Content is Still King

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Content is King, else the queen would be a blank PAGE.

The majority of your visitors will come through search engines and links from other web sites. Web page content consists of images, words, printable documents and multimedia files. Search engines index words, printable documents and some multimedia files.

The definition of content varies based upon the search engine you might be using. Google shows a strong aptitude to index content other search engines don't dare attempt. The majority of search engines index web pages based upon the words used on the web page. Some are able to index Microsoft® Word® documents and Adobe® PDF. Google, so far, is the only search engine capable of indexing Flash files, but those files do not help.

Search engine optimization companies typically focus upon developing the words on a web page to perform well with the search engines. However, there are times when a search engine optimized Word® or PDF will help your business. For instance, you may have a white paper on your product that you offer for download. Optimizing that document can help get people to that information faster.

While Google can index Flash files, those files cannot be optimized for strong performance in the search engines. Simply view the source code of the Flash file and you'll see a bunch of garbage code. Some say they can optimize their Flash files by using ActionScript and Flash preloaders. Unfortunately, that has yet to produce any benefits and Macromedia® is still out on how to allow search engine optimization of their Flash presentations.

Audio and video presentations have typically been used for live presentations. However, there are some organizations that have put those files online using MP3 or QuickTime formats. Unfortunately, those are binary files and require the use of SMIL or Magpie to provide a text version of the presentation. At this point no search engine has branched out to index those files.

Images such as .jpg, .gif and .png are binary files. Due to their nature any text placed in them is not accessible for them to index. Search engines make this seem untrue with their image search services. Search engines index those images based upon the ALT attributes used for the images or the words on the web page.

When web designers place your important information in images, Flash or multimedia presentations, they destroy your opportunity to perform well in the search engines. Effectively, your web pages appear blank. Almost as blank as some web sites out there that use scanned images as the entire web page.

Content Builds the King

Search engines seek indexable information in web pages, word documents and PDF files. As a web site owner you should be using these files to your advantage. Each file or web page should cover one topic; covering more than one topic causes the web page to perform poorly.

Start with as many pages possible to build a strong and famous web site. Choosing to start with one, three or five pages indicates to the search engines and everyone else that the web site is one fated to doom and oblivion. Building pages that cover the various segments of your business and focusing upon the various keywords available can lead to a stronger web site.

Search engines are like historians who scribe the information brought to them. The more information historians learned about a kingdom the more famous the kingdom became. Hence, with search engines the more content and pages available the more famous the web site can become. Content is still king!

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