Stop Writing Content for Google to Boost Online Sales

Even though most of us have heard the expression, “Content is King,” very few domain owners seem to take that advice to heart.  Instead, they’ll spend thousands each month on Google AdWords campaigns, post hundreds of backlinks in local directories to stir in unique traffic, and spend about five minutes on polishing their actual website content.  That strategy is about as helpful as buying a brand new iPhone 5 without a battery; you can’t expect actual results unless you have all the tools in place to make your application work.

For example, one of my clients contacted me the other day in a panic and said that she had to have copy for a targeted B2B campaign over to her printer at Next Day Flyers in the next 35 minutes.  I edited through the content real fast but when I checked the outbound link for the campaign’s landing page, it talked about how great their products/services were with no actual way to make a purchase.  We’re talking about a $4,500 campaign budget here, mind you, and the consumer was left to navigate the website on his own in hopes that a sale would be made.

So before throwing away your advertising dollars, it makes perfect sense to first check your website content to make sure it’s optimized for your site’s visitors.  At first, that may seem to go directly against the grain from what every online guru on the planet has ever said about website conversions…but Google actually likes you more when you go out of your way to ignore SEO.

Customer Engagement Trumps Optimized Website Content Anyday

While the various Google algorithms have always been closely guarded secrets, we don’t need to know the actual formula to know that the search engine giants prefer unique, frequently updated content across our websites.  Likewise, the days of keyword stuffing are far in the rearview mirror so if you’re trying to write content to appease Google, you’re wasting your time.

Instead, 100% of your website

copy should be optimized to give your visitors a superior experience.  Not only does Google measure your website’s success based on numerous on-site metrics (number of pages visited, time on-site, etc.), but the entire point behind a business website is to convert readers into buyers.  Why on Earth would you do anything to jeopardize that?  If your only goal is to write content for Google, then you’re likely going to end up losing out with customers and search engines alike.

Less Content for Google is Almost Always More

Likewise, it is important to remember that if someone is typing your product or service into a search engine, there is almost a 90% chance that they’re already a motivated buyer.  So many websites lose out on sales because they put forth so much effort on overselling an item that the consumer has already planned to purchase in the first place.  Just give your customers a solid description and let the product speak for itself.

If that doesn’t make complete sense to you, then let’s look at it from a different perspective.  Two of the world’s largest online marketplaces, Amazon.com and eBay, have absolutely no SEO content to be found on their product pages.  Their descriptions are generally sparse as well, because these powerhouse companies know that Google will feature them anyway due to their amount of site traffic, customer comments, and the number of page views generated from recommending similar products.  While you may not have anywhere near the PageRank of these business moguls, it doesn’t mean that you can’t learn from them just the same.

Stop Writing Content for Google

Ever since the launch of the very first search engines back in the early 1990’s, the goal has always been to allow the website with the best overall user experience to rank atop the charts.  While content is definitely still king in terms of long-term growth, it is essential to remember that there is no substitute for a happy customer.  If you keep your visitors coming back time and time again because of great products, superior customer service and/or unbeatable prices, that’s more important in the eyes of Google than 50 SEO articles and 100 backlinks.

In short; don’t stress over the latest search algorithm definitions because you were never supposed to be writing content for Google in the first place.