Why content?
Before we get to know the guidelines for all kinds of content posted on websites, it is worth considering what we need at the beginning. They help you increase both search volume and sales.

We can distinguish two reasons why content arises.
The first of these are the values flowing to users. Remember that online stores are run primarily for customers, so it is worth to encourage them to get acquainted with the offer. Home is a showcase of the company, we should present our business on it and show the user why it is worth shopping on our website. Not without significance is the style of writing, which should be appropriately selected to the target group. Content is a great way to build a long-term relationship with the user. Very often, however, it turns out that by entering our site, the user knows what to expect from it. For this reason, the content is placed at the bottom of the page so that the most important categories or products can be in the foreground.

The second goal for which content should be placed on the site is the value for Google. Conclusion of relevant keywords that will show the search engine what we do, will turn out to be significant in achieving high positions in the SERP. For this to happen, we must also take into account the uniqueness of the texts and their naturalness. This type of content will certainly be rewarded by Google, which is much more likely to show valuable search results in the search results, especially those that are valuable to users.

Appropriately constructed content is a key element on the website that is supposed to inspire the confidence of both search engine and users. You can find more information about content marketing and SEO on our blog.

Where must the content be found and what are the most important features?
The content should be found in every place of the online store. We will place it on the home page, categories, sub-categories and products. The rules of text formatting will be the same for all components of our site. However, their content will differ, which should accurately describe what is on the given sub page.

So what should content contain so that it is valuable not only for Google, but also for users?

• Headings. This is a key element, increasing the number of inputs, which sets the hierarchy of validity of the content on the page. The correct text structure should contain one H1 header and two H2 headings. They will show users the most important aspects of the business, and including keywords in them will help you raise your position on Google. You can read more about the headings in our previous entry: What are website headers?
• Keywords. If we want to take care of high positions in SERP pages, we must not forget about our content to contain the right number of key phrases for the main page, categories or products. In this matter, attention should also be paid to the appropriate variation and synonyms of the most important words, thanks to which the texts will look more natural. We do not need to worry about Google – his work perfectly understands numbers, declination and cases. Remember, however, not to overdo it with the number of key phrases, because it may be considered manipulation, and punishment may be imposed on our site. In the content, for example, 300 words long should be max. 2-3 unchanged keywords matched to a given sub page.
• Text formatting. This is important for customers, for whom the content becomes more legible and transparent. It is much easier to read the text, which is divided into paragraphs. This is also appreciated by Google, for which the users and their convenience are the most important. In this case, the use of Black Hat SEO, i.e. hiding content by setting the font in the background color will be severely punished by Google.
• Internal linking. Added in the content will help users navigate our site, and placing links to categories or products in anchors on relevant keywords will positively affect the increase in the search results (for more on this topic, see our article: internal linking structure).

Since we have already learned the most important features that content should contain in the online store, let’s think about the guidelines for texts on individual sub pages:

• The content on the home page
• Content on categories
• Content on products

The content on the home page
The content on the home page is designed to provide users with as much information as possible about what our business is about.

• Total length of the text: 300-500 words.
• The text must be unique – it can not appear on any of our other sub pages (e.g. in the “about us” tab). It is important that it is not copied from the competition.
• The appropriate text formatting mentioned above is welcome. The content does not have to be compacted into one block, on the contrary – dividing it into several paragraphs, arranged in different places on the home page will look more attractive. However, please remember to give proper headers …
• The description should include information about the company and what distinguishes it and what is on offer.
• In the content it is also worth using references to particular categories on the page (internal linking).
• It is worth using words that can be used by users who will search for a given product.
• It’s good to use epithets and synonyms that will expand the words that the page displays in the search engine.

Content on categories

• The texts on the page of particular categories and sub-categories will saturate them with the content, which will increase the number of phrases to which they appear in the search results.
• The total length of the text: 250-300 words.
• Unique is also very important here – copying from other sites is not recommended.
• In this case, one should also remember about the appropriate formatting: dividing the descriptions with headings, placing bold and inclinations containing the name of the category, their distinguishing features and relevant information for the users.
• The content is also worth adding internal linking to product pages or other categories.
• The content should contain information about:
• the category it concerns (the main keyword will usually be its name),
• the distinguishing factors by which users can search for products in this category,

producers of goods from this category (it is worth to name them at least),
the most important products or related categories.

Content on products
The content on the products will be created analogous to the category, however, they will differ in substance.

