SEO, Blogging and the User Experience

@Jared: We can only hope keyword stuffing will go away already. I *personally” even think that some of the more stringent rules of SEO copywriting are obsolete.

@Eric: Couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks for weighing in.

@Nathan: I love that approach. I’ve worked with designers who have been able to make that top-of-page summary look really great. We’ve also experimented with adding in the three main points in a “tips” box on some of our posts and articles. Funny, I just used the concept of a website that talks about cats in one of my recent posts about relevant Web content: http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/2012/07/relevant-website-content/

@Kent: I like the last thing you said especially — the relationship rules all. Thanks as always for joining the conversation.

With the changes Google has been making, creating content with value has become extremely important and has made things like keyword stuffing a thing of the past.

In the realm of SEO it will always be a delicate balance of providing a good user experience while at the same time trying to “game” the search engines and their non-human algorithms. If you think like a user and provide content that you would in fact latch on to, then you really can’t go wrong.

Hi Jessica

We own and manage a site dedicated to Cats and it was becoming difficult to grab people’s attention all the way to the end of a 400 word blog post…so we now summarise the headings at the beginning of the post and if the visitor wants to, they can jump to the part that is most interesting or relevant to them. So far, the feedback has been good…

Hi Jessica, thanks for the video.

I have to say, human factor is one of the most important “Signal” for SEO. I socialize on Linkedin to push my SEO.

Here is how I do it – I connected with some famous author all around the world, they are Neal Schaffer, Alison Woo, John C. Maxwell, Brian Solis, etc.

Since I always have seminars in Malaysia, I always promote books and the book authors. I will conduct an interview (to promote the authors) and put on my blog. When people read the interview, they will spread on Twitter, Linkedin, blog, Facebook and other platforms (link building).

The greatest advantage is not only helping my blog SEO, but the relationship that I build with those authors and working on long term project.

That’s a win win situation that I always like to build. It works very well.

Content is KING, then relationship is SUPER KING!

It’s so important that we not neglect the face behind the interface. So much content is out there that the stuff that isn’t easily accessible in some way will quickly be abandoned. Two of Apple’s selling points are its aesthetic and its ease of use; bloggers would do well to take a leaf out of their book.

Blog readers typically will skim a blog post, so it’s best to lay it out using different headers or bullet points. A blog should also be easy to navigate. Even if the content is great, if the user experience or design is poor the blog owner will have a hard time gaining repeat visitors.

Google has always recommended having a quality site, quality content, etc., but now, their algorithms are finally reflecting that. For years people got away with horrible content, a bad design and spammy links.

They are finally putting action behind their words with their algorithms.

Well said, Leo.

-Jessica

Hey Jessica,

I think a lot of SEO’s are returning to the basics premise partially because Google is forcing their hand and partially because the landscape of SEO in relation to plain old marketing strategies is expanding ; where once the ROI was in the ranking itself, it now becomes symbiosis between all the marketing elements working well together.

And this includes, content, story line, brand definition, and of course, SEO.