June 13, 2012 12:05 pm

Rebecca Murtagh

SEO Plug-ins and Widgets Still Require Good ContentSEO Facts you can use

Many webmasters, marketeters and entrepreneurs have turned to platforms like WordPress to build their websites. In fact WordPress powers 17% of the web, making it one of the most accessible web platforms in internet history.

One of the attractions of WordPress is the ability to leverage widgets and plug-ins to perform functions that historically required human input. It is no surprise that SEO widgets and plug-ins are very popular with WordPress users. There are also numerous programs and tools out there to “automate” SEO on other platforms.

No brainer, right? After all, who doesn’t want to simplify search engine optimization?

SEO Widgets and Plug Ins Do Not Optimize Your Content

Unfortunately, SEO Widgets and Plug-ins may lull even the most experienced webmasters, marketers and content writers into a false sense of security, believing that the integration of SEO tools will miraculously optimize what they post on the website to achieve top Google ranking. SEO widgets and plug-ins simply take what you have and apply it to the page or post. If the page or post is weak in SEO, the widget or plug-in will not improve the performance of that page or post.

Effective SEO Will Always Depend on The Author

Good content is the lifeblood of SEO. For a page or post to qualify to appear in search, it relies upon relevance of the content to what people enter into the search bar on Google. This requires keyword research, relevant content and supporting optimization of that content to qualify for search. A good SEO author, whether writing content for static pages, or writing posts for RSS feeds, will provide the content required to qualify for search on its own merit. Then, and only then, can plug-ins and widgets become truly useful.

Plug-ins and Widgets Only Amplify What You Write

I cannot tell you how often I have this conversation with clients, designers, bloggers and copywriters…If your content doesn’t offer content relevant to the way your audience is seeking it, no level of optimization will help. The same is true when using SEO plug-ins and widgets. These tools are designed to use the content you write to generate the mechanical aspects of SEO that many writers are not experienced enough to generate on their own, such as meta data, tags, etc.

Garbage in, Garbage out. 
Rich content in, Rich SEO out!

For example, if you write a post about a new product and fail to include the name of the product, your company brand, the problem the product solves and who might find it useful, SEO plug-ins and widgets are not able to “fill in the blanks” for you to miraculously make the post more qualified for search. It all begins with content. GOOD content, optimized to reach your customers the way they use search.

Facebook Like Widget Includes SEO Support

Facebook has just released a WordPress widget with “full SEO support”, which sounds great. Ultimately, SEO support from a Facebook widget, or any other widget or plugin, can only be as good as what is on presented on the page or post.

 

This leads me to discuss the importance of good content in the context of Social Media and Search…my next post…stay tuned!

Need help writing for search? Contact me to learn more about SEO Copyrighting training or seminars.

About the Author

Rebecca Murtagh: Human First Futurist, CEO & Founder of Human AI Institute, winner of the Inc. Magazine Power Partner Award.

Rebecca leverages decades of experience working with Fortune 500, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, Mains Street, global brands and startup entrepreneurs to help executives, their teams, and entrepreneurs leverage their genius through Human AI to improve productivity, collaboration, creativity and job satisfaction for optimum performance and long-term success.

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