I was recently struck by fact that top-ranking web pages on Google are consistently much better written than vast majority of what one reads on web. Yet traditional SEO wisdom has little to say about good writing. Does Google, world's wealthiest media company, really rank web pages based primarily on arcane technical criteria such as keyword density, link text, or even PageRank?

Apparently not.

Most Common Website Content Success Factors

I took a close look at Google's top five pages for five most searched-on keywords, as identified by WordTracker on June 27, 2005. Here's what I found.

The web pages that contained written content (a small but significant portion were image galleries) all shared following features:

* Updating: frequent updating of content, at least once every few weeks, and more often, once a week or more. * Spelling and grammar: few or no errors. No page had more than three misspelled words or four grammatical errors. Note: spelling and grammar errors were identified by using Microsoft Word's check feature, and then ruling out words marked as misspellings that are either proper names or new words that are simply not in dictionary. Google almost certainly has better access to new words than dictionary, with its database of billions of web pages. Supposed grammatical errors that did not in fact violate style rules were also ignored. Google would certainly be less conservative than a grammar checker in evaluating popular stylistic devices such as sentence fragments. * Paragraphs: primarily brief (1-4 sentences). Few or no long blocks of text. * Lists: both bulleted and numbered, form a large part of text. * Sentence length: mostly brief (10 words or fewer). Medium-length and long sentences are sprinkled throughout text rather than clumped together. * Contextual relevance: text contains numerous terms related to keyword, as well as stem variations of keyword. The page may contain keyword itself few times or not at all.

SEO "Do's" and "Don'ts" that Don't Really Matter

A hard look at results slaughters a number of SEO bugbears and sacred cows.

So, you finesse your site, schmooze algorithm du jour and begin to climb slippery search engine rankings pole. But this is where you have to leave your SEO tricks behind and start thinking conversion.

Whoa there! Conversion? That’s all about making sales on shopping sites. My site’s a forum! I don’t sell anything. What has conversion got to do with me?

Everything, my friend. Everything….

SERP Conversion

You want visitors to come your site, right? That’s why you climb greasy SERP pole, after all. (And why you lay awake at night wondering when next Florida, Hilltop or Bourbon algorithm earthquake is going to hit.) But what does it matter if you reach peak, but no one clicks through to your site anyway?

The fact is that you have to convert prospective visitors even before they arrive. You have to pique their interest, tweak their curiosity and make sure they click your link and not other guy’s. And all you have to use are words. No technical tricks will help you now – your only tools are plain ol’ words.

The SERPs will show words from two of three places. Two of these you can control and one you can’t:

1.Your title tag.

2.Your meta description tag.

3.A directory description.

(For example, Google is known to use DMOZ descriptions in their SERPs, and Yahoo uses their directory descriptions in theirs.)

Now, there’s not much you can do about how Yahoo or DMOZ editors describe your site, so don’t worry about number 3. But do what you can do: Place your value propositions clearly in 1 and 2, and use them to lure searchers into your website.

So you have to convert people before they even get to your site. But that’s not all…. You want them to stay, right?

Flash Conversion

No, this has nothing to do with being blinded by bright lights on road to Damascus. Nor am I telling you to go and make a 100% animated website.

This “flash” is that split second, that tiny window of opportunity that opens up when a searcher arrives at your site and decides whether they have actually found what they are looking for… or not.

Typically, you’ll have a couple of seconds to persuade new visitor to stay and hang out. That’s all you get. It’s ultimate in speed-dating. So, how do you wow your “date”? Do you show him a page of scraped “content” interspersed with Adsense ads? Not if you want this to be a lasting relationship.

Follow these tips and be sure to impress your “date”:

1. Have a clear theme

Ranking high for “blue widgets”? Then be sure your visible title, copy and images are clearly focused on them.

2. Have a clean design

Imagine you are taking a first date to a movie. Do you pick her up wearing your pajamas in a dirty, trash-filled car? Or do you clean car, wash your face and dress to impress? Of course you want to impress her, so you make sure you look (and smell) good.

It’s same with your site: Clean design, a nice text size and pages that don’t scroll from here to eternity are going to float your first-time visitor-date’s boat.

3. Write clearly and focus on your “date”