to rank highly. However, this doesn't imply that you do not need more content to rank higher, just that it doesn't need to be content on your website.

Take a closer look at the "something" example. He has more than 25,000 pages of content pointing to that top ranked page, and none of it is on that website, save the single word "something".

The important thing to understand about search engines is that they don't rank websites, they rank individual pages. Rankings are not based on what is on a website, rankings are based on the signals of relevance on the individual page, as well as signals of relevance in content that is linked to that page.

So to answer you question, you need more content, you just don't need it on your website, place content on other websites, like article directories, forums, social media sites, Web 2.0 properties, blogs, press release syndication, social bookmarks, etc. be sure to SEO that content and include targeted keywords in and near your anchortext links that point back to your website.

[SammyBlackstar]

The overall theme of the website is more important then the length. People say to vary content by 30% size on each page. Go below and above 400~

[packerfan]

Originally Posted by SammyBlackstar

The overall theme of the website is more important then the length. People say to vary content by 30% size on each page. Go below and above 400~

Why do make up arbitrary stuff and spread it like it's the truth. This forum needs a big A$$ smack of common sense.

Look... Say what you have to say. If it takes 100 words, say it in a 100 words, if it takes 3,000 say it in 3,000.

Last I checked there are some pretty powerful quotes that are all of 10 words long. Quality of content has nothing to do with length. Stop worrying about all the wrong stuff.

[dp40oz]

Content is not king. Backlinks always have been, are still, and always will be king.

[dburk]

Originally Posted by dp40oz

Content is not king. Backlinks always have been, are still, and always will be king.

Hi dp40oz,

Don't be silly, backlinks are just off page content. Content is indeed King and always will be.

[oldvintageguy]

Originally Posted by SEO ibiza

heh, what I'm missing? click--> Google search: triple indented listings

Oh my goodness. THAT'S what I want! That's the coolest thing I've seen all month. I didn't realize there was such a thing. I know from time to time, I've seen a double listing (on the very rare occasion), but I didn't know it was something within the realm of achievability.

[oldvintageguy]

Originally Posted by dburk

...So to answer you question, you need more content, you just don't need it on your website, place content on other websites, like article directories, forums, social media sites, Web 2.0 properties, blogs, press release syndication, social bookmarks, etc. be sure to SEO that content and include targeted keywords in and near your anchortext links that point back to your website.

Thank you for your answer. I like what you said about content, and you certainly have made me do some thinking (something I need to do more of).

[elizabethjean733]

After google panda update the importance of content has been increase and if your website has not fresh and unique content you can't get good position in SERP results.

[kea55]

you definitely want quality backlinks. That in itself is really key.

[amandeepsingh]

500 to 1000 pages

[SEO ibiza]

Originally Posted by oldvintageguy

Oh my goodness. THAT'S what I want! That's the coolest thing I've seen all month. I didn't realize there was such a thing. I know from time to time, I've seen a double listing (on the very rare occasion), but I didn't know it was something within the realm of achievability.

ok well make sure to follow the links to seodesignsolutions deep linking piece and the hub we wrote about understanding them.

a couple of years ago it was childsplay to do this, but as with everything Google its become less predictable lately.

practically, you need to ensure the pages you want to appear link back and forth to each other using variants of your kw, that the page titles overlap but don't cannibalise each other, and that you have anchor links pointing in to both pages.

then wait and hope (or keep linking in until the result is achieved ) good luck

[SEO ibiza]

Originally Posted by elizabethjean733

After google panda update the importance of content has been increase and if your website has not fresh and unique content you can't get good position in SERP results.

lol, where did you read that? I'm afraid I agree with this too

Originally Posted by packerfan

Why do make up arbitrary stuff and spread it like it's the truth. This forum needs a big A$$ smack of common sense.

[automaton]

It's quite simple: the more content you have, the better.