Is Your Content R.O.T.?

If you want your company’s website to rank highly in search engines, you have to focus your attention on the user’s needs — not your own. Maximizing the user’s experience online involves making sure that your website isn't full of R.O.T. (redundant, outdated, and trivial) material. R.O.T. may be turning customers away from your company and driving your website into a ditch.

R.O.T. Content Is Deadly

If your website is full of redundant, outdated and trivial content, you are risking your company’s reputation and incoming revenue. R.O.T. makes your website decline significantly in online search engine rankings, which decreases the overall exposure that your company gains. The less online users rely on your sites for their needs, goods and services, the fewer clients you receive. To be frank, R.O.T. kills your website’s (and your company’s) potential.

Redundant Content

It’s well-known that high-quality content can make a website successful. But that’s the catch — if you want your company’s website to rank highly among search engines, the content has to be high-quality material. Many people make the mistake of believing that the more content that their website has, the better off their website is. This is actually false.

Drafting content for the sake of meeting publishing deadlines or forcing word limits often results in redundant content. You may be saying the same thing repetitively. Or, you may be providing lengthy, even wordy, material that is unnecessary. This can be a major turn-off for online users.

Reversing Redundant Content

To effectively market your website online, you must develop content that is useful and manageable for your prospective customers. People don’t want to read tons of useless material. They want to read information that is easy to understand and responds to their questions and concerns.

• Consider the types of goods and services that your company offers.
• Think about why a prospective customer may be visiting your website.
• Predict the common questions that they may have.
• Then, develop your content according to this information.

Effective content marketing can have a major influence on your website’s rankings.

Outdated Content

By looking at today’s political and social climate, it is obvious that times are changing. Same-sex marriages have been legalized and current events dominate social media sites and our personal conversations. Everyone is trying to keep up. The same holds true for your company’s website. You have to keep up. When your website begins to contain links and images that are broken or no longer applicable, it becomes outdated. Outdated sites have no value.

Reversing Outdated Content

You don’t have to be knowledgeable about everything that goes on in the world, but you should at least be familiar with updates that occur in your field. New policies and laws may impact the way that your company is able to assist people. Do your research and stay on top of the latest news. As they come, add them to your site in the form of blogs and other articles. Audit your website to ensure that your images, files and links are current.

Trivial Content

If your website contains fluff or otherwise irrelevant content, your website is trivial. Trivial content can have a devastating effect on your search engine rankings. When a person visits a company’s website that specializes in car repair, they want to discover all of the information that they can about their car’s problems and possible solutions. Don’t make your customers scramble through unnecessary material. Give them what they need.

Reversing Trivial Content

While you don’t want your website to contain irrelevant content, you also want to avoid content that is vague. Too much exaggeration and flamboyant words are a distraction. And incomprehensive information is simply unhelpful.

When developing your website’s content, get straight to the point. It is important that you place keywords into your content to improve your search engine rankings. This does not make it OK to completely shower your content with keywords! Keywords should be carefully woven throughout your writing. They should appear natural — not forced.

Need Help Removing Your R.O.T. Content?

If you are concerned that your website is full of R.O.T. content and you want to increase the rankings of your company’s website, you should contact a search engine optimization professional. Online marketing strategists at Online Potential can help you to understand your audience, establish achievable goals, build links, and ensure that your content is useful and relevant.

Don’t allow R.O.T. to destroy you.