The series of "Panda" changes to the Google search algorithm that started in February 2011 have shaken up the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) world. The stated goal of the changes is to reduce the ranking of sites that post a lot of reused content, and reward sites with original content.
This change may have shaken up how marketers see SEO as well.
In 2010 when the "Marketing Sherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Survey" asked respondents from search agencies to pick the "most effective" SEO (search engine optimization) tactic, 83% chose “keyword research” as the top selection.
One year later, in the 2011 version of the same survey, there were some small changes. The name of the "top box" selection was changed from "most effective" to "very effective," and the mix of tactics changed.
But the biggest change: marketers now consider "content creation" as the top SEO tactic pulling ahead of last year's winner, "Keyword" choice.
In just one year, "content creation" has clearly moved to the top of the SEO agenda. Blogging, the tactic renown for pumping fresh content into websites, more than doubled in importance moving from 15% in 2010 to 31% in 2011.
While content moved up, several "traditional" SEO tactics showed big drops. “Keyword search” dropped from 83% to 43%, title tags from 50% to 42%.
If you want better SEO, think about your content!
See the 2010 result See the 2011 result
Josh, great information here. One thing I can't figure out: do you know what the distinction is between Content creation and Blogging?
Posted by: Larry Mincer | October 14, 2011 at 03:44 PM
Hi Larry! Blogging is just one form of content creation. Other forms are writing a white paper, shooting a video, recording a podcast, and sending out a Tweet. “Content” used to just be called “information” and developing it used to be called, well, “writing.” But when things went digital there were many more forms including video, audio, social media etc. So the more encompassing descriptor of “content” was applied. Content creation is makin' the stuff.
Posted by: Josh Gordon | October 14, 2011 at 04:20 PM
good day! i really like your post because it is very informative, actually your article has a lots of SEO techniques that we can apply to increase the page rank.. kudOs! :D
Posted by: lord tabang | October 24, 2011 at 06:35 PM
It seems that some people have considered blogging different from content creation. As Josh said, it could be considered as another form of content creation. Some companies have a blog section on their website as well.
Posted by: Rohan Beata | November 02, 2011 at 11:16 AM
Before I decided to create my first website I watched a video of Matt Cutts explaining how things work. Yes, you can try and do something that is already done, but do it in your own words, give your oppinion about it, make your own description. Yes I have all the keywords in all the right places, but guess what, google does not display them like I want it too, but as it see fit (which in my case helped me alot, google added couple of words to my title tags, because of that couple of my sites are on the 1st place for the main keyword). Follow the golden rule of creating a unique content and let Google do the rest.
Google will grow smarter, not dumber, its becoming more human-like.
Posted by: mahjong | November 22, 2011 at 01:45 PM
I really appreciated the read and shall be dropping by from time to time now.
Posted by: Mens Barbour Greenham Waxed Jacket | November 24, 2011 at 10:24 PM
Hello, Larry! Blogging is just one form of content creation. Other forms of writing the White Paper, video shoots, recording a podcast, and send a Tweet. "Content" is only used to be called "knowledge" and its development, to be called, well, "write". But when things went digital formats was much more like video, audio, social media, etc. Thus, for a more complete descriptor of "content" has been applied. The content creation stuff is makin '.
Posted by: Seattle Seo | November 25, 2011 at 09:45 AM
Content acts as a very first impression to all the viewers to look into it. My suggestion is to make some modifications by adding some interesting as well as some useful information in your content in order to increase the viewers to look back into your websites.
Posted by: Seo forum | November 29, 2011 at 05:14 AM
I've come to this conclusion recently also, and I can't agree more. I guess the numbers don't lie either. New content is the fire that cooks up a good SEO campaign. Thanks for posting this! :D
Posted by: Search Engine Optimization | December 07, 2011 at 10:12 AM
The key to getting high SEO rakings is to identify which words or phrases best describe the site or the business. These words and phrases are commonly referred to as “keywords”. We will work with a business to choose good keywords and then have these keywords placed in strategic places on your website.
Posted by: SEO Company | December 26, 2011 at 11:25 PM
I really appreciated the read and shall be dropping by from time to time now.
Posted by: hermes birkin bags | December 29, 2011 at 11:38 AM
Nice post. Here’s a post that describes how you can generate free content and traffic to your website, without much effort http://blog.caspio.com/web-database/is-database-publishing-in-your-content-marketing-strategy/
Posted by: Terri Lawton | January 31, 2012 at 04:01 AM