• Total length of the text: 200 words.
• Once again, uniqueness. The content should not only be copied from the producers’ websites, but also should not be repeated within the store – it is worth using a paraphrase for similar products of the same brand.
• It is advisable to divide the content with H2 headings, there may also be several inclinations and bold on keywords, usually the name of the product.
• The description should be a combination of useful and user-friendly content to search engines.
• It’s worth remembering about linking to products, producers of other related categories.
• The content should contain information about:
• type of product (what is: boys’ pants, dress),
• distinguishing factors, after which users can search for a product (color,
• material, size / size, other characteristics),
• producer (it’s important that his name appears),
• should also give the specific name of the model (if it is).

Duplication of content and uniqueness of texts
Our entire article is based mainly on one simple principle: the content on the page should be unique. We eliminate duplication of content that is severely punished by Google’s robots. It is not without significance also for users who, once again experiencing the same product descriptions, will feel frustration, which will result in leaving our online store. There is also a risk that the text we copied, e.g. from the producer, is covered by copyright, so there will be painful legal problems.

Introducing appropriately optimized content per page is crucial for positioning. The effect of adding content to the site is to increase the number of views in the search results, and thus also organic traffic, which also directly translates into the sale of online stores. This way we confirmed the thesis that content is king!

Picture Credit : geralt

The post Why Content is King in SEO appeared first on SEO TECH GUEST BLOG.

Black Hat SEO is a term that refers to actions that do not comply with the search engine guidelines and any other prohibited practices. Their goal is to quickly improve the website’s position on Google. Fast, but effective and long-lasting? This can not be said about Black Hat SEO activities that are able to even block or remove a website from search results. First of all, Black Hat SEO is not intended to create a website for the user, but for the search engine.

WHAT DO VARIOUS BLACK HAT SEO FROM WHITE HAT SEO?
The opposite of Black Hat SEO’s activities is White Hat SEO, which is in line with Google’s guidelines. They rely primarily on creating valuable, engaging content for websites, blogs, etc. It is also their constant updating and expanding, acquiring valuable references and taking care of the usability of the website, web usability.

TECHNIQUES USED IN BLACK HAT SEO
In order to conduct fully legal and correct SEO activities, you must read the regulations made available by Google (Google’s Webmaster Guidelines) and Bing (Bing’s Webmaster Guidelines). You’ll also find a list of prohibited techniques that you should avoid. Among them are, among others:

PLACING ON A LARGE NUMBER OF KEYWORDS, FREQUENTLY CONTRIBUTED TO CONTENTS
Of course, key words are very important, but their density should fluctuate between 2-4%, not more. There are, however, practices where positioners place a large number of keywords on the website, as well as metadata, often unrelated to its content. A well-known activity is also to hide keywords and links on the page – the text merges with the background, so the user can not see it. Such sites are punishable. This is indicated by the update of the Google Panda algorithm from 2011.

Keywords should be evenly distributed throughout the entire website. The search engine can recognize the theme of the site, so if key phrases are replicated, Google may impose a penalty on it. So let’s be careful with the number of keywords also in the title, description, alt attributes and image titles and h1-h6 headings.

SPAMING IN COMMENTS
Spamming with comments on social networks, blogs or forums not related to the content of the site is not the best technique for increasing the position in the search engine. This is definitely an action within Black Hat SEO. Few contributors, in which key words in the form of anchors are smuggled in an improper manner, is a practice on which most Internet users get to know each other.

CLOAKING, OR MASKING CONTENT
This practice involves presenting Google’s crawlers with completely different content than users by verifying the IP address of the person requesting the page, or examining the header of the client program. For this reason, sites using this technique are often removed from search engine indexes. There are many types of cloaking, here are some of them: Encrypted Cloaking, Flash Redirection, IP Agent Cloaking, JavaScript Cloaking, Referral Cloaking, Session Cloaking and User Agent Cloaking.

COPYING AND COPYING CONTENTS
Copying articles, product descriptions, or content on other websites to your own website is theft. Also, duplicating it on several sub pages negatively affects indexing and reduces the visibility of the page in the search results. If your website has unavoidable content, the Panda algorithm will discover it sooner or later and impose a penalty on the site. Content marketing is an extremely important issue, because it is mainly content that creates every website. The page with original texts will be rewarded by Google with a higher position in search results. Remember only about constantly expanding and updating content.

TRANSITIONAL PAGES, OR DOORWAY PAGES
The doorway pages are about achieving high positions for specific phrases. For this purpose, sub pages of the same website or different domains are directed to one, the same location. This means that if you click on the link found in the search engine, you will be automatically transferred to another page using the meta refresh command. Google robots consider interim pages to be spam, which will only make the page that these links lead to worse.

Picture Credit: Lisa review

The post What Is Black Hat SEO? appeared first on SEO TECH GUEST BLOG.