There’s been a lot of, shall we say “discussion” – we could say hysteria – about “original content” on the web since roughly this time last year. Google gave a fair few low quality websites a bit of black eye with its Panda update, while those article directories, jam packed full of poor quality content are increasingly hard to find, even if you Google their names. This has been great for a lot of copywriters and content providers who can produce quality work, in fact it has provided a bit of a feeding frenzy. But does original quality content always matter, what is ‘quality’ and does every site need a blog that’s updated every five minutes, along with Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr content galore? Perhaps not.
Simple Surfers
Don’t get me wrong here, I like quality content. I like to read well written, researched, informative and useful stuff. But I don’t always care, as a consumer, whether a site has quality content or not. It depends on what I’m up to on the web, as to the type of content I’m interested in. In most cases if I’m purchasing stuff it’ll fall into one of the following categories; a book, a pen, walking boots/clothing, music or, bizarrely, building supplies. In nearly all of those cases the stuff I’m looking for will have a specific name and/or brand. If I want them cheap, I’ll head for Amazon or Ebay, although I might have a quick Google on a couple of other sites. Do I care about quality original content in these cases? Not a lot. Generally, I’m looking for secure purchasing, a bit of money off and fast but free delivery. I’m unlikely to go reading the blogs or other added extras.
Information Super Highways & Byways
However, there is another sort of surfing. This is where a bit of drive by advertising might well get my attention. This is where quality counts, for me at least. As an example, I get my news fix from the BBC, but on more than one occasion that has led me off to other sites. For more general information I might start with the ever-highly-ranked “Wikipedia”. Recently, though, I’ve found the “quality vs quantity” balance here is heading in the favour of the latter. Yes, Wiki is interesting, but increasingly wrong or misleading. Strange that this should be the case as Google’s Panda should be targeting poor quality stuff and in some cases Wiki articles should be on page ten along with many of those article directories.
Internet Translation
So how does this translate into the cut and thrust of the internet sales world and SEO strategy? Quality content is useful on many sites, it should be there if only to attract the search engines. But it can make a difference what type of products you are marketing? If it’s a fairly straightforward niche product, customers are likely to be searching for a very specific term, or even shopping in very specific places. Sometimes this means that knowing your customer base is better than knowing all the SEO tricks in the book. Sometimes, with the right keywords, you can be sure that people are looking to buy, not be entertained.
A Fence with a View
I’ll admit I’m on the fence with this argument, really. Sometimes the fence is a good place to be – you get a good view of both sides of an argument. I think most sites do need quality content, but not necessarily the equivalent of War and Peace in terms of amounts. Sometimes high quality, from a consumer’s point of view, can come in the smallest of packages. It can be worth considering what your customer’s are likely to need from your site, what you’re selling, and do you really need to write a novel about it just for the sake of Google.
An SEO strategy needs to take account of your product, customers and search engine needs. Sometimes, in the world of the SEO copywriter, less is more. An excellent copywriting company will be able to tell you when ‘nuff said’ applies.
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