Repeatedly, Internet gurus (at credible-content.com we don’t generally believe in such terms) have always stressed the importance of content. Whether in a website or in a blog, content can make or break your search engine optimization (SEO). Readers would not want a blog or a website without contents. Content, no matter what other Internet marketers say is still king.

Below are ways you can improve your SEO with content.

1. Article Marketing. Article Marketing is the process where you write articles and submit the same to article directories like Ezine Articles, Go Articles or Sooper Articles, to name a few. These articles, aside from being of quality, should have a compelling resource box, where you put your name, who you are or your expertise, and a call to action through a link pointing them to your website or blog. Most article directories allow a maximum of two links, depending on the number of words your article has. Most article directories require a minimum of 300 words. This is also where you could make use of keywords. Most Internet marketers advise on using long tail keywords or Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), to make your keyword not redundant in your articles.
2. Pillar Content. Despite your Article Marketing process, your blog should have at least five (5) pillar articles. Pillar articles are words coined by famous blogger, Yaro Starak. Later, several bloggers coined words such as flagship content (Chris Garrett) and cornerstone content from Brian Clarke. In his article on pillar content, Yaro defines it as: “A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice.” This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson (OK, we’re blowing our own horn here, but well, whatthaheck). This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.
   Pillar content is also one way of creating backlinks (other sites linking to your site) because they find your article compelling and helpful. Thus, search engines will start crawling at your website or blog through those links and, in the long run will gain a good page rank. Search engines also rank websites or blogs with the number of quality links that points to it. This is how they measure the blog or website’s authority. Additionally, always remember to use keywords in your articles as this is also instrumental for search engines finding your contents and of course your sites.
3. Guest Blog Posting. Writing for other websites or blogs, especially those that have gained authority and/or popularity is one way of gaining good search engine optimization. Your content placed on an authority blog or website will likewise create quality backlinks and links to your site. Not all are given the opportunity to guest post in other popular blogs. Usually, blog owners who already have gained popularity or very good page rank would always qualify their guest contributors.
4. Fresh Content. Readers of your blog or website will usually like fresh content. Thus, it is necessary for blog or site owners to post a least three (3) quality articles in a week to ensure your readers that they can expect new things from you on a weekly basis. Fresh quality content means more visitors. And more readers mean more traffic. More traffic will definitely be of great help as far as search engine optimization is concerned.
5. Reader-Centered Content. In general, all contents must be reader-centered. You must always know who the target of your articles is. When writing contents for your site, you must always focus on what would your readers like to read. Always ask yourself whether the article you are writing will help your readers, and if you think they will, are your articles simple enough to be understood by all? Make your articles simple so that they can be understood by readers from myriad backgrounds (or at least from your niche).

There you go – the five basic ways by which your contents can greatly affect your SEO. Without these five basic things, you will have a hard time creating the popularity, the authority and eventually the page rank you would want to achieve. Besides, all bloggers and website owners would want their sites to be search friendly. Would you not want your site to gain the same thing?