Enter into a discussion about SEO and within a matter of moments you’re bound to be talking about keywords.  There’s no question about it—keywords are essential.

In our post, 5 Tips for Refreshing Your SEO Efforts for 2012, we discuss a number of ways to think strategically about keywords, and offer a list of free and paid keyword research tools.  Take a moment to review the post if you’re looking for tools to guide you.

Turning Our Attention to Content and SEO

With all the content being generated on the web (via blog posts, videos, slideshares, whitepapers, etc.) and then shared via social networking sites, it’s clear that there are many other considerations to be thinking about when it comes to the topic of SEO.

For this post, we’ve curated perspectives about content that most resonates with us: optimizing and sharing content and how to go about leveraging it for SEO.  What you’ll find here is a way to see content through an SEO lens.

#1: Todd Bailey:
Users care about more than just keywords; they care about content.  Search engines care about content, too.  Any website expecting results based on keywords alone is likely to see little success.  Content is crucial and should never be underutilized.

The difference between “good” and “bad” content is largely subject to opinion, but certain things are definite.  Page content should be relevant to keywords, in order to provide the most accurate search results.  Blogs and news articles should be frequently updated.  Options to share that content via social networks should be available to users as well.

#2: Zara:
Create relevant blog post titles.  Include your top-ranking keywords in the title of your article.

#3: Jeff MacGurn:

• Hook lines tend to be more infectious than optimized titles.
• Humor and contention play well in viral content.
• Know when your audience are using the social platform and publish content at the optimal time.
• Know your influencers, develop relationships and leverage them to promote your content.

#4: Nick Stamoulis:
Social media content needs to be optimized and SEO content needs to be sharable. Understanding social influence and its impact on search will allow for a more productive overall online marketing strategy.

#5: Jordan Kasteler:
Let’s start with the obvious: social media builds links. In fact, viral content serves the same purpose as a link building campaign: gathering endorsements that establish authority and legitimacy in your field.

If one site is getting thousands of social shares, it sends three clear messages about your site to search engines:

• Your site is active
• Your site is current
• Your site is invested in the needs of your audience

By gaining a massive amount of social shares, you’re not just boosting your SEO signals—you’re also creating content with value for your customer base. Viral content is a win-win for both your brand and your search rankings. Like anything else in life, however, value takes time and talent to create.

Viral content is quality content. It’s passionate, it’s well-written, it’s eloquent, or it’s hilarious. If you want the thousands of shares, you’re going to have to put into the hours to make something with real value for your audience.

#6: Jim Belosic
:
The popular Facebook pages have all those likes because those pages embrace the ideology of Facebook: they’re interactive, engaging, and usable pages. Facebook, at its core, is about connecting with people, so don’t sacrifice the interactivity of your page for the sake of SEO.

#7: Nick Stamoulis:
One way to leverage social media to boost your SEO is by building multiple social media accounts that you can (realistically) manage. Optimize the key sections of each account while you concurrently build your communities around them. This two-pronged approach is the catalyst that can take your online business to the next level.

#8: Brafton Infographic:

#8: Nick Stamoulis:

• Social promotion of content generates natural links.
• Social networks drive traffic.
• Social networking increases online brand presence.

#9: James Debono:

• Write great content that encourages debate.
• Produce content that warrants being shared.
• Make it easy for people to share your content
• Be active on Social media
• Engage your audience
• Share content that you find valuable.
• Give other people the thumbs up!

#10: CT Moore:

Users tend to share content for these reasons:

• Useful/Informative,
• Interesting,
• Unique/Original,
• Inspirational,
• Funny/Entertaining,
• and/or Sensational

#11: Heidi Cohen:

• Create content your target audience wants to read and share.
• Create attention-getting headlines.
• Integrate a call-to-action to get readers to engage with and share your content.
• Incent readers to add attention-getting comments when they share content.
• Facilitate social sharing.
• Publicize email sharing.
• Promote your content across your owned media to built awareness and readership.
• Personalize your content on social platforms and email newsletters.

What perspectives can you share on content and SEO? Let us know if the comments below or on our Facebook page.

photo credit: paulina spencer via photopin cc