Why Text-Based Content is Essential for Website Optimization

Today we want to focus on our favorite form of content: text. Of course, a great website should contain a mix of content, both images and text. However, in reality, search engines continue to favor text-heavy sites above all others.

The advantages of a text-heavy site are clear.

Load Time & Page Speed 

First, in the absence of bulky images, a text-heavy site will load quickly. The SEO world knows from experience that search engines favor sites with simple codes and speedy load times. Google has even developed a tool, PageSpeed, that helps webmasters "identify ways to make your site faster..."

Although load time (or page speed, to use Google-talk) is only one of over 200 ranking factors, it tends to receive a lot of attention from SEO specialists. The reason is simple: page speed not only affects your page ranking; it also influences your browser's perceptions of your site.

Years ago, KISSmetrics reported that 47% of all browsers expect a page to load in two seconds or less. No doubt, in the age of mobile SEO, this number has increased.

Stripping your site of all the unnecessary frills, like excessive images, can dramatically improve your site’s load time. If you do use images, make sure you optimize each image for SEO. In the end; however, for browsers and search engines alike, the appeal of a text-heavy site is clear. Text is clean, simple, and fast.

Voice Search Compatibility

As the value of keyword-based optimization diminished, search engines continued to prefer "long-tail keywords," three- or four-word phrases that more accurately specify the nature of a certain search. In the distant past, a browser looking for a gray sweatshirt might have typed "gray sweatshirt." Over time, most savvy browsers learned to be more specific: "slim-fit gray sweatshirt," for example.

However, today voice search is changing SEO. A voice-based search has a different goal than a traditional search. Instead of "browsing," per say, most voice searches attempt to ask a question or state a problem. Instead of revealing sites based on keywords, today's search engines attempt to answer questions and solve problems.

This is most easily seen in Google's semantic search, introduced around the time of the Hummingbird algorithm, which analyzes the spoken word to attempt to discover the intent behind any given search.

Naturally, a text-heavy site will be more likely to meet the demands of voice search. An image will not necessarily answer a question or solve a problem. The key is to make sure your text counts. When thinking about your content, try to answer your ideal customer's questions; try to solve a crucial problem.

Answers. Solutions. This is why you built a business in the first place, right?

Mobile Compatibility 

A text-heavy site will also be easily compatible on all devices, including a desktop, tablet, and most importantly, a mobile phone. In the past we’ve reported on the necessity of optimizing for mobile. Today we can safely say: of all possible search venues, mobile is the most important.

Since 2014, mobile search has exceeded desktop search. This is likely due to its convenience, a fact that can be observed on any pedestrian street, and, unsettlingly, on any highway in America. One only needs to glance aside to see another person looking down at his or her phone.

If convenience is the name, you want to make sure you’re playing the right game. Simply put, a text-heavy site will be much easier to read on a mobile device.

Of course, we're not advocating a total disavowal of images (and other forms of content). Even text itself can be made to look like an "image." Today's programming languages are so sophisticated that a knowledgeable web developer can transform text to look like an image with simple CSS styling rules.

But it is important to remember that most browsers are looking for text-based information, and the clean presentation of text is often the quickest path to a high page ranking.

Need Mobile SEO Help? Call SEO Sparta

We believe that ecommerce is now a mobile game! To navigate the rules of mobile SEO, you might need to hire an SEO specialist like SEO Sparta. If you sell a high-quality product that deserves customers, you also deserve a well-optimized mobile website.

Do not let the changing search landscape compromise your sales. Now, more than ever, you need the astute wisdom of a professional search engine optimization professional.

SEO Sparta currently offers a free website consultation. Contact SEO Sparta today to learn how you can improve your website's mobile performance: 215-900-9398.

If you are interested in transforming your website into a money-making tool or are interested in exploring opportunities to outperform your competition, we encourage you to contact SEO SPARTA.

We combine traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--emphasizing natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective marketing campaigns.

Contact us